PsychoQuad & Friends Visit Eugene Area Chamber of Silence About Climate Crisis

Posted by David W. Oaks on April 4, 2015 in Environment, Normalgeddon, Peer Support | Comments Off on PsychoQuad & Friends Visit Eugene Area Chamber of Silence About Climate Crisis

My friend, activist David Zupan, wrote the below about our protest inside the Eugene area Chamber of Commerce, or the “Chamber of Silence” as our banner calls them. For several years we have asked our local chamber to say that the US Chamber does not speak for any of us about the denial of climate crisis. Unfortunately, Eugene’s Chamber has refused to say anything about global warming.

So, a few of us showed up inside the office for the Eugene Chamber when they held one of their regular luncheon meetings to try to get new members. We asked pointed questions and a couple of videographers, including David Zupan, captured our action. The national, well-respected climate crisis activist group 350 has called for us all in the USA to ask our local chambers to speak out. My impression is that the response from local chambers has been so frosty that activists have moved on to other, more-winnable campaigns, but we are tenacious, we psychiatric survivors, plus it is a good practice in loving our opponents when we surface opponents in reality, not just theoretically.

Okay, let us turn over the rest of this blog entry to David Zupan, his news and the video that he and Jana Thrift took, thanks David and Jana!

Challenging the Chamber of Silence

By David Zupan

In this four-minute video, local residents peacefully protest at a March 5, 2015 Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce meeting. They question the US Chamber of Commerce policy of denying global warming and demand that the local chapter state that the national does not speak for them on this urgent issue.

So far 56 Chamber of Commerce chapters have taken such action. Jana Thrift and I were both told to stop filming the event. I was grabbed and pulled toward the exit at one point which activist David Oaks stopped by saying “Don’t touch, don’t touch, we’re leaving.” Outside David Oaks and others talked with a Chamber rep who suggested a proposal could be submitted for review by the chamber at a later date:

Here is a 44-minute rough cut video of the same event:

For more info about our campaign for years to encourage the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce to speak out about the climate crisis, their refusal and what you can do see our landing page about the worst case scenario for global warming:

http://www.normalgeddon.org