On December 5, 2013, about 5 groups united together to hold a nonviolent protest about the pivotal role of the Chamber of Commerce blocking progress addressing the climate crisis. For several years, I held an email dialogue with the director of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, Dave Hauser. This last summer several of us held a street theater event at the Eugene Saturday Market and together we nominated the local Chamber for a Golden Ostrich Award.

We used humor to point out that our local Chamber should join 56 other local Chambers that have said “No” to the horribly Earth-damaging U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. We gave the award plaque to our local Chamber just before weird lingering snowy weather in Eugene, which scientists predict will be an indicator of the climate crisis.

Below is a brief 5 minute video of our award presentation, in which I become a bit emotional. Below that is more info about our campaign.

Our Golden Ostrich Award to the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce because of the climate crisis.

Action you can take from anywhere in the world to help our campaign:

1. Please contact our local Chamber by email or phone (541-484-1314) with your peaceful, civil, but strong message. Your sample message: “Please say ‘No!’ to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is one of the main blockades to addressing the climate crisis.”

2. For extra credit, you may contact the Eugene Chamber Board: http://www.eugenechamber.com/contact/leadership.aspx

Updated: Monday Dec 2nd – See below for before or after gathering. Also see how you can help where ever you live.

Flash Gathering: Eugene Area Chamber of Climate Crisis

Tongue in Cheek Award Ceremony

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Contact: David Zupan
Phone: 541-484-9167

At 12:30 pm on December 5th, local citizens concerned about the global climate crisis will gather at the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, 1401 Willamette, to give them an award. The Golden Ostrich trophy will be presented to the Eugene Chamber because of their support for the US Chamber of Commerce and its blockade of progress on addressing The Climate Crisis.

There is a campaign to impact peacefully the US Chamber of Commerce by reaching the local chambers about the climate crisis. My friend David Zupan took a video of our street theater. Here is his blurb about our guerrilla theater:

Watch activist David Oaks in “How We Stop Worrying and Deny Climate Change,” a new 10 Min film now on vimeo at:

Street Theater Against Climate Crisis

In spite of a recent spinal cord injury, David leads friends to the Saturday Market in Eugene, Oregon to engage the public in playful but thoughtful dialogue about climate change. In the role of cheerful “climate change deniers,” they collect signatures in support of giving prizes like the Golden Ostrich award to the best deniers like the Chamber of Commerce.

Professor Kari Norgaard of University of Oregon is author of a book on ‘denial’ and the climate crisis.

Recently I commented on a new, important book on this very subject. A tenured professor at the University of Oregon, Kari Norgaard, has written a book about what is considered “normal.” She explored a small, prosperous, well-educated Norwegian town, and teased out why the population was not taking sufficient actions to discuss and address the climate crisis. For her leadership, she was attacked on national radio by the extremist, Rush Limbaugh.