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4A | OCTOBER 21, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Sentinel 1498 E. Main St., STE 104 Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424 damien Sherwood, editor | 541-942-3325 | dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Opinion The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) Our Actions Now = Our Grandchildren’s Future climb, so will the severity and frequency of wildfires. Life in Oregon is likely to be pretty mis- erable due to smoky conditions and/or excessively high summer temperatures for many weeks during the longer By Lise Colgan fire season. In the 1970s when I Oregon Chapter of Elders Climate Action Member Remember the “heat was attending Lewis & bubble” this summer? Clark College in Port- land, I can’t even recall experi- to be just a California problem. More will follow. To try to avoid this scenario, encing one day of smoke so bad I Now they’re an Oregon problem, Oregon is now in the process of too. Consider these grim facts: couldn’t go outside. During the 2017 fire season, composing its first ever Climate The Tillamook Fire was a dis- tant memory; the Biscuit Fire wildfires in Oregon destroyed Protection Program. [oregon. was 30 years in the future. But more than 500,000 acres for only gov/deq/Regulations/rulemak- last year, there were days and the second time in the State’s ing/Pages/rghgcr2021.aspx] Statewide, agencies have been days when orange sunlight fil- history. In 2018, wildfires con- tered through brown skies and sumed 660,000 acres of forest. directed to come up with at- The 2020 burn area doubled the tainable programs that will gen- ash fell like snow. erate a 45 percent reduction in This is not “normal” for Ore- 2017 burn area. Modeling from the current heat-trapping gasses by 2035. gon, historically speaking. But Even so, it will take years of unfortunately, it is the “new nor- version of the Oregon Climate oregonstate.app. significant action to help reverse mal.” And it won’t get better un- Assessment less we really get serious about box.com/s/7mynjzhda9vun- the course we’re already on. It doing something. Fortunately, bzqib6mn1dcpd6q5jka projects took centuries for us to get to this from now until October 25, we a further doubling of the burn point. It will take more than just have a unique opportunity to do area to 2.5 million acres each a few years to stabilize the situ- something to help ensure that summer by 2025-30. Annual ation and see any improvement. the beautiful Oregon we know burn areas of this magnitude will It’s kind of like dieting: you don’t and love is still around for our destroy 15 to 25 million acres get fat overnight, and you don’t (25% to 40% of the land area of lose it overnight, either. kids and grandkids to enjoy. Your voice is important in this I’m a grandparent now, not a Oregon) over the course of this process! Until 4 p.m. October college kid, but I’m just as much decade. In 2020, Oregon wildfires con- 25, 2021, you can submit a com- in love with Oregon as I was back then. As life would have sumed 1.2 million acres, forced ment to the Oregon Environ- it, though, I was “exiled” to Cal- 500,000 Oregonians to evacuate mental Quality Commission to ifornia for some 30 years when I their homes ahead of the flames, share your thoughts on how the married a Southern Californian incinerated 4,000 homes — dis- changing climate is affecting you who refused to move out of state. placing 10,000 Oregonians and and what you think needs to be We compromised on Northern leaving many families homeless done. You don’t need to be a scientist — and killed 11people. California. According to the Oregon Cli- — some of the most compelling I have the dubious distinction of being a former mayor of a mate and Health Report, pub- comments are those that come small city that was nearly wiped lished by the Oregon Health from the heart. What do you off the map by the Camp Fire in Authority in 2020, “Fire sea- think it will feel like if your fa- 2018: Paradise (CA) became hell sons in Oregon are roughly 100 vorite campground in the woods on earth. In the years leading up days longer than they were in is reduced to smoldering ash? Or, to the Camp Fire, I had watched the 1970s. Longer seasons mean worse, if you join the thousands other fires creep up the oak and more smoke in Oregon commu- of families who lose everything in a catastrophic fire? Maybe chaparral-covered hillsides to- nities.” The greater density of smoke you can share what it’s like to not ward the town, but they were al- and longer duration of smoke even be able to go outdoors to ways stopped in their tracks. No one ever expected a fire to exposure in 2020 likely at least take a swim because the smoke is move as quickly or as powerfully doubled the mortality caused so bad you can’t breathe — espe- as the Camp Fire did. Luckily, by by smoke exposure compared to cially if you’re one of the millions of Oregonians who have respira- the time it hit, I had moved back 2012 — just nine years ago. Why is this happening? The tory problems or who don’t have to Oregon, but my former house frequency and ferocity of wild- air conditioning. was utterly destroyed. To submit a comment, go to Recently, my daughter — fires in Oregon began to increase who’d grown up in that house — significantly after 2015 under GHGCR2021@deq.state.or.us. salvaged a brick and a stone from the climate conditions associated Be a part of the plan that just an old patio there that she hopes with a 1.1° C to 1.2° C (about 2 might help us keep Oregon the to use when she builds a house degrees F.) rise above the 1850– beautiful state we live in instead of just a charred memory. of her own. But she won’t be able 1900 baseline. As temperatures continue to to show her kids the house where (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- cussion and exchange of perspec- tives.) she grew up, or the school where she learned to read, or the park where she used to feed the ducks. It’s all gone. Huge wildfires like this used Guest Viewpoint USPS#133880 Copyright 2021 © COTTAGE GROVE SENTINAL Letters to the Editor Policy The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. 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