In my life of 17 years, I’ve felt summers get hotter and witnessed August become “smoke season.” My generation faces two realities at once: We must do everything we can to fight climate change, while simultaneously preparing for its effects.

The Eugene Clean Energy Fund understands this. It would create a licensing fee of 2% of local gross profits on Eugene’s largest retailers to fund renewable energy and green infrastructure projects. It focuses on what we can do locally, while we continue to fight for larger-scale emissions reductions at the state and national level.

The Portland Clean Energy Fund has distributed more than 20,000 free portable air conditioning units, built a solar project that provides for 150 families, and trained 2,000 people in renewable energy construction. These are meaningful projects that I want to see for Eugene.

The Lookout Eugene-Springfield Editorial Board’s unconventional endorsement of the Eugene Clean Energy Fund was shocking and frustrating. It may as well have been against the measure; it undermined the entire intent.

If the fund raises more money than expected, or the federal government restores clean energy tax credits, as the Editorial Board suggests, we can talk about where to put the extra money. That is why the measure is designed to be adaptable. But let’s have that conversation after we’ve had a chance to put money into climate projects that our city needs.

The “stop the hidden tax” opposition campaign states that the Eugene Clean Energy Fund would increase prices for consumers, however they don’t provide real evidence. They conflate the licensing fee with a sales tax. It is not a sales tax. In Portland, Safeway and WinCo’s attempt to raise prices resulted in a class-action lawsuit that both companies agreed to settle. 

In my time researching ballot measures for school projects and writing my own legislative solutions through YMCA’s Youth and Government program, I have learned that a perfect solution that everyone agrees on is almost impossible. Instead, we must decide when it is worth it to say yes, and move forward with action.

I can’t yet vote, but I hope you will. Vote yes on Measure 20-388.

Jessica Chinitz-Mital
Eugene