By Benjamin Prescott

As a local nurse, I have seen firsthand how impacts to our air and our climate here in Eugene pose a direct threat to our community as a whole, and proactive investments to protect public health are the most efficient ways to reduce those impacts. 

Reducing air pollution, for example, has been shown to dramatically reduce mortality and health care costs. A recent study found that air pollution from fossil fuels alone causes 107,000 premature deaths a year in the United States, and costs the average American an average of $2,500. This illustrates how the health and well being of our community depends on our ability to address the climate crisis and pollution. 

That’s why I’m supporting Measure 20-388: the Eugene Clean Energy Fund. This measure would place a fee on billion-dollar corporations operating in our community, and invest those dollars in community resilience and home improvements, dramatically reducing exposure to air pollution and protecting public health. 

The measure is projected to raise $15 million a year towards supporting investments in climate-resilient homes, businesses and public buildings reducing pollution by generating more clean, renewable electricity, and expanding access to cooling and air filtration. 

The risks posed by climate-driven wildfire are huge, and are already costing Eugeneans their health and their savings. Longer and worsening climate-driven wildfire seasons are creating increasingly hazardous air quality and impacting public health and safety. In recent years, it has become the new normal for Eugene’s skies to be hazy with smoke for multiple weeks, and sometimes even months. 

And while some may shrug off the smoke as a mild inconvenience, the health impacts couldn’t be more serious. Multiple studies have found that wildfire smoke exposure is linked to increased hospital visits for everything from respiratory issues, to migraines, to mental health crises, to heart attacks and stroke. 

Wildfire smoke exposure doesn’t just cause immediate impacts, but can lead to longer term diseases like cancer. A 2026 study from the American Association for Cancer Research found that smoke exposure significantly increased risk for lung, colorectal, breast, bladder and blood cancer. The American Lung Association has repeatedly rated the Eugene-Springfield area as one of the most polluted cities in the country in both short-term and year-round particle pollution, due to wildfire smoke. 

Beyond the threat that wildfire smoke poses to our communities, the climate crisis is also endangering health and safety through more frequent extreme heat events. 

Many Eugene homes were built without the air conditioning or insulation needed in today’s climate, presenting serious health and wellbeing issues to Eugene residents during increasingly common heat waves and extreme weather events. The June 2021 heat dome event, which killed over 100 Oregonians, is just one of the life-threatening climate risks we are increasingly enduring. 

Measure 20-388 will direct investments to mitigate these risks to our community. The Portland Clean Energy Fund, upon which Measure 20-388 here in Eugene is heavily based, has already invested $1.7 billion to protect public health, provide community benefits and address the climate crisis through programs like the Cooling Portland project. Cooling Portland was established in response to the 2021 heat dome, and has, in less than five years, provided life-saving cooling to tens of thousands of homes. 

Funds in Portland have also gone to making energy efficiency and renewables more accessible for low-income residents and communities of color, groups that disproportionately suffer from health issues and complications aggravated by industrial pollution and extreme weather events. Funds from Measure 20-388 could be used to establish similar programs here in Eugene, ensuring that no one is at risk from extreme heat, while reducing harmful air pollution and reducing health care costs and health risks. 

It’s time for the most polluting billion dollar corporations to pay their fair share, and support investments into the well being and longevity of our community. Join myself and public health organizations like Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility and take a bold step towards improving public health in Eugene by voting yes on Measure 20-388 by Nov. 3.

Benjamin Prescott of Eugene is a registered nurse.