Are you ready to protect the climate?
Now more than ever we need a people powered movement to take on corporate polluters and climate deniers.
There is so much work to do and many ways to engage!
- Make sure you’re on our email list. We’ll keep you current on what’s going on.
- Check the calendar for upcoming events and immediate ways to plug in. Add your voice, and connect with others. We’d love to meet you in person!
- Sign up on our Volunteer page. See where you would like to contribute. Whether you have 10 hours a week or an hour a month, 350PDX is people-powered and your contribution is valuable!
- Donate money. It takes money to keep our office open, pay staff, and fund the incredible actions and campaigns our volunteers run.
Meet Jessica, our new Executive Director!
/in News /by Chris PalmerThe long wait is finally over … 350PDX is very happy and excited to announce the hiring of Jessica Beckett as our new Executive Director!
Jessica Beckett is an organizer of people and a champion for justice. Born in Denver and raised on the glorious Hood Canal in Washington, her formative years were immersed deeply in the many wonders of
nature. Jessica’s organizing career began in high school, where she fought the administration to retain a curriculum that honestly addressed America’s role in the Vietnam War. At 19, she became a National Delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Congressman Kucinich, igniting her passion to change our political and social systems. Jessica has served on numerous political campaigns and non-profits, culminating in her role as Field Director for the 2018 Portland Clean Energy Initiative. We are excited to see how she will use her energy, skills and knowledge in continuing to fight for the mission of 350PDX.
350PDX will be announcing a date for a meet and greet, where you will be able to stop by the office and meet her, until then, please check out her bio on our website. Keep your eyes open for this announcement.
Over the past months board members, volunteers and staff spent many hours reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates to help us find the right person, through that process they recommended Jessica — thank you for your hard work and dedication.
We would also like to thank and acknowledge Katy Kolker and Anais Tuepker who served as Interim Executive Directors over the past 14 months. Their help and dedication to our mission has been invaluable to helping us transition to a stronger and unified organization.
In solidarity,
The staff and board of 350PDX
JEDI Strength at 350PDX
/in News /by AnissaWhat does it mean for the climate movement to welcome and include everyone? How would we have to act differently, to make this happen? Why is it important for 350PDX, and what does it mean for each of us, personally?
These kinds of necessary questions framed 350PDX’s weekend leadership retreat on the theme of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI for short). JEDI values have always been present in our mission, but we haven’t always prioritized making sure they lived and breathed in all of our organizing, our internal spaces, or our relationships. With the guidance of Marcelo Bonta, who has been an advocate and trainer working on JEDI in the environmental/climate movement for over a decade, we took two days to dig deep into where we are now, and where we’d like to be.
Day 1 brought about 25 of 350PDX’s staff, Board and lead volunteers together to share diverse dimensions of our identities, discuss and define what JEDI would look like at 350PDX, and assess our organizational culture through a JEDI lens. We also discussed difficult terms that we needed to define, like power and privilege, which need to be recognized to be used in meaningful alliance with frontline communities. We talked about white supremacy culture and the way it has shaped the norms of the mainstream environmental and climate movement. We can go about working towards more inclusive norms that create a better environment for everyone. We ended the day with observations and recommendations for the organization as a whole.
These included:
The group also posed some important questions:
The JEDI Work Group, established in October 2018, has been charged with carrying this work forward into a comprehensive plan. On Day 2, the JEDI workgroup of 10 volunteers and 350PDX staff met to review and discuss these observations and questions. Over the next few months, this group will be refining our definitions of terms and developing a JEDI statement outlining 350PDX’s history, current actions and future goals in this critical area.
In coming months the workgroup will be reaching out across the organization to gather feedback for a vision statement, as well as working with staff to develop or find and promote the trainings our volunteers need to thrive in doing this JEDI work. Eventually we’d like every volunteer team to have a JEDI who takes on making sure this work in incorporated into every team’s actions.Think you might be your team’s JEDI? Let Anissa know you’re interested with an email to anissa@350pdx.org.
Growth and change are rarely easy, and we have work to do that might sometimes be uncomfortable for those of who already feel welcome and at home at 350PDX. Our retreat made clear that we share a commitment to creating that feeling of community and solidarity for all, empowering and nurturing us all to act against climate chaos. As one retreat participant wrote, “We are strongest when everyone is included and working together. The movement needs all of us.”
(Written by Anais Tuepker, Lucy Kennedy-Wong, Anissa Pemberton, 4/5/2019)
Inside the Methane Monster
/in Fossil Fuel Resistence /by Chris PalmerAs the personification of methane I was able to get in touch with its power and potency. I growled and took in a stance like a Maori warrior whose native lands are being overtaken by sea level rise. I jumped in the air, skeleton hands raised high and shouted ‘BOOM’. I grasped at the innocent by standers and shouted, ‘I want to testify. I am death’. I went to entertain the supporters of the Pacific Connector Pipeline and Jordan Cove liquid fracked gas plant. I wanted dialog but one can’t reason with methane so I shouted ‘BOOM’ in hope they would see how deadly dangerous I can be to them.
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Clean Energy Jobs Lobby Day 2019
/in Announcements, State Legislation /by Chris PalmerCLEAN ENERGY JOBS LOBBY DAY & NOON RALLY Oregon State Capitol, Salem Feb. 6TH, 2019 9 am – 4 pm THE BILL Clean Energy Jobs is a policy to put a limit and price on climate pollution from the largest polluters in the state. It will secure greenhouse gas reductions and reinvestment into communities across […]