Environment Oregon is a political non-profit organization in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, that lobbies for legislation in regard to environmental policy on local, state and national levels. It is affiliated with Environment America

Environment America

Environment America is a federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations. Its mission is to advocate for and protect clean air, water, and open spaces in the United States...

, a federation of environmental organizations in thirty states. Based in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, it has more than 35,000 members throughout the state.

History

Environment Oregon was created in 2007 to house the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG, a local affiliate of the Public Interest Research Group) environmental programs. OSPIRG was started by students at the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

, inspired by Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

, who did a speaking tour of college campuses in the early 1970s.

Politics

In 2007 Environment Oregon lobbied the state legislature for renewable energy and for Measure 49, a ballot measure regarding land use planning

Land use in Oregon

Land use in Oregon are the evolving laws affecting land ownership and its restrictions in the U.S. state of Oregon.- Timeline :* 1822: Henry Schenck Tanner's map of the U.S...

.

Membership and Labor

Environment Oregon works with the Fund for Public Interest Research

Fund for Public Interest Research

The Fund for the Public Interest is a 501 non-profit organization that runs the public fundraising and membership operations canvassing for several political nonprofit organizations...

 to conduct its fundraising and membership operations, employing dozens of canvassers and phone-callers who contact Oregonians door-to-door, on street corners and over the phone. The Fund is currently a defendant in a class-action lawsuit

Class action

In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...

brought by current and former canvassers.

External links

• Environment Oregon (official website)
• Environment America
• OSPIRG