Oregon150

Leave Oregon Better
By: Lee Weinstein

“Do we want to breathe? Do we want to drink water? Do we care about all the other species not only man? It’s turning in to a toilet out there.”
– Ringo Starr, responding that the environment is the most pressing issue facing mankind, Rolling Stone, 2007

My dream for Oregon for the coming 50 years is that we agree to pass down our values to each generation about what it means to be an Oregonian.

Growing up in Salem in the early 1970s, I well remember some of the No Litter campaigns of the time and, particularly, the posters that SOLV (then ‘Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism’) sent to me, one of which was “Get Up Off Your Apathy.”

The antilittering efforts during the Gov. Tom McCall era led to our state’s passage of the first Bottle Bill in the nation – legislation that will hopefully be reinvigorated by the current Legislature.

Keep America Beautiful national campaigns from the era are still deeply embedded in my generation’s memories, especially the “Crying Indian. Watch it here

Oregon is a spectacular state, but at 150 years, the fraying around the edges caused by mankind’s presence is noticeable. Litter is bountiful alongside Oregon’s highways. Plastic grocery bags adorn many a bush. And not a stream or lake in Oregon doesn’t contain refuse.

As part of this month’s Oregon 150’s Take Care of Oregon Days, we spent last Friday with neighbors cleaning up trash along Skyline Road here in The Dalles. More than 20,000 Oregonians are out volunteering around the state this month. It’s truly been inspiring!

We found the usual beer cans and trash, but also 14 tires, an oven, 3 refrigerators, a car engine and more. It felt good to clean up “Whiskey Gulch” and we vowed to return regularly to keep it that way.

When was the last time Oregon had a strong antilitter public service campaign that resonated with the public? No Oregonian should litter.

Community is defined as “a group of people with a common background or with shared interests within society.” Do we have a sense of community in Oregon? I read that 54 percent of the people now living here weren’t born in Oregon. How many people know who Tom McCall was? Why we have strong land use planning laws?

Every Oregonian who wants to drive gets a drivers manual. What if everyone who they also received an Oregon Owners Manual? That manual could include our antilittering values and other maxims about what citizenship entails in Oregon.

SOLV produced a terrific Oregon Owner’s Manual in 2002. What if we started with that? The Oregon Owners Manual could even be paid for with a $1 drivers license surcharge.

Every generation has a responsibility to Leave Oregon Better. I for one hope Take Care of Oregon Days isn’t a sesquicentennial one shot, but a movement that grows, and that we look for ways to all become better citizens, and to pass down our values.

We are truly fortunate to live in the best place in the world. Let’s keep it that way.

Photo caption: The Dalles residents Lee Weinstein, Melinda Weinstein, Steve Talbot, Judith Rizzio (arm raised), Jim Dixon and Tim McClure cleaning up Skyline Road