On Saturday, August 26th, as the air filled with smoke from local wildfires, CFACT’s National Grassroots Coordinator, Tom DeWeese, traveled to the rural community of Grants Pass, Oregon. He was invited there because citizens of the community found themselves caught on the frontlines of several battles over intrusive environmental policies that are smothering their local economy.
DeWeese addressed an event sponsored by several local groups, including the county Republican Women’s Club and the Farm Bureau, and 
attended by almost 500 people. DeWeese explained in detail precisely what they are facing: namely, a determined, well-funded, and politically-powerful cadre of Green ideologues dedicated to enforcing a radical environmental agenda. “Individual efforts by a few in opposition to this agenda simply will not stop it,” DeWeese explained.
Grants Pass faces the federal Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) ongoing effort to destroy the local timber industry. The county once had thirty lumber sawmills. Today, it has none. As a result of the closures, the community lost revenue and struggles to fund local services. Meanwhile, the wildfires burn almost unabated.
In addition, the Oregon State Legislature has mandated severe environmental policies that foster “sustainable development” must be included in every local comprehensive development plan. This has led to the inability of local communities to autonomously choose how best to meet the needs of their residents — as elected city councils and county commissions simply, without question, follow the state dictates.
As DeWeese spoke to the gathering of determined, but frustrated activists, he explained the origins of the policies and the powers behind them. In addition, he revealed how Green nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) virtually surround state and local representatives to pressure them to pursue far-reaching eco-policies. Said DeWeese, “They have a radical agenda, and they fully intend to see it enforced.”
DeWeese then presented a dramatic depiction, using over 35 members of the audience, to showcase how NGOs surround and pressure local government officials. The audience ate it up! “But,” said DeWeese, “you aren’t there, and our side has no clear agenda of our own to present for policy ideas. We must get off of the defense and take the offence to change the debate.”
To counteract the influence of Green NGOs, DeWeese put forth a plan to create a permanent infrastructure of citizen activists in the community to “keep up our own pressure” on local officials. He called it “building a Freedom Pod,” … focused on protecting local property rights, small businesses, and individual liberties.
DeWeese finished by telling the gathering they must stand up and be heard. To dramatize the point, he called on all of them to stand up and say NO! As all 500 shouted: “NO” and the room shook, DeWeese concluded, “That’s what your local and state representatives must hear from you!”