350 Salem OR is a grassroots organization taking local action for a stable climate and sustainable planet.
Comment on Salem’s draft Climate Action Plan.
Under Salem’s new Climate Action Plan, the city aims to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035 and to be carbon neutral by mid-century.
YOU ARE INVITED to comment on the plan, which recommends changes in how we travel, design neighborhoods and use energy. The public comment period is open until November 5 at 5 p.m.
- 350 Salem recommends these TOP TEN Climate Action Strategies.
- Attend the Salem Climate Action Plan Task Force Meeting on October 27.
Hold Oregon polluters accountable!
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is close to finalizing rules for the state’s new Climate Protection Program. Unfortunately, the proposed draft fails to reduce emissions, doesn’t hold industrial polluters accountable, and places the burdens of pollution on vulnerable downwind communities.
Demand that DEQ strengthen the draft Climate Protection Program rules. Comments are needed by October 25. Here’s how to help.
Help preserve Silver Falls State Park!
Silver Falls State Park is currently conducting post-fire logging in backcountry areas of the park. The majority of trees slated for the cut are mature green trees, not unsafe hazard trees. Logging in Silver Falls sets a horrific precedent.
LEARN MORE, and please help protect this irreplaceable park!
Salem 350 to DEQ: Don’t greenwash trash.
350 Salem is urging the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to reject a new 10-year permit for the Covanta Marion Incinerator. Covanta is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Marion County. Each year, the incinerator sends as much CO2 into our airshed as 35,000 cars, not to mention tons of lead, mercury, cadmium and other toxic chemicals. There are less expensive, more environmentally friendly solutions for garbage disposal.
We need to rethink post-fire forest management.
On this month’s 350 Salem radio show, The Elephant in the Room, host Tom Ellis talks with forest ecologist George Wuerthner, who says thinning or clear-cutting to reduce fire intensity isn’t sound science. He offers alternatives and long-term strategies for healthy forests.
350 Salem protests in support of Indigenous peoples.
In May, 350 Salem OR members joined global protests calling on invested banks to defund the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. We support Indigenous peoples who are asking for our help in protecting their lands and waterways in Minnesota. They are taking direct action to stop the construction of this toxic, climate-destroying project, locking themselves inside sections of pipe and blockading entrances to construction sites, and hundreds have been arrested.
Learn more at Honor the Earth and Stop the Money Pipeline.
Take a walk with us!
Join 350 activists and friends with Just Walk Salem Keizer for friendship and exercise on Wednesday morning walks. Participants meet at 9 a.m. at the mobile sculpture on the west side of the Cherriots Bus Station, on High Street. Walks to Riverfront Park usually bring sightings of heron, osprey, ducks, geese and hawks, and sometimes deer.
Climate Science Basics: just the facts …
We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and believe silence is no longer an option. We encourage you to support local organizations doing social justice work, including Salem-Keizer NAACP, Causa, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Black Joy Oregon, and youth-group Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS). Read our Land Acknowledgement Statement.
Fifty years from now people will likely look back on this era through the lens of having seen catastrophic climate changes that we cannot even imagine. Our legacy will depend on the level of moral courage we display in this difficult challenge.
350 Salem OR Co-Coordinator Phil Carver