Patty Hine

“There’s no time to waste. We must immediately reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere if we want to slow the worsening and accelerating climate-related disasters. Crucially, we have to rapidly phase out the primary source of climate pollution, the drilling and burning of oil and gas.

But in the Pacific Northwest we have an exceptional natural (and economical) way of drawing down CO2 – our forests. Science says, we must leave the mature and old growth trees in the ground, and use young monoculture industrial forests to meet our wood products needs. So we need durable policies at the federal, state and local levels to preserve and protect natural forests on public, industrial and private lands – now.

Forests can do massive climate mitigation, if we let them. Natural forests withstand fire the best and sequester and store massive amounts of carbon. I’ve been a climate activist for over 10 years, and I’ve seen how the fossil fuel industry lies to protect its “short-term profits at any cost for investors & CEO’s” business model, and the industrial timber interests are no different. They buy politicians, weaken our laws and over-react to opposition.

In Oregon, the biggest greenhouse gas emissions come from the timber industry, but these emissions are not even counted in our GHG inventory! That’s why PNW climate activists are throwing down with our forest conservation allies to take away the social license of these greedy industries that wreak havoc on the ecological systems that provide clean air, water and soil we need to survive.

Grassroots climate groups like mine, 350 Eugene, understand that forest defense is climate defense, and we’re fierce.”