October 13, 2024 • 30 mins
How to prepare for the Great Oregon Shakeout. Parents' Rights in Education works for change in schools. OSU releases a climate change report calling for immediate change in the escalating climate crisis.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome local voices. I'm brad Ford. The Great Oregon Shakeout
will be held this Thursday. We'll tell you how to
take part. Parents, Rites and Education is working to bring
change to schools at Oregon State University leads the way
and writing a report on current effects of climate change.
The Great Oregon Shakeout will be held this Thursday. Althea
Rizzo with Oregon Emergency Management joins us on Local Voices. Ala,
(00:28):
what is the Great Oregon Shakeout?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
So the Great Oregon Shakeout is part of an international
earthquake Drop, cover and hold drill. This gives everyone an
opportunity to practice what to do when the ground starts
shaking during an earthquake, and that is to drop, and
it is to cover and is to hold on.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So with an earthquake of that size, does stuff go flying?
Is that why we go into the table?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah. The most common injury from an earthquake is from
things falling on people during the earthquake. That's outside of
the tsunami area, of course, but common injuries from being
thrown to the ground because of the shaking is strong enough,
(01:15):
we just won't be able to move during an earthquake.
Other injuries is you know, all of our nonstructural elements
inside our light fixtures or paintings on the wall, our
china hutches and all of those our TVs can fall
in interest. So we want to make sure that people
are safe so that after the earthquake they don't have
(01:37):
to be dealing with injuries.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Should we do anything in advance of the Great Shakeout?
Do we need to register?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah? So there is a website and that's shakeout dot org.
If you go there, you can make your way to
the Oregon page and register there. There's a lot of
really good information on how you get prepared for emergencies.
Oregon Department of Emergency Management has recently launched a new
(02:05):
preparedness program called be two Weeks Ready, and this is
helping people to understand, you know, what do they need
to be doing in order to be on their own
or self sufficient for at least two weeks. And there's
a lot of different ways that people can approach that,
and we just really encourage people to check out the
(02:27):
B two Weeks Ready website and learn what they can
about preparedness.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So part of that is a family plan. What should
a family plan include?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Well, it should include you know, where are they going
to meet after an emergency? And it's not just an earthquake.
You know, we grew up learning that we were supposed
to evacuate the house during the fire and we were
supposed to meet, you know, the neighbors across the street.
So this is kind of the same thing. So if
the earthquake happens during a school day, you know, knowing
(02:57):
what the school plan is for an earthquake is for parents,
you know, if you're going to be at work, how
are you going to reconnect with your family? Another thing
would be to have an out of state contact so
that everyone after the earthquake could text that person, for instance,
but that person can let folks know by a text
(03:21):
that you know, the kids are safe at school and
the parents can pick them up there after an earthquake,
you know, much like what we're seeing in the hurricanes.
Cell phone service will be pretty problematic, but you should
be able to text.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Where can we go to learn more?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, that's a great question. We highly recommend folks check
out the shakeout dot org website and get signed up.
They can go to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management
website and learn more about the B two Weeks Ready program,
they can download information, they can get into contact with
folks who may be running a program area. There is
(04:02):
you know, they can reach out to the American Red Cross,
become volunteers. So there's a lot of ways that people
can get involved in getting ready for this earthquake that
is surely coming towards us sometime in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Health, anything else you'd like to add.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
You know, we really encourage people to not be afraid
of that these earthquakes. Humans are very resilient, especially organs
are very resilient. And the more preparedness that you do,
the more preparations you take, it just means that you're
going to be able to protect your family, You're going
to be able to protect your neighbors, and you know,
(04:40):
anything that we can do ahead of time as far
as mitigating you know, the transportation system, utility systems, anything
that we can do before the earthquake happens will make
recovery that much easier.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's Alfa Arizo with Oregon Emergency Management and details in
the Great Oregon Shakeout scheduled for this Thursday. The group
Parents' Rights and Education is working to bring change in
public schools. Suzanne Gallagher as the group's national director. Suzanne
tell us about Parents' Rights and Education.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Started out mostly as informational because you know, when you
have situations like this where people are concerned about certain
things that are happening, they need to build some sort
of a following in order to really address it in
a meaningful way. And so I took over in twenty
(05:31):
eighteen and did a little bit of rebranding, you know,
came out with a new website, and we began to
receive inquiries from all over the country because of the
name of our organization. So parents would google rights, Parents'
Rights Education, and our website came up, and they would
(05:52):
make an inquiry and we'd call them back and discuss
what was going on in their schools. First call came
from a woman in Iowa.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Amazing. It's not amazing here we are in Oregon.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
So so time went by and we realized, you know,
we've got to get a little bit more serious about this.
We need more media coverage, we need to get the
word out. It's really really important to build that following
in order to make a difference. And so we hired
a professional media team and two years ago we rebranded
(06:22):
again and we changed our focus a little bit less
from providing information and more to action. So our main
focus at this time is activating parents and citizens at
the local level to testify to their school boards and
(06:46):
to run for school board.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Talked us a little bit about some of your concerns
about what's going on in school districts.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Well, the things that motivate us, that drive us as
an organization, of course, is feedback from parents what's happening
in their local area. And all schools are different, all
districts are different, and all states are different, so it
depends on you know, depends on the parent, depends on
the situation, the age of the child, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
But from the feedback that we get from parents.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Some of the top issues are curriculum, controversial curriculum, controversial
literature that is offered to students in their libraries, so
they're really tied together. I believe that the school library
is a part of the curriculum. And what else I
(07:37):
would say, counselors talking to students without parents' knowledge or permission.
Counselors and others other staff people, teachers and administrators, and
parents oftentimes don't find out that things are going on
between those adults and their child. And I don't mean
necessarily that they're being physically harmed at all, but they're
(08:03):
having conversations, private conversations with other adults without their knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Talk to us a little bit about the importance of
a parent going to a school board meeting. Most parents
don't do that, but talk to us about why that's
important and what they can get out of it.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Okay, So it's it's good for everybody, it's good for
the for the board, because the board needs to know,
you know, what people think in their constituency. They are
an elected board. They're no different really from any other
elected representative, and part of their responsibility is to listen
to parents and other citizens in the district. Citizens are
(08:43):
you know, people who like me, who've been around a
long time and paid a lot in property taxes, and
you know, we want to know how that horror money.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Is being used.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
So they do get feedback from members of a community,
and it is the responsibility of a school board to
take that into consider when they're making policy decisions. So
why it's so important is that what that does is
when you go when you go to a school board meeting,
you testify your testimony is documented. Oftentimes the school district
(09:17):
will have a video representation so it can be replayed,
and you go on record basically with your concern or
maybe it's a praise, maybe it's something good, and we
cannot forget that. We need to recognize when good things
happen as well, because all schools are not all bad,
(09:38):
and we all have a responsibility to, you know, to
have them be as the best they can be.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
So that's the benefit.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
But also on the parents side, and we've seen this
so many places all across the country where maybe just
one person went to the school board meeting. They didn't
have a coordinated effort, they didn't know anybody else, Maybe
they work for they have no time to meet anybody,
so they go to the school board meeting and they
start talking about something that maybe it's the curriculum, maybe
(10:07):
it's the book in the library, and other people see that,
maybe they're in the audience, they're there for another reason,
and they're.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Like, wait a minute.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
What, And then that builds community awareness. And you know
that the term that I hear so much these days
is all about transparency.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Basically, that's what it is. Transparency.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
We need to talk what's going on, and.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
That's where our that's where our sources come from.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
But not only from parents, but teachers and students.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
They're all in the building exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Let's talk about some of the issues that your group addresses.
I looked at your website. One of the issues of
school health clinics. Where do you come down on that.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Well, you know, clinics do have a place, you know,
on campus. Uh, some families don't have any access to
health care. And there may be a situation at school
where a child, you know, just maybe he needs an
aspirin or you know, there's we want.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
To take care of the kids, right.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
But again, the question about the clinics is who makes
the decision when it comes.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
To medical care for a minor.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And parents need to know what if their child went
to the clinic.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
How were they how were they treated?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
And I would think from a liability standpoint that would
be like a no brainer for most administrators, but not
so anymore. And these students can also be referred out
to other clinics or other medical facilities for treatment, and
(11:58):
that would include uh, you know, medication, sometimes hormone injections
and things like that without a parent's knowledge.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Or consent.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Now, does Oregon law dictate what cannon can't be said
and how those clinics operate.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Well, law does, and the laws are different from state
to state. State of Oregon allows all kinds of things
for minors at age fifteen, they basically emancipated from their parents.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
But if something goes wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
And they have to be rushed to the emergency room,
who are they gonna call.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Mom and dad?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Well, right right.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So mom and dad should be called in before there's
an emergency.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
They need to be tracking with their kids.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Let's talk about the issue of school choice. Where do
you stand on that?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Well, school choice, absolutely, school choice has been a good
idea of Gosh, I've known about it in the state
of Oregon for almost thirty years and believe in it.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
That issue. I don't know if the.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Timing is right right now in the state of Oregon
because of the makeup of our electorate, but its time
is coming, and in the meantime, we have to protect
the kids that are in the public school system now,
and so that's why we're focusing on the public schools
and how things are going there and what the public
(13:28):
schools do does affect private schools, and of course charter
schools which are part of the public school system.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Where does a group stand on gender ideology? I saw
that on the website.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Oh yeah, you know, well that has been added to
the law in the state of Oregon, and we're talking
about Oregon here, and so it's very concerning, and that's
we're getting a lot of feedback from parents about this
concerns where they are introduced to this concept of their
(14:00):
sex when they're five, and it's.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Shocking to many parents.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
They weren't expecting that, they didn't understand what's going on.
The kids are shown what would be considered pornographic images
of body parts when they're five and asked to name
all the body parts.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
That is concerning to parents.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
They want they want their schools to you know, they
want to af their kids out. They don't want their
kids seeing that. So that's one of the controversial topics.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What's the best way for parents to know what's going
on and whether kids are going to.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
See school Thanks for that question.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Actually, by law, federal law, they have the right to
see all the curriculum. They have the right to be
in the library and see all the library books. In fact,
sometimes they can access lists of what's in the library.
They have the right to have access to all not
just not just written curriculum.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
But videos.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
They need to know about outside speakers, everything associated with
the teaching day parents should have access to.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So one thing that you touched on earlier is parents'
involvement in the school board and you work with parents
on how to do that, how the process works. Talk
to us a little bit about how parents can get
involved in what they need to know about that process.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Well, one really great way for them to get involved
is to join our organization and they can do that
for free.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We have a great website.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
It's called Parents Rights and Education dot com and on
that website you can sign it for free membership or
you can become an affiliate in your school district. We're
looking for affiliates, contact people in every school district across
the country, and those are individuals who might take a
(15:48):
little higher level of interest in what's happening in their
school district. They don't necessarily have to be parents, they
can be you know, citizens, and.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
That's the best. And we also have training on our.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Website, again free on demand training on demand online. I mean,
what more could you want? Parents don't have time, right,
they don't have any time, and you know, they wish
that they didn't have to get more involved.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
They wish they didn't have to.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
But when they learn that something has you know, offended
their child or another person's child, or you know, they
start hearing about things that concern them, they're thinking, oh, Dogana,
now I have to So what's the easiest way. Don't
try to start your own organization. You don't need to.
That's what we're here for. We are your media resource.
We will guide you, We will train you and guide
(16:41):
you in how to approach this process, and we will
inform you about your rights and if necessary, we want
to hear your stories. That's that's my main role is
listening to these stories. We know from experience, what you know,
what is appropriate perhaps in remedying those situations.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Sometimes we need legal help.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We have many resources for legal help in different parts
of the country, and so we just want to hear
what's going on in your district and maybe taking one
of the school board members out for coffee, finding out
who are you talking to? Are these people open? If not, well,
then you might think about well, maybe we gee school
(17:28):
board elections are coming up next year in Oregon twenty
twenty five, we are recruiting people to run for school
board and we will help them, and we have on
our website a quiz. It's kind of a fun quiz,
but it is very serious actually.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
That quiz will.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Ask you questions about issues in the school district. And
then if you are a candidate, you can create your
own URL and we will help you with your with
your race for school board. If you're somebody like you
or me in you know we're citizens, Well, there'll be
a bubble placed on our map. So we want to
see bubbles filling our entire map. So everybody take the quiz.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
What's the website again?
Speaker 5 (18:11):
It's Parents Rights and Education dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Thank you very much for joining us on Local Voices today.
Appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's Suzanne Gallagher, the national director of Parents' Rights in Education.
A climate report Warren's immediate action is needed to prevent
a climate crisis. Researchers at Oregon State University led an
international coalition to produce the report ahead of United Nations
Climate Change Convention in November. Doctor Lillian greg and OSU
(18:38):
joins us on Local Voices. What's the goal of producing
the report and how will it be used well.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
The past, scientists have primarily focused on getting the word
out about the changing temperatures and STEW two concentrations, but
there's so many more factors that are changing. So the
goal of our work has been to collate the data
from thirty five different vital signs of the planet beyond
the two temperature and CO two that people have been
working to have reported on. There have been reports where
(19:06):
scientists may report on up to ten factors but then
not revisited these factors for twenty five years, only to
find that little to no progress had been made. So
the goal of our report is to really focus on
thirty five different planetary vital signs that we keep track
of year by year and report on to see if
(19:28):
things are changing.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
The report is very detailed. Is it possible to summarize.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The findings of these thirty five different planetary vital signs?
We found that twenty five of them are at all
time record levels and the most striking patterns are this
dramatic step change in the ocean temperatures that are non
overlapping with temperatures from previous years, so lots of years
you'll say, oh, you know, it is higher for these
(19:55):
few months, but not other months. But for the past month,
month by months, for more than a year now, ocean
temperatures have been out of the range of any temperatures
that previously recorded, and that pattern is also seen in
the global sea ice extent, and the rivers in the
Arctic have been turning yellow during the period of rapid
(20:20):
warming and permafrost baw So there's some really dramatic, really
vital signs of the planet that you can see. So
there's dramatic loss and sea ice allows the oceans to
absorb more heat, and the warmer oceans trigger mass coral
bleaching events, which impacts ocean ecosystems and their ability to
(20:41):
take up a portion of the co or two that
we emit beginning of coral reefs as the curious in
a coal mine. This melting sea ice also is dramatically
slowing down ocean circulation, which slows the rate at which
the Gulf stream brings mild climate to you Europe, so
it could change the locations of the major bread baskets
(21:03):
of the world. Wildfires, of course, have reached unprecedented levels,
fueled in part by the rising temperatures in drier conditions,
releasing vast amounts of CO two to the atmosphere. Then
twenty twenty three, Canada released more CO two to the
atmosphere from forest fires than they did from fossil fuels.
So we're entering this dangerous cycle of climate feedback loops
(21:27):
where warming triggers the release of even more greenhouse gases
that further amplifies the warming crisis.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Now, one of the recommendations is to implement a global
carbon price. How would that work?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so, right now, taxpayers are footing all the bills
for all the major climate disasters like Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton,
and all of the wildfires that we hear about in
the news, the crop and infrastructure losses due to flooding.
All of these factors that are caused by climate change
are being paid for by our own tax dollars. The
(22:02):
idea with having a carbon price is that as we
extract these fossil fuels from the earth and release the
CO two and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, the price
should be paid at the extraction level. The way it
gets implemented is actually quite easy. You don't have to
pay a little bit more for every air conditioner or
(22:26):
piece of cement that you put up. What you do
instead is a carbon price is put on the company
as they pay a fee to extract the fossil fuels
from the earth. So that fee then gets extracted by
the companies. They just charge more for their for the
fossil fuels. So the actual product that is developed in
(22:49):
the end costs a little bit more. That incorporates the
cost that the company had to pay to get it
out of the earth. In turn, what happens is those
products cost a little bit more, and so the consumer
would therefore want to buy the cheaper product, so they
would go and buy something that uses less carbon emissions
(23:12):
in order to produce the product. So it's a long
term solution, but it works with the current supply and
demand economics.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Do you think it's realistic to think that major governments
would and I would assume that you'd have to have
a lot of governments sign onto this to make it
work to get the governments to agree to it. Would
that be difficult?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Well, Interestingly, if our report shows that twenty four percent
of all greenhouse gas emissions are currently covered by a
carbon price, and so if you're interested for the details,
you would go to the World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard
and you can see that the EU, even back as
early as two thousand and five, had a carbon price.
(23:52):
Then more recently, countries like Canada, China, Australia, and even
Saudi Arabia have all all implemented carbon prices since twenty nineteen.
And there's many other countries on there, including Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Columbia,
South Africa, and so it's not actually hard to get
(24:13):
countries on board. The problem is that we really need
one hundred percent of all emissions to be covered, not
just the twenty four percent that there's seventy six percent
of emissions out there that are not text And in
order for the price to cover damages, we also need
to raise the price from about twenty dollars pretty ton
of emissions to more like around one hundred dollars per
(24:36):
gig ascent of emissions. We need to attempt to begin
to cover them from the actual cause of what's causing
these climate catastrophes to accelerate.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Another recommendation is a change in eating habits. Explain how
that'll help.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So eighty percent of the world's agriculture is used for
animal products, which includes grazing of land and crop land
for animal feed. This is because animals are high Europe
on the food chain, and so only ten percent of
the energy from the food actually makes it into the
organisms and the rest has burned as heat. The live
(25:09):
stock is actually the world's largest user of land resources.
Also ruminant animals that would include sheep and cattle and goats,
they convert much of the food that they eat to
methane emissions, which is a much stronger and much more
potent greenhouse gas and helps trap more of the heat
(25:30):
into the atmosphere, and so those types of meat have
even greater impact. There's not so much that everyone needs
to go vegan, but we certainly don't need to eat
meat for breakfast, luncheon to dinner every day. Just cutting
back on meat products could lead to a great improvement
on your personal carbon footprint.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Now, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be
held starting November eleventh. What's the goal of that meeting?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So this meeting has happened every year since the nineteen
nineties and it's responsible for coming up with a agreement
in twenty fifteen, which is a hugely important step in
the right direction, and the goal of Paris Agreement is
to keep the global temperature rise to well below two
degrees celsius above pre industrial level. Focus this year will
(26:15):
be on evaluating advancing the global climate action to meet
the Paris Agreement's target. So this includes refining strategies for
reducing carbon emissions, enhancing adaptation efforts, and securing financial commitments
from developed nations to support climate initiative developing countries. So
(26:35):
it includes adjusting actions based on the global stock take
happened just last year, and they want to ensure that
welfare nations contribute fairly to help developing countries manage climate
adaptation and mitigation effort.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Now it's easy to feel like there's nothing just one
person can do to affect climate change because it's such
a large issue. How would you recommend individuals have an.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Impact vote and to get people in screen states to vote.
So along with this we should also raise our concerns
to others, keep the conversation alive, make sure that it
ever comes up to make sure to keep the conversation going.
In addition to voting, we just talked about diet and
(27:18):
switching to more of a plant based diet is certainly helpful,
and it's something that you can do instantly. It's actually cheaper,
so it doesn't cost you anything and you can feel
like you can have an impact right away in that
there's a new type of person. People ask if you're
vegetarian or vegan, but there's some people are saying that
(27:39):
they're a climatarian and so they're just trying to eat
low on the food chain to reduce carbon emissions, separate
from voting in a diet. If you are a homeowner,
it's now cheaper than ever to go soler and if
you get enough stun on your roof and your roof
is not too old, that's definitely a way to go.
Net metering allows for free electricity year round in Oregon,
(28:02):
and it would also fuel an ev if you were
to purchase an electric vehicle if you aren't able to
go solar because you don't have enough sun on your roof.
Anything he can do to shift away from gas use
is going to be helpful because governments worldwide are committing
to provide one hundred percent renewable electricity, So even without solar,
(28:24):
any change of wave from electricity to gas is going
to help. Factors in there would be changing your heat
from a gas furnace to heat pump heaters or heat
pump hot water heaters and heat pump clothes dryers. These
are all highly energy fair efficient and will also save
you money for soaptops you can use conduction or convection stovetops.
(28:46):
And switching to electric vehicle would also be switching away
from gas. But in particular you should go to Rewireamerica
dot com and see all the federal incentives from the
billions of dollars that were dumped into the Inflation Reduction Act.
So the current method the US is using is more
to provide carots, not sticks. And so these are all
(29:08):
incentives where if you take advantage of the incentives, you
will benefit financially. So once solar panels are paid off
in about five years, free electricity for the life of
the panels, although the life of the panels is thought
to be at least thirty years, in a period over
which electricity costs will only rise. So growing solar is
(29:31):
going to benefit everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
That's doctor Lillian greg from the College of Agricultural Sciences
at Oregon State University with details on their report about
the factors causing climate change, and the recommendations to prevent it.
Thanks for listening to Local Voices, I'm brad Forward. You
can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app under the
podcast tab. Local Voices is a public affairs presentation from
(29:55):
iHeartRadio ZO
Welcome local voices. I'm brad Ford. The Great Oregon Shakeout
will be held this Thursday. We'll tell you how to
take part. Parents, Rites and Education is working to bring
change to schools at Oregon State University leads the way
and writing a report on current effects of climate change.
The Great Oregon Shakeout will be held this Thursday. Althea
Rizzo with Oregon Emergency Management joins us on Local Voices. Ala,
(00:28):
what is the Great Oregon Shakeout?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
So the Great Oregon Shakeout is part of an international
earthquake Drop, cover and hold drill. This gives everyone an
opportunity to practice what to do when the ground starts
shaking during an earthquake, and that is to drop, and
it is to cover and is to hold on.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
So with an earthquake of that size, does stuff go flying?
Is that why we go into the table?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah. The most common injury from an earthquake is from
things falling on people during the earthquake. That's outside of
the tsunami area, of course, but common injuries from being
thrown to the ground because of the shaking is strong enough,
(01:15):
we just won't be able to move during an earthquake.
Other injuries is you know, all of our nonstructural elements
inside our light fixtures or paintings on the wall, our
china hutches and all of those our TVs can fall
in interest. So we want to make sure that people
are safe so that after the earthquake they don't have
(01:37):
to be dealing with injuries.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Should we do anything in advance of the Great Shakeout?
Do we need to register?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yeah? So there is a website and that's shakeout dot org.
If you go there, you can make your way to
the Oregon page and register there. There's a lot of
really good information on how you get prepared for emergencies.
Oregon Department of Emergency Management has recently launched a new
(02:05):
preparedness program called be two Weeks Ready, and this is
helping people to understand, you know, what do they need
to be doing in order to be on their own
or self sufficient for at least two weeks. And there's
a lot of different ways that people can approach that,
and we just really encourage people to check out the
(02:27):
B two Weeks Ready website and learn what they can
about preparedness.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So part of that is a family plan. What should
a family plan include?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Well, it should include you know, where are they going
to meet after an emergency? And it's not just an earthquake.
You know, we grew up learning that we were supposed
to evacuate the house during the fire and we were
supposed to meet, you know, the neighbors across the street.
So this is kind of the same thing. So if
the earthquake happens during a school day, you know, knowing
(02:57):
what the school plan is for an earthquake is for parents,
you know, if you're going to be at work, how
are you going to reconnect with your family? Another thing
would be to have an out of state contact so
that everyone after the earthquake could text that person, for instance,
but that person can let folks know by a text
(03:21):
that you know, the kids are safe at school and
the parents can pick them up there after an earthquake,
you know, much like what we're seeing in the hurricanes.
Cell phone service will be pretty problematic, but you should
be able to text.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Where can we go to learn more?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, that's a great question. We highly recommend folks check
out the shakeout dot org website and get signed up.
They can go to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management
website and learn more about the B two Weeks Ready program,
they can download information, they can get into contact with
folks who may be running a program area. There is
(04:02):
you know, they can reach out to the American Red Cross,
become volunteers. So there's a lot of ways that people
can get involved in getting ready for this earthquake that
is surely coming towards us sometime in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Health, anything else you'd like to add.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
You know, we really encourage people to not be afraid
of that these earthquakes. Humans are very resilient, especially organs
are very resilient. And the more preparedness that you do,
the more preparations you take, it just means that you're
going to be able to protect your family, You're going
to be able to protect your neighbors, and you know,
(04:40):
anything that we can do ahead of time as far
as mitigating you know, the transportation system, utility systems, anything
that we can do before the earthquake happens will make
recovery that much easier.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's Alfa Arizo with Oregon Emergency Management and details in
the Great Oregon Shakeout scheduled for this Thursday. The group
Parents' Rights and Education is working to bring change in
public schools. Suzanne Gallagher as the group's national director. Suzanne
tell us about Parents' Rights and Education.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Started out mostly as informational because you know, when you
have situations like this where people are concerned about certain
things that are happening, they need to build some sort
of a following in order to really address it in
a meaningful way. And so I took over in twenty
(05:31):
eighteen and did a little bit of rebranding, you know,
came out with a new website, and we began to
receive inquiries from all over the country because of the
name of our organization. So parents would google rights, Parents'
Rights Education, and our website came up, and they would
(05:52):
make an inquiry and we'd call them back and discuss
what was going on in their schools. First call came
from a woman in Iowa.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Amazing. It's not amazing here we are in Oregon.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
So so time went by and we realized, you know,
we've got to get a little bit more serious about this.
We need more media coverage, we need to get the
word out. It's really really important to build that following
in order to make a difference. And so we hired
a professional media team and two years ago we rebranded
(06:22):
again and we changed our focus a little bit less
from providing information and more to action. So our main
focus at this time is activating parents and citizens at
the local level to testify to their school boards and
(06:46):
to run for school board.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Talked us a little bit about some of your concerns
about what's going on in school districts.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Well, the things that motivate us, that drive us as
an organization, of course, is feedback from parents what's happening
in their local area. And all schools are different, all
districts are different, and all states are different, so it
depends on you know, depends on the parent, depends on
the situation, the age of the child, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
But from the feedback that we get from parents.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Some of the top issues are curriculum, controversial curriculum, controversial
literature that is offered to students in their libraries, so
they're really tied together. I believe that the school library
is a part of the curriculum. And what else I
(07:37):
would say, counselors talking to students without parents' knowledge or permission.
Counselors and others other staff people, teachers and administrators, and
parents oftentimes don't find out that things are going on
between those adults and their child. And I don't mean
necessarily that they're being physically harmed at all, but they're
(08:03):
having conversations, private conversations with other adults without their knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Talk to us a little bit about the importance of
a parent going to a school board meeting. Most parents
don't do that, but talk to us about why that's
important and what they can get out of it.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Okay, So it's it's good for everybody, it's good for
the for the board, because the board needs to know,
you know, what people think in their constituency. They are
an elected board. They're no different really from any other
elected representative, and part of their responsibility is to listen
to parents and other citizens in the district. Citizens are
(08:43):
you know, people who like me, who've been around a
long time and paid a lot in property taxes, and
you know, we want to know how that horror money.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Is being used.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
So they do get feedback from members of a community,
and it is the responsibility of a school board to
take that into consider when they're making policy decisions. So
why it's so important is that what that does is
when you go when you go to a school board meeting,
you testify your testimony is documented. Oftentimes the school district
(09:17):
will have a video representation so it can be replayed,
and you go on record basically with your concern or
maybe it's a praise, maybe it's something good, and we
cannot forget that. We need to recognize when good things
happen as well, because all schools are not all bad,
(09:38):
and we all have a responsibility to, you know, to
have them be as the best they can be.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
So that's the benefit.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
But also on the parents side, and we've seen this
so many places all across the country where maybe just
one person went to the school board meeting. They didn't
have a coordinated effort, they didn't know anybody else, Maybe
they work for they have no time to meet anybody,
so they go to the school board meeting and they
start talking about something that maybe it's the curriculum, maybe
(10:07):
it's the book in the library, and other people see that,
maybe they're in the audience, they're there for another reason,
and they're.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
Like, wait a minute.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
What, And then that builds community awareness. And you know
that the term that I hear so much these days
is all about transparency.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Basically, that's what it is. Transparency.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
We need to talk what's going on, and.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
That's where our that's where our sources come from.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
But not only from parents, but teachers and students.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
They're all in the building exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Let's talk about some of the issues that your group addresses.
I looked at your website. One of the issues of
school health clinics. Where do you come down on that.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Well, you know, clinics do have a place, you know,
on campus. Uh, some families don't have any access to
health care. And there may be a situation at school
where a child, you know, just maybe he needs an
aspirin or you know, there's we want.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
To take care of the kids, right.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
But again, the question about the clinics is who makes
the decision when it comes.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
To medical care for a minor.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
And parents need to know what if their child went
to the clinic.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
How were they how were they treated?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
And I would think from a liability standpoint that would
be like a no brainer for most administrators, but not
so anymore. And these students can also be referred out
to other clinics or other medical facilities for treatment, and
(11:58):
that would include uh, you know, medication, sometimes hormone injections
and things like that without a parent's knowledge.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Or consent.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Now, does Oregon law dictate what cannon can't be said
and how those clinics operate.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Well, law does, and the laws are different from state
to state. State of Oregon allows all kinds of things
for minors at age fifteen, they basically emancipated from their parents.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
But if something goes wrong.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
And they have to be rushed to the emergency room,
who are they gonna call.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Mom and dad?
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Well, right right.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
So mom and dad should be called in before there's
an emergency.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
They need to be tracking with their kids.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Let's talk about the issue of school choice. Where do
you stand on that?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Well, school choice, absolutely, school choice has been a good
idea of Gosh, I've known about it in the state
of Oregon for almost thirty years and believe in it.
Speaker 5 (13:02):
That issue. I don't know if the.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
Timing is right right now in the state of Oregon
because of the makeup of our electorate, but its time
is coming, and in the meantime, we have to protect
the kids that are in the public school system now,
and so that's why we're focusing on the public schools
and how things are going there and what the public
(13:28):
schools do does affect private schools, and of course charter
schools which are part of the public school system.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Where does a group stand on gender ideology? I saw
that on the website.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Oh yeah, you know, well that has been added to
the law in the state of Oregon, and we're talking
about Oregon here, and so it's very concerning, and that's
we're getting a lot of feedback from parents about this
concerns where they are introduced to this concept of their
(14:00):
sex when they're five, and it's.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Shocking to many parents.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
They weren't expecting that, they didn't understand what's going on.
The kids are shown what would be considered pornographic images
of body parts when they're five and asked to name
all the body parts.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
That is concerning to parents.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
They want they want their schools to you know, they
want to af their kids out. They don't want their
kids seeing that. So that's one of the controversial topics.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What's the best way for parents to know what's going
on and whether kids are going to.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
See school Thanks for that question.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Actually, by law, federal law, they have the right to
see all the curriculum. They have the right to be
in the library and see all the library books. In fact,
sometimes they can access lists of what's in the library.
They have the right to have access to all not
just not just written curriculum.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
But videos.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
They need to know about outside speakers, everything associated with
the teaching day parents should have access to.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So one thing that you touched on earlier is parents'
involvement in the school board and you work with parents
on how to do that, how the process works. Talk
to us a little bit about how parents can get
involved in what they need to know about that process.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Well, one really great way for them to get involved
is to join our organization and they can do that
for free.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We have a great website.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
It's called Parents Rights and Education dot com and on
that website you can sign it for free membership or
you can become an affiliate in your school district. We're
looking for affiliates, contact people in every school district across
the country, and those are individuals who might take a
(15:48):
little higher level of interest in what's happening in their
school district. They don't necessarily have to be parents, they
can be you know, citizens, and.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
That's the best. And we also have training on our.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Website, again free on demand training on demand online. I mean,
what more could you want? Parents don't have time, right,
they don't have any time, and you know, they wish
that they didn't have to get more involved.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
They wish they didn't have to.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
But when they learn that something has you know, offended
their child or another person's child, or you know, they
start hearing about things that concern them, they're thinking, oh, Dogana,
now I have to So what's the easiest way. Don't
try to start your own organization. You don't need to.
That's what we're here for. We are your media resource.
We will guide you, We will train you and guide
(16:41):
you in how to approach this process, and we will
inform you about your rights and if necessary, we want
to hear your stories. That's that's my main role is
listening to these stories. We know from experience, what you know,
what is appropriate perhaps in remedying those situations.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Sometimes we need legal help.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
We have many resources for legal help in different parts
of the country, and so we just want to hear
what's going on in your district and maybe taking one
of the school board members out for coffee, finding out
who are you talking to? Are these people open? If not, well,
then you might think about well, maybe we gee school
(17:28):
board elections are coming up next year in Oregon twenty
twenty five, we are recruiting people to run for school
board and we will help them, and we have on
our website a quiz. It's kind of a fun quiz,
but it is very serious actually.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
That quiz will.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
Ask you questions about issues in the school district. And
then if you are a candidate, you can create your
own URL and we will help you with your with
your race for school board. If you're somebody like you
or me in you know we're citizens, Well, there'll be
a bubble placed on our map. So we want to
see bubbles filling our entire map. So everybody take the quiz.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
What's the website again?
Speaker 5 (18:11):
It's Parents Rights and Education dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Thank you very much for joining us on Local Voices today.
Appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's Suzanne Gallagher, the national director of Parents' Rights in Education.
A climate report Warren's immediate action is needed to prevent
a climate crisis. Researchers at Oregon State University led an
international coalition to produce the report ahead of United Nations
Climate Change Convention in November. Doctor Lillian greg and OSU
(18:38):
joins us on Local Voices. What's the goal of producing
the report and how will it be used well.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
The past, scientists have primarily focused on getting the word
out about the changing temperatures and STEW two concentrations, but
there's so many more factors that are changing. So the
goal of our work has been to collate the data
from thirty five different vital signs of the planet beyond
the two temperature and CO two that people have been
working to have reported on. There have been reports where
(19:06):
scientists may report on up to ten factors but then
not revisited these factors for twenty five years, only to
find that little to no progress had been made. So
the goal of our report is to really focus on
thirty five different planetary vital signs that we keep track
of year by year and report on to see if
(19:28):
things are changing.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
The report is very detailed. Is it possible to summarize.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The findings of these thirty five different planetary vital signs?
We found that twenty five of them are at all
time record levels and the most striking patterns are this
dramatic step change in the ocean temperatures that are non
overlapping with temperatures from previous years, so lots of years
you'll say, oh, you know, it is higher for these
(19:55):
few months, but not other months. But for the past month,
month by months, for more than a year now, ocean
temperatures have been out of the range of any temperatures
that previously recorded, and that pattern is also seen in
the global sea ice extent, and the rivers in the
Arctic have been turning yellow during the period of rapid
(20:20):
warming and permafrost baw So there's some really dramatic, really
vital signs of the planet that you can see. So
there's dramatic loss and sea ice allows the oceans to
absorb more heat, and the warmer oceans trigger mass coral
bleaching events, which impacts ocean ecosystems and their ability to
(20:41):
take up a portion of the co or two that
we emit beginning of coral reefs as the curious in
a coal mine. This melting sea ice also is dramatically
slowing down ocean circulation, which slows the rate at which
the Gulf stream brings mild climate to you Europe, so
it could change the locations of the major bread baskets
(21:03):
of the world. Wildfires, of course, have reached unprecedented levels,
fueled in part by the rising temperatures in drier conditions,
releasing vast amounts of CO two to the atmosphere. Then
twenty twenty three, Canada released more CO two to the
atmosphere from forest fires than they did from fossil fuels.
So we're entering this dangerous cycle of climate feedback loops
(21:27):
where warming triggers the release of even more greenhouse gases
that further amplifies the warming crisis.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Now, one of the recommendations is to implement a global
carbon price. How would that work?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so, right now, taxpayers are footing all the bills
for all the major climate disasters like Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton,
and all of the wildfires that we hear about in
the news, the crop and infrastructure losses due to flooding.
All of these factors that are caused by climate change
are being paid for by our own tax dollars. The
(22:02):
idea with having a carbon price is that as we
extract these fossil fuels from the earth and release the
CO two and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, the price
should be paid at the extraction level. The way it
gets implemented is actually quite easy. You don't have to
pay a little bit more for every air conditioner or
(22:26):
piece of cement that you put up. What you do
instead is a carbon price is put on the company
as they pay a fee to extract the fossil fuels
from the earth. So that fee then gets extracted by
the companies. They just charge more for their for the
fossil fuels. So the actual product that is developed in
(22:49):
the end costs a little bit more. That incorporates the
cost that the company had to pay to get it
out of the earth. In turn, what happens is those
products cost a little bit more, and so the consumer
would therefore want to buy the cheaper product, so they
would go and buy something that uses less carbon emissions
(23:12):
in order to produce the product. So it's a long
term solution, but it works with the current supply and
demand economics.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Do you think it's realistic to think that major governments
would and I would assume that you'd have to have
a lot of governments sign onto this to make it
work to get the governments to agree to it. Would
that be difficult?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Well, Interestingly, if our report shows that twenty four percent
of all greenhouse gas emissions are currently covered by a
carbon price, and so if you're interested for the details,
you would go to the World Bank Carbon Pricing Dashboard
and you can see that the EU, even back as
early as two thousand and five, had a carbon price.
(23:52):
Then more recently, countries like Canada, China, Australia, and even
Saudi Arabia have all all implemented carbon prices since twenty nineteen.
And there's many other countries on there, including Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Columbia,
South Africa, and so it's not actually hard to get
(24:13):
countries on board. The problem is that we really need
one hundred percent of all emissions to be covered, not
just the twenty four percent that there's seventy six percent
of emissions out there that are not text And in
order for the price to cover damages, we also need
to raise the price from about twenty dollars pretty ton
of emissions to more like around one hundred dollars per
(24:36):
gig ascent of emissions. We need to attempt to begin
to cover them from the actual cause of what's causing
these climate catastrophes to accelerate.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Another recommendation is a change in eating habits. Explain how
that'll help.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So eighty percent of the world's agriculture is used for
animal products, which includes grazing of land and crop land
for animal feed. This is because animals are high Europe
on the food chain, and so only ten percent of
the energy from the food actually makes it into the
organisms and the rest has burned as heat. The live
(25:09):
stock is actually the world's largest user of land resources.
Also ruminant animals that would include sheep and cattle and goats,
they convert much of the food that they eat to
methane emissions, which is a much stronger and much more
potent greenhouse gas and helps trap more of the heat
(25:30):
into the atmosphere, and so those types of meat have
even greater impact. There's not so much that everyone needs
to go vegan, but we certainly don't need to eat
meat for breakfast, luncheon to dinner every day. Just cutting
back on meat products could lead to a great improvement
on your personal carbon footprint.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Now, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be
held starting November eleventh. What's the goal of that meeting?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So this meeting has happened every year since the nineteen
nineties and it's responsible for coming up with a agreement
in twenty fifteen, which is a hugely important step in
the right direction, and the goal of Paris Agreement is
to keep the global temperature rise to well below two
degrees celsius above pre industrial level. Focus this year will
(26:15):
be on evaluating advancing the global climate action to meet
the Paris Agreement's target. So this includes refining strategies for
reducing carbon emissions, enhancing adaptation efforts, and securing financial commitments
from developed nations to support climate initiative developing countries. So
(26:35):
it includes adjusting actions based on the global stock take
happened just last year, and they want to ensure that
welfare nations contribute fairly to help developing countries manage climate
adaptation and mitigation effort.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Now it's easy to feel like there's nothing just one
person can do to affect climate change because it's such
a large issue. How would you recommend individuals have an.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Impact vote and to get people in screen states to vote.
So along with this we should also raise our concerns
to others, keep the conversation alive, make sure that it
ever comes up to make sure to keep the conversation going.
In addition to voting, we just talked about diet and
(27:18):
switching to more of a plant based diet is certainly helpful,
and it's something that you can do instantly. It's actually cheaper,
so it doesn't cost you anything and you can feel
like you can have an impact right away in that
there's a new type of person. People ask if you're
vegetarian or vegan, but there's some people are saying that
(27:39):
they're a climatarian and so they're just trying to eat
low on the food chain to reduce carbon emissions, separate
from voting in a diet. If you are a homeowner,
it's now cheaper than ever to go soler and if
you get enough stun on your roof and your roof
is not too old, that's definitely a way to go.
Net metering allows for free electricity year round in Oregon,
(28:02):
and it would also fuel an ev if you were
to purchase an electric vehicle if you aren't able to
go solar because you don't have enough sun on your roof.
Anything he can do to shift away from gas use
is going to be helpful because governments worldwide are committing
to provide one hundred percent renewable electricity, So even without solar,
(28:24):
any change of wave from electricity to gas is going
to help. Factors in there would be changing your heat
from a gas furnace to heat pump heaters or heat
pump hot water heaters and heat pump clothes dryers. These
are all highly energy fair efficient and will also save
you money for soaptops you can use conduction or convection stovetops.
(28:46):
And switching to electric vehicle would also be switching away
from gas. But in particular you should go to Rewireamerica
dot com and see all the federal incentives from the
billions of dollars that were dumped into the Inflation Reduction Act.
So the current method the US is using is more
to provide carots, not sticks. And so these are all
(29:08):
incentives where if you take advantage of the incentives, you
will benefit financially. So once solar panels are paid off
in about five years, free electricity for the life of
the panels, although the life of the panels is thought
to be at least thirty years, in a period over
which electricity costs will only rise. So growing solar is
(29:31):
going to benefit everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
That's doctor Lillian greg from the College of Agricultural Sciences
at Oregon State University with details on their report about
the factors causing climate change, and the recommendations to prevent it.
Thanks for listening to Local Voices, I'm brad Forward. You
can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app under the
podcast tab. Local Voices is a public affairs presentation from
(29:55):
iHeartRadio ZO
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.