It's Your Oregon: Molly Chidsey

Molly is a resident of Portland, OR who works as a Program Development Specialist at the Multnomah County Sustainability Program. For ten years she has worked with large organizations – college campuses, hospitals, local government – promoting sustainability. She is on the Board of the Oregon Center for Environmental Health and she has collaborated with Oregon Environmental Council staff in her work on toxics reduction. Molly says that she is proud to be a member of a grassroots based advocacy organization like OEC.

Molly is especially interested in sustainability and how it relates to people who are struggling just to meet their basic living needs. Among her other top environmental concerns are green jobs, clean technology, chemicals policy reform, global warming, and eco-equity. If she could change one thing in the world to protect the environment, she says that she would make being ‘green’ a right, rather than a privilege. She says, “I would alter the economies of scale for sustainable goods, services, and technologies so that they would be accessible to everyone.”

In her day-to-day life, Molly works to protect the environment by purchasing recycled, organic, and local goods whenever she can, putting money into green investments, and driving a fuel-efficient car when driving is necessary. She is a Master Recycler, volunteering to help residents of Portland recycle at home. Molly also appreciates spending time in nature, and her latest nature discovery in Oregon is the Tom McCall Preserve at Rowena Crest in the Columbia Gorge with its pretty wildflowers.