April 6, 2025 • 30 mins
SOLVE's annual Spring Clean up is almost here, it's time to register. This is Food Waste Prevention Week, and it can save you a lot of money. The Oregon Legislature considers a bill to prohibit discrimination as a reason to ban a book from a school. Auto thefts in Oregon drop 30%.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to local Voices. I'm brad Ford. SOLVES Spring Cleanup
is almost here and it's time to register. This is
Food waste Prevention Week and it can save you a
lot of money. The Oregon Legislature is moving a bill
to prohibit discrimination as a reason to ban a book
from schools, and the number of stolen vehicles has dropped significantly.
(00:25):
SOLVE is preparing for its first large cleanup of the year.
Registration is now open. Tato Night Sky is was solved?
Tell us how the Spring Cleanup started?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Sure, the Oregon Spring Cleanup. It's our annual Earth Month celebration.
So this year is April twelfth through to the twenty seconds.
It's going to be over one hundred projects across Oregon
in Southwest Washington. How did it start? That's a great question.
It used to be the two different events that we
combined into one. So we had to solve it for
(00:56):
Earth Day event and we had the Spring Cleanup event
and we merge them together in twenty nineteen and just
to kind of amplify the impact of Earth Month, we
have a lot of engagement happening that month and it
just made sense to put them together.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Is this a statewide event.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's statewide and we also have projects that happen in
the Vancouver area bits of southwest Washington.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So how do people register?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure so solve Oregon dot org is going to be
the best way to get all the information about the
event and to check out our events calendar. It's easy
to get involved. You can sign up as a team
where you can register as part of a group and
save spots for your friends or family or coworkers. You
can sign up as an individual. We also accept people
(01:44):
who want to join and lead their own events. That
could be leading as an individual doing something where you
just need a bit more volunteer support. The event would
go up on our calendar. You can also post it
privately if you have a group that you just want
to participate in the event. So a lot of different
ways to get involved.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What tell us about some of the projects? What are
they sure.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
They arrange from litter cleanups to restoration events. Restoration being
native tree and shrub plantings, invasive lead pulling, mulching projects,
a lot of street and neighborhood litter pickups, and the
project locations are ranging from a story out of Brookings
(02:30):
Lammett National Forests southern Oregon all the way to Baker
City in eastern Oregon.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Now you mentioned this, but you said people can set
up their own projects if they don't want to join
one that's already there. How do you go about doing that?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So also on our website on solive Oregon dot org,
there's a few different pathways for that. Either you're signing
up to lead an event as an individual, or you're
signing up as part of an organization or a group.
And we host weekly Zoom orientations for folks that want
to lead events every Tuesday over the lunch hour from
(03:08):
noon to one. And that's just a good overview to
see what resources we offer. But we help with free supplies,
access to project funds, disposal assistance, volunteer recruitment, really any
part of the event planning process we support with.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Now there are new coastal supply hubs. Tell us about those.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So really exciting opportunity to just increase our sustainability efforts
on the coast. We've got now seven different supply hubs
from all the way up at Fort Stevens to South Beach.
We've got Heart of Cardom, We've got bandon Washed Ashore.
So a few different locations, one in every county at
(03:53):
least where events for about smaller for a group of
twenty or so can come to the hub and grab
litter grabbers, reasonable vests and gloves, buckets, sand sifters, everything
that you would need to do a small scale litter cleanup.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now, there's also a trash bag challenge. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
We're really excited about the trash Bag Challenge. It just
launched last week. It's just a fun way to, you know,
with a little friendly competition, challenge others to get involved
with either leading their own projects or participating in one
as a group. So for those that are interested in
leading a cleanup, the idea would be you challenging then
(04:40):
another group. It could be a neighborhood association against a
neighborhood association, or a school dorm versus another school dorm.
Really the possibilities are endless, and then challenging that group
to either come out to a solve event with their
group or lead their own project. Again, that could be
a public project that's on our event calendar or private
(05:02):
project that just that group participates in. And then we're
hoping that that just kind of snowballs and folks challenge
one another and just spark some community pride and again
some friendly competition to get people involved in litter pickup.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Around How many people take part in these cleanups again
two of them each year.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So we have cleanups pretty much every week. This is
a really large scale event where we have a lot
of different projects happening during a concentrated amount of time.
But we're expecting to see at least two thousand people
out between April twelfth and April twenty second. We have
thousands of volunteers that we work with every year, but
(05:48):
this is really our most popular event because it's Earth Month.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And again, give us a registration information where can people
go to find out more? And is there a deadline
to register?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
A deadline to register? Obviously the sooner the better if
you're trying to reserve spots, especially if you've got a
group that you're wanting to bring out. But solveorgon dot
org is the best way to get information about the
event and to check out our event calendar.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Taylor or anything else you want to add that I
didn't ask you about.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I did want to plug and just appreciate our our
partner in this event, which is Portland General or Electric.
They're a long time sponsor of this event. Wanted to
call them out.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Thanks Taylor. That's Taylor night Ski with Solve and details
about the Oregon Spring cleanup again. Their website is Solve
Oregon dot org. This is National Food Waste Prevention Week
and the Oregon Deproperty of Environmental Quality is ready to help.
Jarendenkins is the deeq's Food system specialist. Jaren, what can
(06:51):
you tell us about food waste in Oregon?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Thirty eight percent of the food that has grown for
human consumption in the United States is never eaten, and
there's a really big opportunity here for waste prevention because
seventy percent of that thirty eight is food waste that
was once perfectly edible. So we're not talking about things
like bones and eggshells and stuff like that. Seventy percent
(07:15):
of that food was something that was completely edible that folks,
you know, it sat on their county counter for too long,
or some moldy leftovers in the fridge that ended up
either in the waste spin or in the compost. So
there's a big opportunity for prevention here that we know
(07:35):
kind of through those statistics.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What are some of the different sources of food waste.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, so food waste comes from all across the entire
supply chain of food. It comes from farms, crops that
are left unharvested due to market standards. You know, we
hear about imperfect foods all of the time and the
opportunity there, and you know, restaurants and businesses such as
(08:03):
grocery grocers don't want to have that kind of product
on display for consumers. So farms is one place where
food waste happens. Businesses are also another place. So places
like restaurants, groceries and food service places, they can often
over prepare foods or are mishandling inventory by over purchasing.
(08:27):
So that's another place where we see food waste. And
then of course at home. So all of us, I think,
are susceptible to this just because things spoil before we
are able to use them all due to busy schedules
and things like that, we have a tendency to over
purchase foods. And then folks, really there's a huge opportunity
(08:51):
for eating leftovers. Leftovers is one of my favorite ways
to reduce food waste because not only are they delis,
But it really reduces the labor and time going into
making something from scratch, and you can get really creative
with your leftovers, you know, turn something into a soup,
(09:11):
turn it into an omelet. That's one of my favorite
things to do in the morning is use leftovers in
an omelet. So, yeah, it really does occur across the
entire supply chain. I don't think there's anywhere that we
don't have an opportunity to improve our processes to generate
less food waste.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Are there environmental problems with throwing away food the way
it breaks down?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah? Absolutely. Rotting food in landfills produces methane, as we've discussed,
which is a greenhouse gas that is eighty times more
potent than carbon dioxide. And wasted food also squanders all
of the water, energy, and land that's used to grow it,
(09:59):
and that counts for about eight percent of global emissions
across the supply chain.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So what can businesses do to reduce food waste?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, so businesses like restaurants and grocery stores and farms.
Food waste really is a huge issue here because it
cuts into profits, it can drive up operational costs, and
it does create unnecessary environmental strain, which is a detriment
(10:30):
to us all. And we have a statistic from an
organization called REFED that measures food waste across the nation,
and what they do is they are able to kind
of tell us across the retail and food service sector
how much money is lost to wasted food alone. And
(10:51):
in twenty twenty four, that was about seventy four billion
dollars across the nation that was lost of food waste.
So we know there's a huge opportunity for businesses to
save money by reducing food waste, and we do have
some really great examples of that being done right here
in Oregon with some of our local businesses. Bob's Redmill
(11:13):
and New Seasons Market are some of the folks we've
worked with who have done some really robust waste reduction
projects to increase efficiencies within their businesses. And you know,
this can be done a number of different ways. You
can engage and train employees around waste prevention. You can
(11:35):
audit your waste systems, you can look into improving your
inventory systems. Restaurants can reduce portion sizes for consumers, and
of course, when there is excess food that is still
good quality. We do suggest donating that food to organizations,
(11:56):
so it does kind of seem like a no brainer,
but it does take a little bit work on the
business end. But really less waste means more savings, a
stronger business model, and a healthier planet for us all does.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality kind of address this
by having some programs that are pointed at businesses and
then some advice for consumers.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
The organ Department of Environmental Quality is a part of
the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, which is a coalition
between Oregon, California, Washington, British Columbia that works with businesses
and manufacturers on some of the projects I was just discussing.
Bob's Redmill is a really great example. We love calling out.
(12:41):
They did a employee engagement process where they looked at
their manufacturing lines and engaged their employees asking them where
they saw the biggest opportunities for reducing waste along the
manufacturing line, and that resulted in a huge cost saving
and a huge amount of food waste that was then
(13:03):
being captured and can go back into resale.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Now this is Food Waste Prevention Week. Do you have
some examples of programs around Oregon that are available to consumers.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I work with a coalition of fifty plus partners across
the state who all engage in Food Waste Prevention Week.
It is a national campaign aimed at educating folks to
reduce waste, to protect the environment, help families save money,
and feed folks that are food insecure. So supporting our communities.
(13:35):
We have a huge lineup of events happening across the
state from up here in Portland all the way down
to southern Oregon and Central Oregon. One event that I
would really love to shout out it is their second year.
During this event in core Vallast, it is the core
Vallast Sustainability Coalitions No Food Left Behind program doing a
(14:00):
Bread to Tap event where they will be serving what
they call a recycle ale and that is beer that
is made from upcycled products from a local bakery. And
so that will be Saturday, April twelfth at eleven a
m at the Old World Center in Core Vallas. So
(14:22):
there will be live music, there will be trivia and games.
There will be an upcycled menu by Chef JD who
is serving food made from soon to expire, not soon
to expire, but upcycled foods?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What is upcycled foods?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
One of the items that was on the menu last
last year was a bread pudding. So taking bread that
maybe is a little you know, maybe a little stale
or a little tough to eat, you wouldn't want to
make a sandwich with it, but upcycling it into something
delicious like a bread pudding. And taking those items and
(15:03):
turning them in getting getting creative and turning them into
something new and delicious.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Interesting. So food that hasn't gone bad, but it's past
its point of where it would be normally used is
what it is? Yeah? Interesting? Does d EQ have a
website with information on reducing food waste if people want
to learn.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
More, Absolutely, we have a website called Don't Let Good
Food Go Bad. On that website you'll find so many resources.
You can find storage guides that help make your food
last longer. So, for instance, there's certain foods that shouldn't
be stored next to each other on your counter because
(15:42):
they release certain gases that lead to quicker spoilage. You'll
also find meal planning tricks and easy ways to make
the most of the food that you have. And it's
all packaged with some really fun and playful food characters
and graphics.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Terrific Anything else you want to add that I didn't
ask you about.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So, something that I think is really important that gets
overlooked is that the impact isn't just environmental, it's also financial.
Right now, the average organ household is throwing away nearly
two nine hundred dollars a year on uneaten food. So
that kind of leads me into a question for you.
(16:22):
Do you know what you would do with an extra
twenty nine hundred dollars a year bread?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I do? I do that? Make a nice trip somewhere.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, So we know how important it is for many
organ families to reduce unnecessary spending, particularly you know with
the rate the rising cost of living, and twenty nine
hundred dollars can go a long way to help pay rent,
cover other important costs, or even go on vacation. But
(16:52):
one more thing I wanted to mention is there is
some good news here, and that is really that we
don't have to wait to start making a change in
our habits. It's these simple, simple steps like meal planning,
smart storage and using leftovers. And the great thing again
is you can start making a difference as early as
(17:13):
your next meal. So really, by wasting less, we can
save money, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we
can also honor the hard work and resources behind our foods.
So it's really these small shifts that have a big payoff,
not only for our wallets, but also for the environment.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Jaren, thanks for joining us at Local Voices to discuss
food waste prevention. That's Jaren Dinkins, the deeq's food systems specialist.
You can search online for Don't let Good Food Go
Bad to learn more about reducing food waste. The Oregon
Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit discrimination as
(17:54):
a reason to ban a book from a school library
or classroom. Senator Lou Frederick is the bill's sponsor.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Gilgemesh The Bible's Book of Job and The Song of
Solomon Homer, Mark Twain, Tony Morrison, Tom Robbins, Lysistrata Ursula, Legwyn,
John Lewis, Richard Wright, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, Shakespeare, Cicero,
and Doctor Zeus all have sections that will offend someone,
(18:23):
but that's not the reason to stop reading them, and
it's also not the reason to tell other people to
not read them. There is a basic part of education
that says, learn as much as you can about as
many things as you can, from as many people, in
books and sources as you can, because by doing that
you prepare yourself to understand the world around you, the
(18:43):
people around you, and the possible futures that you might
encounter it, and perhaps enhance the world and avoid the
traps of arrogance, greed, and pride. There's also another aspect
of it that basically says, being distracted by the idea
that only your culture is the right culture in the
world shows a sad, narrow sense of the world. We
(19:04):
could spend a great deal of time going over the
nuances of this particular bill, but there is a simple
basic part of this bill, and that is allowing and
celebrating the freedom to read, not telling people what it
is they should read, not telling young people, students scholars
what it is they should read and what experiences they
(19:24):
should understand. That doesn't mean that everyone is supposed to
do everything that's available at the same time at any age,
but the idea of telling folks that they that they
that they shouldn't read certain things based on cultural prejudice
holds no strong message for me except a message of fear,
a message that the world is supposed to only look
(19:45):
like the one you want, that you are, that you
are part of at this time. And if there is
one thing that we have seen throughout human history, knowing
about what's going on on the other side of that ocean,
that hillside, that river, that grassland or desert can make
a differ, Princeton, how well you and those folks on
the other side manage to work together or spend your
time fighting each other. This bill is just saying you
(20:08):
cannot discriminate based on religion, culture, or gender in terms
of the books that are available in the libraries of
schools and the libraries of classrooms. That doesn't mean you
have to make everyone read everything, and it does mean
that those things that are open and subject to the
rules and regulations we presently have, but making sure that
(20:31):
those rules and regulations are in fact open and not
set up to only provide the religious experience, the human experience,
the cultural experience of a narrow set of people.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Senator Mike McClain questions whether the ban on discrimination is
just another way to prevent books from being banned.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Senator, If a book.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Which like one hundred Days of Sodom or a book
that is clearly objectionable because of its content, if that
book is written by an African American, is that book
under Center Build ten ninety eight prohibited from being removed
(21:13):
from the library?
Speaker 7 (21:14):
No.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
If the book is a story that involves characters who
are amongst that prohibited class, but still has inappropriate material
because of violence or sexual content inappropriate for children, is
(21:39):
it prohibited from being removed under ten ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Who makes that decision?
Speaker 7 (21:44):
Well, you have a formal committee that's already part of
the school district. A formal committee can remove a book,
but it has to be it's a local committee, and
it has to be made up of people of the
school community. They have to They can reject titles based
on the age of the reading audience, books vulgarity, and
(22:08):
materials that are whether it's educational value. These things are
are already part of the system. This particular bill only
adds that you can't do it because of discrimination, as
has been done in a number of school districts in
Oregon and across the country, based on not wanting to
tell stories of racial issues or issues regarding gender or
(22:32):
sex discrimination, or for that matter, religious discrimination. So this
is this A committee, a local formal committee, can in
fact remove a book, and they do. They will not
or not allow a book to come in to a library.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Senator Suzanne Weber says it would allow inappropriate books to
remain in schools.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Oregon kids deserve schools that educate, not indoctrinate, or disturb.
Senate Bill ten ninety eight threatens to jam our K
twelve libraries and classrooms with books no parent would hand
their child graphic, violent, or just plain wrong for young minds.
This isn't about censorship, it's about common sense. Senate Bill
(23:17):
ten ninety eight, sold as a shield against discrimination, is
an action that's that could expose students to material better
left on college shelves. The bill's heart is Ors sixty
five nine point eight five oher Oregon's anti discrimination law,
(23:38):
which bans bias based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and
much more. It's noble enough until you see how it's
wielded here. Section five, page three, lines three to five
says that we can't reject a textbook if it reflects
a perspective from these groups. So what happens when the
(24:01):
Turner Diaries, a neo Nazi rant glorifying genocide slips through
as white male perspective, or when the Camp of the Saints,
a racist screed about immigrants as sub human gets a
pass as a take on national origin. These aren't hypotheticals.
(24:22):
They are real books that could exploit this loophole, and
they're poison for young, vulnerable kids' minds. It gets worse
Section two, page two, lines four to thirteen ties educator's
hands with red tape want a pole library book only
(24:42):
parents or staff can try, and they're stuck begging a
vague committee for approval, and after proving that it's not
discriminatory under RS sixty five nine eight five oz, picture
a middle schooler stumbling on one hundred and twenty Days
of Sodom, a stomach churning catalog of torture and rape,
(25:04):
too explicit for kids.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Tough luck.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
It's male perspective might keep it shelved while the bureaucratic
bureaucrats dawdle. Representative younger flying the hate flags the haters.
This year, a young adult novel too crude to repeat here,
but it stayed in the grants past schools. Senate Bill
(25:29):
ten ninety eight could make that the norm. The bill's
claim is that it protects diversity. Yes, but diversity of
thought doesn't mean flooding K twelve with lolita or gender
queer just because they tie to sex or orientation. These
(25:52):
aren't banned classics. They're challenge for a reason, age not ideology.
Section six down shielding materials on Native Americans, immigrants, or
LGBTQ one plus folks. Again noble intent, but it risks
locking the pink swastika, a homophobic lie blaming gay men
(26:15):
for Nazism as a sexual orientation viewpoint? Is that what
we want Oregon's kids reading.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
The Oregon Senate passed the bill that would prohibit books
from being banned from schools based on discrimination. It's now
being considered in the Oregon House. Vehicle thefts have been
a major problem in Oregon and across the country, but
last year the number of stolen vehicles declined a lot.
Kent and Bryan, as president of the Northwest Insurance Council,
tell us about vehicle.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Thefts, there's been a really significant drop. For the first
time in four years. We're seeing a significant decline in
the percentage and number of vehicle thefts across the country,
but especially in Oregon, where vehicle theft is declined thirty
percent year over year from twenty twenty three to twenty
twenty four.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Do the numbers show or give a reason as to why.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
It's really difficult to say why. You know, you look
across the river at Washington and there's a similar thirty
to thirty two percent reduction in vehicle theft, and you know,
law enforcement here probably wants to say it's because they've
changed laws that allow law enforcement to once again chase
after people who steal cars or they weren't allowed to
do that for a couple of years, but you know,
(27:29):
they have not seen a similar law change in Oregon.
So I think as we look across the country and
quickly here in the Northwest, we've had an outsize to
increase over the past few years in stolen vehicles, and
I think that the fact that it's declined more is
just reflective of the fact that law enforcement is catching
up and you know, there's interest in, you know, different
(27:50):
kinds of crimes by people who choose to commit crimes.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Now looking back to last year, I mean, the numbers
are down, but there's still a lot how many auto
thefts were there last year.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Your vehicle theft. Even as those vehicle thefts have gone
down a bit, it's still a significant concern. In twenty
twenty four, Oregon had eleven eight hundred and twelve vehicles
stolen and ranked tenth in the nation for vehicle theft.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Now, does all auto insurance cover that or do you
have to have certain types of auto insurance to cover
a stolen vehicle?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Well, if the only auto insurance you've purchased your vehicle's
liability insurance, which is required by the state to drive,
you may be out of luck. If your vehicle is stolen.
You really need to have what's called comprehensive or other
than collision coverage to get reimburse for the loss of
your vehicle. Now most people do have that coverage, although
sometimes people who have older vehicles that are paid off
(28:43):
may decide to drop that coverage. But that's the only
one that's going to pay to replace or repair your
vehicle if it's stolen.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Do you have any tips for vehicle owners on ways
that they can reduce the chance that they might have
their vehicle stolen.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
It's remarkably easy to make your car active to be stolen,
and it includes things like parking and well lit areas,
make sure you don't leave your keys in your car,
don't leave your car running and unattended, you know, lock
and close the doors and windows before you leave your vehicle,
and then you can take you know, additional precautions as well,
(29:17):
from the simplest things like putting a wheel lock on
your steering wheel to having anti theft devices electronic or
otherwise on your vehicle. But it really starts with the
common sense things that you should do, like making sure
your vehicle is locked and you don't leave your keys inside.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That's Katain Bryan, president of the Northwest Insurance Council, with
details out of thirty percent decline in stolen vehicles last
year in Oregon. Thanks for listening to Local Voices, I'm
brand board. You can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app.
One of the podcast tab Local Voices is a public
affairs presentation from iHeartRadio
Welcome to local Voices. I'm brad Ford. SOLVES Spring Cleanup
is almost here and it's time to register. This is
Food waste Prevention Week and it can save you a
lot of money. The Oregon Legislature is moving a bill
to prohibit discrimination as a reason to ban a book
from schools, and the number of stolen vehicles has dropped significantly.
(00:25):
SOLVE is preparing for its first large cleanup of the year.
Registration is now open. Tato Night Sky is was solved?
Tell us how the Spring Cleanup started?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Sure, the Oregon Spring Cleanup. It's our annual Earth Month celebration.
So this year is April twelfth through to the twenty seconds.
It's going to be over one hundred projects across Oregon
in Southwest Washington. How did it start? That's a great question.
It used to be the two different events that we
combined into one. So we had to solve it for
(00:56):
Earth Day event and we had the Spring Cleanup event
and we merge them together in twenty nineteen and just
to kind of amplify the impact of Earth Month, we
have a lot of engagement happening that month and it
just made sense to put them together.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Is this a statewide event.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's statewide and we also have projects that happen in
the Vancouver area bits of southwest Washington.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So how do people register?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure so solve Oregon dot org is going to be
the best way to get all the information about the
event and to check out our events calendar. It's easy
to get involved. You can sign up as a team
where you can register as part of a group and
save spots for your friends or family or coworkers. You
can sign up as an individual. We also accept people
(01:44):
who want to join and lead their own events. That
could be leading as an individual doing something where you
just need a bit more volunteer support. The event would
go up on our calendar. You can also post it
privately if you have a group that you just want
to participate in the event. So a lot of different
ways to get involved.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What tell us about some of the projects? What are
they sure.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
They arrange from litter cleanups to restoration events. Restoration being
native tree and shrub plantings, invasive lead pulling, mulching projects,
a lot of street and neighborhood litter pickups, and the
project locations are ranging from a story out of Brookings
(02:30):
Lammett National Forests southern Oregon all the way to Baker
City in eastern Oregon.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Now you mentioned this, but you said people can set
up their own projects if they don't want to join
one that's already there. How do you go about doing that?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So also on our website on solive Oregon dot org,
there's a few different pathways for that. Either you're signing
up to lead an event as an individual, or you're
signing up as part of an organization or a group.
And we host weekly Zoom orientations for folks that want
to lead events every Tuesday over the lunch hour from
(03:08):
noon to one. And that's just a good overview to
see what resources we offer. But we help with free supplies,
access to project funds, disposal assistance, volunteer recruitment, really any
part of the event planning process we support with.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Now there are new coastal supply hubs. Tell us about those.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So really exciting opportunity to just increase our sustainability efforts
on the coast. We've got now seven different supply hubs
from all the way up at Fort Stevens to South Beach.
We've got Heart of Cardom, We've got bandon Washed Ashore.
So a few different locations, one in every county at
(03:53):
least where events for about smaller for a group of
twenty or so can come to the hub and grab
litter grabbers, reasonable vests and gloves, buckets, sand sifters, everything
that you would need to do a small scale litter cleanup.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Now, there's also a trash bag challenge. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
We're really excited about the trash Bag Challenge. It just
launched last week. It's just a fun way to, you know,
with a little friendly competition, challenge others to get involved
with either leading their own projects or participating in one
as a group. So for those that are interested in
leading a cleanup, the idea would be you challenging then
(04:40):
another group. It could be a neighborhood association against a
neighborhood association, or a school dorm versus another school dorm.
Really the possibilities are endless, and then challenging that group
to either come out to a solve event with their
group or lead their own project. Again, that could be
a public project that's on our event calendar or private
(05:02):
project that just that group participates in. And then we're
hoping that that just kind of snowballs and folks challenge
one another and just spark some community pride and again
some friendly competition to get people involved in litter pickup.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Around How many people take part in these cleanups again
two of them each year.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So we have cleanups pretty much every week. This is
a really large scale event where we have a lot
of different projects happening during a concentrated amount of time.
But we're expecting to see at least two thousand people
out between April twelfth and April twenty second. We have
thousands of volunteers that we work with every year, but
(05:48):
this is really our most popular event because it's Earth Month.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And again, give us a registration information where can people
go to find out more? And is there a deadline
to register?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
A deadline to register? Obviously the sooner the better if
you're trying to reserve spots, especially if you've got a
group that you're wanting to bring out. But solveorgon dot
org is the best way to get information about the
event and to check out our event calendar.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Taylor or anything else you want to add that I
didn't ask you about.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I did want to plug and just appreciate our our
partner in this event, which is Portland General or Electric.
They're a long time sponsor of this event. Wanted to
call them out.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Thanks Taylor. That's Taylor night Ski with Solve and details
about the Oregon Spring cleanup again. Their website is Solve
Oregon dot org. This is National Food Waste Prevention Week
and the Oregon Deproperty of Environmental Quality is ready to help.
Jarendenkins is the deeq's Food system specialist. Jaren, what can
(06:51):
you tell us about food waste in Oregon?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Thirty eight percent of the food that has grown for
human consumption in the United States is never eaten, and
there's a really big opportunity here for waste prevention because
seventy percent of that thirty eight is food waste that
was once perfectly edible. So we're not talking about things
like bones and eggshells and stuff like that. Seventy percent
(07:15):
of that food was something that was completely edible that folks,
you know, it sat on their county counter for too long,
or some moldy leftovers in the fridge that ended up
either in the waste spin or in the compost. So
there's a big opportunity for prevention here that we know
(07:35):
kind of through those statistics.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What are some of the different sources of food waste.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, so food waste comes from all across the entire
supply chain of food. It comes from farms, crops that
are left unharvested due to market standards. You know, we
hear about imperfect foods all of the time and the
opportunity there, and you know, restaurants and businesses such as
(08:03):
grocery grocers don't want to have that kind of product
on display for consumers. So farms is one place where
food waste happens. Businesses are also another place. So places
like restaurants, groceries and food service places, they can often
over prepare foods or are mishandling inventory by over purchasing.
(08:27):
So that's another place where we see food waste. And
then of course at home. So all of us, I think,
are susceptible to this just because things spoil before we
are able to use them all due to busy schedules
and things like that, we have a tendency to over
purchase foods. And then folks, really there's a huge opportunity
(08:51):
for eating leftovers. Leftovers is one of my favorite ways
to reduce food waste because not only are they delis,
But it really reduces the labor and time going into
making something from scratch, and you can get really creative
with your leftovers, you know, turn something into a soup,
(09:11):
turn it into an omelet. That's one of my favorite
things to do in the morning is use leftovers in
an omelet. So, yeah, it really does occur across the
entire supply chain. I don't think there's anywhere that we
don't have an opportunity to improve our processes to generate
less food waste.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Are there environmental problems with throwing away food the way
it breaks down?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah? Absolutely. Rotting food in landfills produces methane, as we've discussed,
which is a greenhouse gas that is eighty times more
potent than carbon dioxide. And wasted food also squanders all
of the water, energy, and land that's used to grow it,
(09:59):
and that counts for about eight percent of global emissions
across the supply chain.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So what can businesses do to reduce food waste?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, so businesses like restaurants and grocery stores and farms.
Food waste really is a huge issue here because it
cuts into profits, it can drive up operational costs, and
it does create unnecessary environmental strain, which is a detriment
(10:30):
to us all. And we have a statistic from an
organization called REFED that measures food waste across the nation,
and what they do is they are able to kind
of tell us across the retail and food service sector
how much money is lost to wasted food alone. And
(10:51):
in twenty twenty four, that was about seventy four billion
dollars across the nation that was lost of food waste.
So we know there's a huge opportunity for businesses to
save money by reducing food waste, and we do have
some really great examples of that being done right here
in Oregon with some of our local businesses. Bob's Redmill
(11:13):
and New Seasons Market are some of the folks we've
worked with who have done some really robust waste reduction
projects to increase efficiencies within their businesses. And you know,
this can be done a number of different ways. You
can engage and train employees around waste prevention. You can
(11:35):
audit your waste systems, you can look into improving your
inventory systems. Restaurants can reduce portion sizes for consumers, and
of course, when there is excess food that is still
good quality. We do suggest donating that food to organizations,
(11:56):
so it does kind of seem like a no brainer,
but it does take a little bit work on the
business end. But really less waste means more savings, a
stronger business model, and a healthier planet for us all does.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality kind of address this
by having some programs that are pointed at businesses and
then some advice for consumers.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
The organ Department of Environmental Quality is a part of
the Pacific Coast Food Waste Commitment, which is a coalition
between Oregon, California, Washington, British Columbia that works with businesses
and manufacturers on some of the projects I was just discussing.
Bob's Redmill is a really great example. We love calling out.
(12:41):
They did a employee engagement process where they looked at
their manufacturing lines and engaged their employees asking them where
they saw the biggest opportunities for reducing waste along the
manufacturing line, and that resulted in a huge cost saving
and a huge amount of food waste that was then
(13:03):
being captured and can go back into resale.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Now this is Food Waste Prevention Week. Do you have
some examples of programs around Oregon that are available to consumers.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I work with a coalition of fifty plus partners across
the state who all engage in Food Waste Prevention Week.
It is a national campaign aimed at educating folks to
reduce waste, to protect the environment, help families save money,
and feed folks that are food insecure. So supporting our communities.
(13:35):
We have a huge lineup of events happening across the
state from up here in Portland all the way down
to southern Oregon and Central Oregon. One event that I
would really love to shout out it is their second year.
During this event in core Vallast, it is the core
Vallast Sustainability Coalitions No Food Left Behind program doing a
(14:00):
Bread to Tap event where they will be serving what
they call a recycle ale and that is beer that
is made from upcycled products from a local bakery. And
so that will be Saturday, April twelfth at eleven a
m at the Old World Center in Core Vallas. So
(14:22):
there will be live music, there will be trivia and games.
There will be an upcycled menu by Chef JD who
is serving food made from soon to expire, not soon
to expire, but upcycled foods?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
What is upcycled foods?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
One of the items that was on the menu last
last year was a bread pudding. So taking bread that
maybe is a little you know, maybe a little stale
or a little tough to eat, you wouldn't want to
make a sandwich with it, but upcycling it into something
delicious like a bread pudding. And taking those items and
(15:03):
turning them in getting getting creative and turning them into
something new and delicious.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Interesting. So food that hasn't gone bad, but it's past
its point of where it would be normally used is
what it is? Yeah? Interesting? Does d EQ have a
website with information on reducing food waste if people want
to learn.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
More, Absolutely, we have a website called Don't Let Good
Food Go Bad. On that website you'll find so many resources.
You can find storage guides that help make your food
last longer. So, for instance, there's certain foods that shouldn't
be stored next to each other on your counter because
(15:42):
they release certain gases that lead to quicker spoilage. You'll
also find meal planning tricks and easy ways to make
the most of the food that you have. And it's
all packaged with some really fun and playful food characters
and graphics.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Terrific Anything else you want to add that I didn't
ask you about.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So, something that I think is really important that gets
overlooked is that the impact isn't just environmental, it's also financial.
Right now, the average organ household is throwing away nearly
two nine hundred dollars a year on uneaten food. So
that kind of leads me into a question for you.
(16:22):
Do you know what you would do with an extra
twenty nine hundred dollars a year bread?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
I do? I do that? Make a nice trip somewhere.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, So we know how important it is for many
organ families to reduce unnecessary spending, particularly you know with
the rate the rising cost of living, and twenty nine
hundred dollars can go a long way to help pay rent,
cover other important costs, or even go on vacation. But
(16:52):
one more thing I wanted to mention is there is
some good news here, and that is really that we
don't have to wait to start making a change in
our habits. It's these simple, simple steps like meal planning,
smart storage and using leftovers. And the great thing again
is you can start making a difference as early as
(17:13):
your next meal. So really, by wasting less, we can
save money, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and we
can also honor the hard work and resources behind our foods.
So it's really these small shifts that have a big payoff,
not only for our wallets, but also for the environment.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Jaren, thanks for joining us at Local Voices to discuss
food waste prevention. That's Jaren Dinkins, the deeq's food systems specialist.
You can search online for Don't let Good Food Go
Bad to learn more about reducing food waste. The Oregon
Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit discrimination as
(17:54):
a reason to ban a book from a school library
or classroom. Senator Lou Frederick is the bill's sponsor.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Gilgemesh The Bible's Book of Job and The Song of
Solomon Homer, Mark Twain, Tony Morrison, Tom Robbins, Lysistrata Ursula, Legwyn,
John Lewis, Richard Wright, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, Shakespeare, Cicero,
and Doctor Zeus all have sections that will offend someone,
(18:23):
but that's not the reason to stop reading them, and
it's also not the reason to tell other people to
not read them. There is a basic part of education
that says, learn as much as you can about as
many things as you can, from as many people, in
books and sources as you can, because by doing that
you prepare yourself to understand the world around you, the
(18:43):
people around you, and the possible futures that you might
encounter it, and perhaps enhance the world and avoid the
traps of arrogance, greed, and pride. There's also another aspect
of it that basically says, being distracted by the idea
that only your culture is the right culture in the
world shows a sad, narrow sense of the world. We
(19:04):
could spend a great deal of time going over the
nuances of this particular bill, but there is a simple
basic part of this bill, and that is allowing and
celebrating the freedom to read, not telling people what it
is they should read, not telling young people, students scholars
what it is they should read and what experiences they
(19:24):
should understand. That doesn't mean that everyone is supposed to
do everything that's available at the same time at any age,
but the idea of telling folks that they that they
that they shouldn't read certain things based on cultural prejudice
holds no strong message for me except a message of fear,
a message that the world is supposed to only look
(19:45):
like the one you want, that you are, that you
are part of at this time. And if there is
one thing that we have seen throughout human history, knowing
about what's going on on the other side of that ocean,
that hillside, that river, that grassland or desert can make
a differ, Princeton, how well you and those folks on
the other side manage to work together or spend your
time fighting each other. This bill is just saying you
(20:08):
cannot discriminate based on religion, culture, or gender in terms
of the books that are available in the libraries of
schools and the libraries of classrooms. That doesn't mean you
have to make everyone read everything, and it does mean
that those things that are open and subject to the
rules and regulations we presently have, but making sure that
(20:31):
those rules and regulations are in fact open and not
set up to only provide the religious experience, the human experience,
the cultural experience of a narrow set of people.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Senator Mike McClain questions whether the ban on discrimination is
just another way to prevent books from being banned.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Senator, If a book.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Which like one hundred Days of Sodom or a book
that is clearly objectionable because of its content, if that
book is written by an African American, is that book
under Center Build ten ninety eight prohibited from being removed
(21:13):
from the library?
Speaker 7 (21:14):
No.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
If the book is a story that involves characters who
are amongst that prohibited class, but still has inappropriate material
because of violence or sexual content inappropriate for children, is
(21:39):
it prohibited from being removed under ten ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Who makes that decision?
Speaker 7 (21:44):
Well, you have a formal committee that's already part of
the school district. A formal committee can remove a book,
but it has to be it's a local committee, and
it has to be made up of people of the
school community. They have to They can reject titles based
on the age of the reading audience, books vulgarity, and
(22:08):
materials that are whether it's educational value. These things are
are already part of the system. This particular bill only
adds that you can't do it because of discrimination, as
has been done in a number of school districts in
Oregon and across the country, based on not wanting to
tell stories of racial issues or issues regarding gender or
(22:32):
sex discrimination, or for that matter, religious discrimination. So this
is this A committee, a local formal committee, can in
fact remove a book, and they do. They will not
or not allow a book to come in to a library.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Senator Suzanne Weber says it would allow inappropriate books to
remain in schools.
Speaker 8 (22:53):
Oregon kids deserve schools that educate, not indoctrinate, or disturb.
Senate Bill ten ninety eight threatens to jam our K
twelve libraries and classrooms with books no parent would hand
their child graphic, violent, or just plain wrong for young minds.
This isn't about censorship, it's about common sense. Senate Bill
(23:17):
ten ninety eight, sold as a shield against discrimination, is
an action that's that could expose students to material better
left on college shelves. The bill's heart is Ors sixty
five nine point eight five oher Oregon's anti discrimination law,
(23:38):
which bans bias based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and
much more. It's noble enough until you see how it's
wielded here. Section five, page three, lines three to five
says that we can't reject a textbook if it reflects
a perspective from these groups. So what happens when the
(24:01):
Turner Diaries, a neo Nazi rant glorifying genocide slips through
as white male perspective, or when the Camp of the Saints,
a racist screed about immigrants as sub human gets a
pass as a take on national origin. These aren't hypotheticals.
(24:22):
They are real books that could exploit this loophole, and
they're poison for young, vulnerable kids' minds. It gets worse
Section two, page two, lines four to thirteen ties educator's
hands with red tape want a pole library book only
(24:42):
parents or staff can try, and they're stuck begging a
vague committee for approval, and after proving that it's not
discriminatory under RS sixty five nine eight five oz, picture
a middle schooler stumbling on one hundred and twenty Days
of Sodom, a stomach churning catalog of torture and rape,
(25:04):
too explicit for kids.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Tough luck.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
It's male perspective might keep it shelved while the bureaucratic
bureaucrats dawdle. Representative younger flying the hate flags the haters.
This year, a young adult novel too crude to repeat here,
but it stayed in the grants past schools. Senate Bill
(25:29):
ten ninety eight could make that the norm. The bill's
claim is that it protects diversity. Yes, but diversity of
thought doesn't mean flooding K twelve with lolita or gender
queer just because they tie to sex or orientation. These
(25:52):
aren't banned classics. They're challenge for a reason, age not ideology.
Section six down shielding materials on Native Americans, immigrants, or
LGBTQ one plus folks. Again noble intent, but it risks
locking the pink swastika, a homophobic lie blaming gay men
(26:15):
for Nazism as a sexual orientation viewpoint? Is that what
we want Oregon's kids reading.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
The Oregon Senate passed the bill that would prohibit books
from being banned from schools based on discrimination. It's now
being considered in the Oregon House. Vehicle thefts have been
a major problem in Oregon and across the country, but
last year the number of stolen vehicles declined a lot.
Kent and Bryan, as president of the Northwest Insurance Council,
tell us about vehicle.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
Thefts, there's been a really significant drop. For the first
time in four years. We're seeing a significant decline in
the percentage and number of vehicle thefts across the country,
but especially in Oregon, where vehicle theft is declined thirty
percent year over year from twenty twenty three to twenty
twenty four.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Do the numbers show or give a reason as to why.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
It's really difficult to say why. You know, you look
across the river at Washington and there's a similar thirty
to thirty two percent reduction in vehicle theft, and you know,
law enforcement here probably wants to say it's because they've
changed laws that allow law enforcement to once again chase
after people who steal cars or they weren't allowed to
do that for a couple of years, but you know,
(27:29):
they have not seen a similar law change in Oregon.
So I think as we look across the country and
quickly here in the Northwest, we've had an outsize to
increase over the past few years in stolen vehicles, and
I think that the fact that it's declined more is
just reflective of the fact that law enforcement is catching
up and you know, there's interest in, you know, different
(27:50):
kinds of crimes by people who choose to commit crimes.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Now looking back to last year, I mean, the numbers
are down, but there's still a lot how many auto
thefts were there last year.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
Your vehicle theft. Even as those vehicle thefts have gone
down a bit, it's still a significant concern. In twenty
twenty four, Oregon had eleven eight hundred and twelve vehicles
stolen and ranked tenth in the nation for vehicle theft.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Now, does all auto insurance cover that or do you
have to have certain types of auto insurance to cover
a stolen vehicle?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
Well, if the only auto insurance you've purchased your vehicle's
liability insurance, which is required by the state to drive,
you may be out of luck. If your vehicle is stolen.
You really need to have what's called comprehensive or other
than collision coverage to get reimburse for the loss of
your vehicle. Now most people do have that coverage, although
sometimes people who have older vehicles that are paid off
(28:43):
may decide to drop that coverage. But that's the only
one that's going to pay to replace or repair your
vehicle if it's stolen.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Do you have any tips for vehicle owners on ways
that they can reduce the chance that they might have
their vehicle stolen.
Speaker 5 (28:56):
It's remarkably easy to make your car active to be stolen,
and it includes things like parking and well lit areas,
make sure you don't leave your keys in your car,
don't leave your car running and unattended, you know, lock
and close the doors and windows before you leave your vehicle,
and then you can take you know, additional precautions as well,
(29:17):
from the simplest things like putting a wheel lock on
your steering wheel to having anti theft devices electronic or
otherwise on your vehicle. But it really starts with the
common sense things that you should do, like making sure
your vehicle is locked and you don't leave your keys inside.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That's Katain Bryan, president of the Northwest Insurance Council, with
details out of thirty percent decline in stolen vehicles last
year in Oregon. Thanks for listening to Local Voices, I'm
brand board. You can hear past episodes on the iHeartRadio app.
One of the podcast tab Local Voices is a public
affairs presentation from iHeartRadio
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