Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, September 29, 2017
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
A tip of the hat to drills on the Columbia River this week, in
preparation for a potential — but as of now theoretical — oil spill in our
region’s most important waterway.
The Columbia has plenty of environmental dangers in and around
it — the dams, the oil trains, the barges, the
coming Cascadia quake. Heck, we now have
to add fire to the list after the Eagle Creek
blaze jumped the river last month, burning
both sides of the Gorge.
But an oil trail spill would be among the
most catastrophic, especially if both Oregon
and Washington emergency crews are
unprepared. As was saw in Mosier, a crash
can quickly start a fire and begin damaging
local waterways. It doesn’t require much of
a leap to trace the potential impact to the Columbia at large and its outlet
into the Pacific. And as we learned with Eagle Creek, the Columbia Gorge
communities are vulnerable — both economically and culturally — when
Gorge’s ecology is damaged. Protecting the river is both good for nature and
good for our wallets.
A kick in the pants to continuous vitriol that is heaped upon Oregon
wolves.
To this day, nothing we write about brings out the knives more than these
canines. Our Saturday story about their increasing numbers in the Blue
Mountains and Umatilla County, and the problems they have caused to
sheep and cattle producers, continued that ignoble tradition.
Wolves are predators that eat other
animals. That does not make them evil
or bad, but it does mean that the lives
of Blue Mountain ranchers have been
made more difficult.
We have empathy for those folks,
and want to find solutions to the
newly-raised problems. That can
include financial help, and the ability to
kill habituated animals and packs (just
as we do with bears, mind you.)
But wolves are part of Oregon’s
woods. That’s not changing, no matter how catchy a phrase or vicious a
threat. Forget “smoking a pack a day” and “shooting, shoveling and shutting
up.” While worth a chuckle the first time we heard them, they’re not suitable
first and last words in a debate.
The sooner we can leave the nasty sarcasm behind, the faster we can get
on with understanding what the wolves’ reintroduction means and how we
can manage them.
A tip of the hat to two important education initiatives that we’ve
spotlighted in the newspaper this week.
On Wednesday, we ran a story by Jayati Ramakrishnan and Antonio
Sierra about initiatives in Hermiston and Pendleton to diversify their
workforce, and attempts to convince students of all backgrounds to consider
returning to their schools as educators. It’s
an important way to build community and
help improve outcomes — studies show that
young people who have teachers who look
and talk like them do better in school.
On Thursday, Jayati kept the hits coming
with a story on RISE, a mental health
initiative in Hermiston schools. It’s a critical
program that tries to teach people who come
from difficult backgrounds or have difficulty
processing emotions how to get better at it. If
it shows promise, RISE will be helpful not just for those who participate, but
for every student who shares a classroom with them going forward.
We applaud the efforts and look forward to seeing results down the line.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
The Dalles Chronicle
E
arly this week, Susan Buce,
marketing manager of the
Columbia Gorge Discovery
Center, was watching news reports
pertaining to the Eagle Creek Fire and
the devastation it had caused businesses
in Troutdale and the western end of the
Gorge.
Her Facebook post that the Gorge
didn’t stop at Hood River caught the
attention of Lisa Farquharson, president/
CEO of The Dalles Area Chamber of
Commerce.
Farquharson was moved to contact
the KGW television station to make
them aware of the plight of businesses in
The Dalles that were also affected by the
freeway closure.
For the first half of this month,
both lanes of Interstate 84 were shut
down while firefighting activities were
underway. The westbound lanes are now
open, but the eastbound lanes that carry
traffic from the Portland-metro area will
remain closed until hazardous dead trees
and rolling boulders have been removed.
The fire stripped away the ground
cover that kept soil stable in many areas.
“Having 84 cut off was like an artery
being severed off,” said Steve Light,
owner of Freebridge Brewery.
He and other business owners urged
people to make the trip east, even via
detour.
“We still have the doors open,” said
Light. “We’re serving beer, producing
food. Please come to The Dalles.”
That appeal went out to thousands of
viewers, thanks to Farquharson’s efforts.
We believe it is safe to say that
our local chamber is one of the most
dynamic in the region.
Farquharson and staff have gotten
The Dalles mentioned, or garnered
stories, in the Smithsonian magazine and
many other publications.
Between January 2015 and March
2017 alone, The Dalles has been
commented upon or covered in 129
stories in varied publications.
An article in Road Runner Magazine
alone would have cost $40,700 in
advertising dollars, said Farquharson,
who hosted the riders and photographers
a couple years ago.
This exposure for the community has
been circulated to 11 million in printed
form and online to 81 million during
2016-17.
Perhaps the biggest proof that the
chamber’s marketing and promotional
campaigns are effective — including
staging the Northwest Cherry Festival
and promoting the Fort Dalles Fourth,
Cruise the Gorge and Columbia Gorge
Fiber Festival — is the boost in lodging
tax revenue since Farquharson took the
helm in 2012.
Folks, we’re home alone
F
ormer Secretary of State Dean
every job and industry.
Acheson wrote a famous memoir,
What do you need when the
“Present at the Creation,” about
climate changes? Adaptation — so
the birth of the post-World War II
your citizens can get the most out of
order — an order whose institutions
these climate changes and cushion the
produced six decades of security and
worst. Adaptation has to happen at the
growth for a lot of people. We’re now
individual, community and national
at a similar moment of rapid change —
levels.
abroad and at home. Many institutions
At the individual level, the single
Thomas
have to be rethought. But any book
Friedman most important adaptation is to
about Washington today would have to
become a lifelong learner, so you can
Comment
be called “Absent at the Creation.”
constantly add value beyond what
Surely one of the most cynical,
machines and algorithms can do.
reckless acts of governing in my lifetime has
“When work was predictable and
been President Donald Trump and the GOP’s
the change rate was relatively constant,
attempt to ram through a
preparation for work merely
transformation of America’s
required the codification
health care system — without
and transfer of existing
holding hearings with experts,
knowledge and predetermined
conducting an independent
skills to create a stable and
cost-benefit analysis or
deployable workforce,”
preparing the public — all to
explains education consultant
erase Barack Obama’s legacy
Heather McGowan. “Now
to satisfy a few billionaire
that the velocity of change
ideologue donors and a “base”
has accelerated, due to a
so drunk on Fox News that
combination of exponential
its members don’t understand
growth in technology and
they’ll be the ones most hurt
globalization, learning can
by it all.
no longer be a set dose of
— Heather McGowan, education consumed in the
Democrats aren’t exactly
Education consultant first third of one’s life.” In
a fire hose of fresh ideas, but
they do respect science and
this age of accelerations, “the
have a sense of responsibility
new killer skill set is an agile
to not play around with big systems without
mindset that values learning over knowing.”
an ounce of study. Not so Trump. He scrapped
At the community level, the U.S.
the Paris climate treaty without consulting
communities that are thriving are the ones
one climate scientist — and no GOP leader
building what I call complex adaptive
protested. Think about that.
coalitions. These comprise local businesses
That failure is particularly relevant because, that get deeply involved in shaping the
as this column has been arguing, “climate
skills being taught in the public schools and
change” is the right analytical framework for
community colleges, buttressed by civic and
thinking about how we shape policy today.
philanthropic groups providing supplemental
Why? Because we’re going through three
learning opportunities and internships. Then
climate changes at once:
local government catalyzes these coalitions
We’re going through a change in the actual and hires recruiters to go into the world to find
climate — disruptive, destructive weather
investors for their local communal assets.
events are steadily on the rise.
These individual and communal adaptation
We’re going through a change in the
strategies dictate the national programs you
“climate” of globalization — going from an
want: health care that is as portable as possible
interconnected world to an interdependent
so people can easily move from job to job;
one, from a world of walls where you build
as much free or tax-deductible education as
your wealth by hoarding the most resources to possible, so people can afford to be lifelong
a world of webs where you build your wealth
learners; reducing taxes on corporations and
by having the most connections to the flow of
labor to stimulate job creation and relying
ideas, networks, innovators and entrepreneurs. instead on a carbon tax that raises revenues
In this interdependent world, connectivity
and mitigates costly climate change; and
leads to prosperity and isolation leads to
immigration and trade policies that are as open
poverty. We got rich by being “America
as possible, because in an age of acceleration
Connected” not “America First.”
the most open country will get the change
Finally, we’re going through a change in
signals first and attract the most high-IQ risk
the “climate” of technology and work. We’re
takers who start new companies.
moving into a world where computers and
There was no good time for Trump to be
algorithms can analyze (reveal previously
president. But this is a uniquely bad time for
hidden patterns); optimize (tell a plane which
us to have a race-baiting, science-denying
altitude to fly each mile to get the best fuel
divider in chief. He is impossible to ignore,
efficiency); prophesize (tell you when your
and yet reacting to his daily antics only makes
elevator will break or what your customer is
us stupid — only makes our society less
likely to buy); customize (tailor any product
focused on the huge adaptation challenges at
or service for you alone); and digitize and
hand.
automatize more and more products and
■
services. Any company that doesn’t deploy all
Thomas Friedman, a New York Times
six elements will struggle, and this is changing columnist, won two Pulitzer Prizes.
“The new killer
skill set is an
agile mindset
that values
learning over
knowing.”
LETTERS POLICY
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and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
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