Oregon Green New Deal: key findings from the 2020 listening tour

Close your eyes, take a deep breath. Imagine, it’s 2030. We’ve worked hard together to pass an Oregon Green New Deal. Your family, community, environment and society is thriving, safe and healthy. What does this look like?

“Multicultural leadership. Environmental Justice. Economic justice. All of this is connected! Justice for BIPOC communities in every way imaginable.”

- Oregon Green New Deal Summer 2020 Listening Tour participant

As the 2021 Oregon State Legislative session kicks off, the Oregon Just Transition Alliance shares key concerns, visions and ideas for an Oregon Green New Deal from frontline communities across Oregon.

Oregon Just Transition Alliance’s summer 2020 Oregon Green New Deal Listening Tour brought together communities from across the state to envision what we could accomplish together in the next decade. We learned so much and gathered invaluable insights that have helped form a start to the 2021 Oregon Green New Deal. And yet—we have more relationship-building, listening and policy visioning to do before OJTA will release a final Oregon Green New Deal. 

In the Summer 2020 Listening Tour, we shared our vision for a just transition and the 2019 Oregon Green New Deal policy platform, and heard feedback, stories and ideas from frontline community members* from across Oregon.

With the Oregon Just Transition Alliance, organizations including PCUN, Rogue Climate, Verde, APANO, Unete, Beyond Toxics, NAACP Eugene Springfield, Euvalcree, Imagine Black (formerly PAALF), and SEIU 503 asked their community members: “What issues are you most concerned with in your lives and why? What kind of future can you imagine might be possible for us to achieve in one decade? What do you want to see in an Oregon Green New Deal?”

Through online surveys, virtual Listening Sessions and phone interviews, we heard from more than 200 frontline community leaders. These top concerns, visions for the future and ideas for an Oregon Green New Deal were synthesized into a Key Findings report:

The Oregon Green New Deal Listening Tour Key Findings

With these key findings, we developed 10 pillars for an Oregon Green New Deal. We recognize as we put forth an Oregon Green New Deal, that we must include more voices and take shifting realities into account. In particular, we look forward to including more voices of communities Indigenous to Oregon. The Listening Tour heard invaluable insights from members of the Klamath Tribe and the Klamath Tribal Council, but the voices of the remaining eight Confederated Tribes of Oregon and their community members have not yet been included in the Listening Tour or this Key Findings document. In 2021, OJTA will hire a Tribal Liaison, and we will seek to remedy this gap. We also look forward to incorporating more Black voices, youth, rural and voices from labor communities. This report and the Oregon Green New Deal will continue to be updated as we seek additional input.

The Oregon Just Transition Alliance’s 2021 Oregon Green New Deal (part 1) sets forth a vision for Oregon to address multiple, intersecting crises—our economic crisis, climate change, public health, and racial injustice—through a broad and comprehensive approach.

10 Pillars for an Oregon Green New Deal

January 2021

1. Invest in Resilient Communities and a Just Recovery

• Recover from and Prepare for Disasters like Wildfires, Droughts & Floods

• Support Workers and People hit Hardest by the Global Pandemic

2. Dismantle Racism and White Supremacy in Oregon

• Denounce White Supremacy and Decolonize Education

• End Police Brutality

• End the Prison Industrial Complex

• Welcome Immigrants and Refugees

3. Ensure Housing Justice

4. Build Healthy Communities

• Ensure Access to Healthcare

• Ensure Access to Healthy Air

5. Create Jobs that Center Workers and the Environment

• Advance Workers Rights, Safety and the Equitable Distribution of Jobs

• Center Workers in a Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

6. Advance Clean Energy Opportunity

• Stop Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

• Transition to Renewable Energy

7. Advance Transportation Justice

8. Protect Water

9. Ensure Thriving Forests

10. Grow Sustainable and Equitable Food Systems

• Advance Farm Justice

• Ensure Access to Health, Affordable and Culturally Appropriate Food

As we continue to seek input on our vision for an Oregon Green New Deal, we want to know what you think! What would you like to see in an Oregon Green New Deal?

*OJTA defines frontline communities as those hit first and worst by climate change—Black, Indigenous, people of color and rural, low-income communities. OJTA believes that centering and following the leadership of frontline communities is key to ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuels towards a sustainable economy that values our workers and our natural resources.