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
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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
Oregon state
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.floydprozanski@
state.or.us
• Rep. Cedric Hayden
Republican District 7 State
Representative
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301
Phone: 503-986-1407
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
state.or.us
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Oregon federal
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contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• Sen. Ron Wyden
405 East 8th Ave., Suite 2020
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: wyden.senate.gov
Phone: (541) 431-0229
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: merkley.senate.gov
Phone: 541-465-6750
• Heather Buch
Lane County Commissioner
- District 5
Email: Heather.Buch@lane
countyorg.gov
125 E. Eighth Ave.
Eugene, OR 97401
Or call 541-682-4203
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