Friends of Linn County was founded in 1997 to protect Linn County’s quality of life from the effects of growth, using the tools of Oregon’s land use planning program. FOLC built a strong record of success in stopping bad development schemes.

The world has changed dramatically since 1997. We have seen that the effects of growth are global, as greenhouse gas emissions threaten to destabilize Earth’s climate and disrupt the ecosystems that sustain human life. Linn County’s ecosystems and communities cannot survive healthy and intact as climate patterns change and shift and as Earth’s ecosystems mutate in unpredictable and unprecedented ways.

At the same time, it has become undeniable that the energy sources upon which we depend to fuel our civilization are finite. Fossil fuel depletion, and in particular the immanence of peak oil, present an unprecedented challenge to our prosperity and even survival.

It’s no longer enough to simply try to hold the dike against growth. Today, while its land use advocacy work continues unabated, Friends of Linn County focuses on rethinking the way we live within the landscape. Rather than always wanting more, we need to minimize our ecological footprint while making all of our lives better and more satisfying. We need to think of the land as our home rather than as something to be exploited. To that end, Friends of Linn County now sponsors three other programs:

Post Carbon Oregon is our blog, focusing on the relationships among land use, economics, energy, and global warming. Where and how we live within the landscape drives our energy usage and resulting greenhouse gas emissions – yet we use land thoughtlessly, failing to take energy, climate, and ecosystem consequences into account. If we fail to honestly confront our energy crisis, we will find ourselves impoverished. If we fail to bravely face up to what the climate crisis demands, the ecosystem within which the human economy exists and depends will be irreparably altered and degraded. Post Carbon Oregon seeks to raise public awareness and impel the societal response necessary to avert disaster and find our way to a decent and sustainable future. The blog is co-sponsored by Goal One Coalition and posts are cross-posted at Goal One Coalition’s blog, One Town Square.

Calapooia – Santiam (Casa) Foodshed Gathering works to build a diverse and vibrant local economy by connecting area residents with conscientious local producers of farm and forest products and other goods and services. Globalization depended on cheap energy and the externalization of environmental impacts. The era of cheap energy is over and climate change is threatening mass extinctions and civilization itself . Relocalization is an important part of the solution to our energy and climate woes.  Casa Foodshed Gathering works for communities that are resilient,  self-sufficient, and sustainable.

Goal One Institute focuses on land use, transportation, energy, and climate issues at the statewide level, working for an Oregon in which transportation needs are minimized, that  is powered by renewable, zero-emissions energy, and that honors personal and spiritual growth rather than economic and population growth. Goal One Institute conducts research and develops policy, legislative, and regulatory recommendations.  Goal One Institute also provides support to local citizen organizations around the state. Goal One Institute is co-sponsored by Goal One Coalition.