Sponsored by: Valdez Bravo, Multnomah County, DPO Vice Chair Approved: 11/19/2017
A RESOLUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON
WHEREAS, climate change is a global phenomenon that threatens, in one way or another, everyone on the planet; and
WHEREAS, the DPO 2016 Platform, Article 6 Plank 1, which stresses that “climate change is a global emergency caused by human activities, and we must take immediate actions to reduce our negative impacts…” is based on overwhelming scientific consensus; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Defense has, in its military threat assessment identifying risks to life and liberty, explicitly acknowledged the existence of climate change and included it as a significant risk factor based on crop loss (foreign and domestic) and the forced displacement of large distressed populations that can result in political instabilities, including increased potential for armed conflict; and
WHEREAS, historical instances where the scientific evidence identified a human-caused threat to global well-being have resulted in nonpartisan consensus to create international agreements and Federal and state legislation to mitigate such threats: these instances include acid rain, damage to the protective ozone layer caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and the atmospheric and underground testing of nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, The Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) has previously adopted Resolution #2017-005 calling for “bold action to create a statewide carbon tax to fund Oregon’s transition to 100% renewable energy.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1: Climate change, as with previous human-induced threats to global well-being, is reality, as attested to by scientific evidence, and is therefore not a partisan argument and shall not be dismissed as such.
Section 2: All branches of federal, state, and local governments must serve the global and national public interest by recommitting to the Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015.
Section 3: Public officials, campaigns and candidates that deny the reality of climate change are acting against the consensus of science and the best interests of the people everywhere; the Democratic Party of Oregon shall not provide them or their campaigns with any material or other support.
Section 4: We call upon Oregon legislators to support the concepts and policies embodied in the proposed Clean Energy and Jobs Bill (CEJB) that would work, in conjunction with other states, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are a major cause of global climate change.
Section 5: We support policies that would result in the investment of revenues generated by an Oregon cap program to increase the use of clean energy in all sectors of our state economy.
