2025 August Newsletter!

We’ve got plenty of exciting updates to share—starting with a special Forest Defense Team spotlight on July’s Pedalpalooza & Action Night, a vibrant summer tradition that puts Shade Equity front and center in a most joyful way.

Before we dive in, please consider that we’re in the final crucial days of our Save 350PDX campaign. So much gratitude to all who have donated and sent in testimonials (more about that below). If you haven’t yet done so, we’d love your support to get us through the finish line.

Save the Dates!

We do not have an Action Night in August. Take time to rest, then get ready for some sizzling September action!

September 18 Action Night

September 21 Sun Day – a national day of action celebrating solar and wind power, and the movement to leave fossil fuels behind. Our puppets will be attending the Portland rally and dazzling folks in the march! Check out our Arts Team update below if you’d like to get involved.

More info soon!

Team News

Forest Defense Team

Shade Equity:

On Thursday evening, July 17, bikers rolled out of Lents Park to take to the streets and observe differences in tree canopy by neighborhood, from the very under-canopied Lents to the tree-filled and cool Laurelhurst.

At the start of the ride, we heard from David Grandfield (Portland Clean Energy Fund) about the equitable tree canopy program, and from Gena Gastaldi (PBOT) who is heading the “Trees In the Curb Zone Pilot Project”. Our route included the stretch of SE Duke between 82nd & 94th where pavement has been removed and trees have been planted! On streets like Duke, where there is no existing space for public trees, this innovative project is the best way to increase shade and livability.

 All Pedalpalooza/Action Night photos: Dana Schott

As we biked west, we saw more space for trees in the public right of way and many larger trees lining the roads, culminating in a cathedral of neighborhood trees as we neared Laurelhurst Park–where the 350PDX Action Night was ready to receive bikers.

At Laurelhurst Park we shared food and drinks donated by several local businesses, including Dove Vivi, Level Beer, Secret Pizza Society, Mississippi Pizza, and Straightaway Cocktails.

We had a silent action with donations from Clever Cycles, SymbiOp Garden Shop, Sparrowhawk Native Plants, Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe, Oaks Park Amusement Park, Pips Doughnuts & Chai, BikeTown, and Cascade Solar. Speakers from our partner organizations (including GreenMe, Neighbors for Clean Air, Trees for Life Oregon, and Friends of Trees) shared the importance of shade canopy and ways to get involved.

We celebrated the recent success of the Shade Equity Coalition’s campaign for the city to plant and care for 1,400 street trees starting this winter. Participants wrote postcards to city councilors, thanking them for standing up for our urban trees during the recent budget discussions, and urging councilors reviewing the Urban Forestry Plan to push for fortifying our urban forests now, ensuring the plan’s metrics and performance tracking are even more robust.

It was a wonderful summer evening, and a great reminder of the power of community and the importance of our urban forest.

State Forest:

On Sunday, July 27, the Forest Defense team took a trip out to the “Middle Big Noise” timber units in the Clatsop State Forest. This is 192 acres of primarily Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir slated to be clearcut and sold for timber in 2026. We measured trees, identified plants and wildlife, snacked on wild berries, and discussed how we can get involved to protect the trees, habitat, and watersheds in our forests.

Forest Photos: Zoe Foxe

GET CONNECTED: Join the Forest Defense Team meetings on the first and third Monday of each month from 6:00-7:30 pm.  Contact volunteer team leads Felice Kelly (felice.kelly@gmail.com) or Tyler Gilmore (tyler@350pdx.org) to get involved.

Climate Policy Team

Climate Justice Policy in City Hall

We’ve been active in Portland City Hall this month, advocating for policies more aligned with climate justice. Here are some highlights:

• With strong assistance from Councilor Morillo and alongside partner groups, we helped pass a Flood Hazard Amendment that retains affordable flood insurance, and that better protects endangered salmon and other species in Portland Harbor. Requirements for planting trees and vegetation help reduce climate harm.

• At our Shade Equity Ride and Action Night, we collected over 100 postcards in support of a strong Urban Forest Plan. We then dropped them off (and talked) with members of the Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee. The draft plan was heard last week and there will be opportunities for public comment in September.

• Advocates from our team met with Councilor Green to discuss climate overlaps with transportation.

• We held a District 4 climate chat with Councilor Clark.

We’ve also been tabling at events around Portland and visiting neighborhood associations and community groups. If you’re part of a group that would like us to come share about our work/bring an info table to an event, please reach out to Cherice Bock (cherice@350pdx.org)!

Thank you, summer climate policy interns!

We had the joy and honor of hosting five summer climate policy interns, thanks to generous stipends from Lewis & Clark College, Reed College, and University of Portland. Thank you so much Abyan Osman, Charlie Welling, Emma Johnson, Lyra Meyers, and Max Hanley for your good work!

Interns boldly dove into an array of tasks this summer, from attending lobby days in Salem to City Council meetings in Portland, from reaching out to neighborhood/community groups in each Portland district to helping host Action Nights. They helped lead trainings, attended coalition meetings, created info sheets, and met with legislators and city councilors. Interns also updated our 2024 Climate Justice Platform. 350PDX created the platform so candidates for city council and mayor could endorse our goals. Through the efforts of interns and partner groups, we will share our updated Climate Justice Platform in September, noting exciting progress as well as next steps for some areas we’re still working on.

Arts Team

Last month, 350PDX’s Arts team members presented a puppet building artbuild at an Oregon Wild fundraiser. We have now plunged into turning the familiar World on Fire Firetruck into an amazing float of hope for September’s Sun Day rally and parade. That event happens September 21, which means we have six weeks to complete this task! Yikes! Can you help?

We’ll have extra art builds planned to please everyone’s schedule, and a range of  activities for every art ability. The first planned art build is August 10, 1:00-4:00pm, in our air conditioned workspace, 3639 N Mississippi. There will be many more, some on weekdays, some in the evenings. Watch the 350pdx calendar for the art build schedule, and let us know if you can make it please. (Reach out to Donna murph1949@aol.com).

Last November, Donovan Zimmerman from Paperhand Puppets came to help our 350PDX Arts Team reimagine how we can provide visual support to 350PDX’s climate campaigns. Last month, tropical storm Chantal flooded Paperhand’s North Carolina warehouse, bringing a  firsthand awareness of our climate crisis. Please watch the following video and help them as you are able.

Paperhand Needs Your Help to Recover From a Climate Crisis

Fossil Fuel Resistance Team

Our team is currently planning and voting on our top campaigns that we’ll be focusing on for the next year, so it’s a great time to join! The next Fossil Fuel Resistance team meeting is on Tuesday, August 12, at 5:30pm on Zoom. To RSVP and get the link, email Dineen at dineen@350pdx.org.

Volunteer Spotlight

Kami Gould

Kami Gould is proud to call Portland her life-long home. She is an illustrator, tattoo artist, and educator who has been passionate about climate justice for as long as she can remember. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she found it easy to form a deep connection to the natural world and its overwhelming beauty. As a member of Gen Z, she can’t remember a time she wasn’t aware of the looming spectre of climate change.

Kami has been volunteering at 350PDX for a little over a year. She first heard about 350 as a student at Sunnyside Environmental School, and followed the organization as the Portland chapter grew. While she was in between jobs, Kami decided to check it out for herself, and was delighted to find a vibrant, long term community. She quickly started working with the Arts Team, helping occasionally with the Storytelling team, and became the Co-Facilitator of the 350 Bookclub.

One of the things Kami finds most impressive and valuable about 350PDX is its ability to offer volunteers a wide variety of areas where they can help. This allows people to play to their strengths and interests, find like-minded people, and invest in a niche they feel excited about. 350PDX has offered a consistent, dependable, and open place to talk with other people who care about climate justice. At the 350PDX Action Night following Trump’s election, Kami remembers how invaluable it felt to be surrounded by others who were devastated by this blow and yet still showed up. 350PDX offers so much to its community and gives so many opportunities to be useful in a fight far too big to take on alone.

 

350 Washington County Team

We will launch our first Electrification and Sustainability Fair in Hillsboro on August 9; lots of planning is coming to fruition in partnership with the City of Hillsboro and with local allies. Tons of fun activities for the whole family, and free Kona ice cream treats for the first 100 guests. Door prizes include STIHL electric lawn trimmer, a two burner induction cooktop, pool parties, and more. Oregon’s climate activist 2025 Kid Governor Rosie Lanenga will be on hand to meet attendees. We still need volunteers for the event! If you’d like to volunteer, please check out the opportunities here, and you can email 350WashCo@gmail.com with any questions.

We will not have an August online meeting, but we invite everyone to our summer potluck picnic at 11am on Sunday, August 24 in Hillsboro. Drop us a note if you’d like to join us! Our general activities include: tracking government at multiple levels around climate and environment, connecting with the Beaverton and the Tigard Climate Action teams, stewarding our Pollinator Garden at Bagley Park in Hillsboro, and more! We always welcome newcomers to our events and to our online meetings.

SW Team

Welcome to the Southwest Neighborhood Team, which includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland. We work together to raise awareness of the climate emergency.

Our street corner demonstrations continue weekly in August, every Friday from 4:00-5:00pm at SW Garden Home & SW Olsen Road. We reach hundreds of commuters with our climate action signs in a highly visible location. Parking is available in the Garden Home Community Center lot, or reach us via bus or bike. We have extra signs to share!

GET CONNECTED: Join our monthly Zoom meeting on Monday, August 11th, from 6:30-7:30pm. To get involved, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com.

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It’s been absolutely inspiring to see the support pouring in from our community over the past 2 months, both in the form of donations and from inspiring, moving testimonials about what 350PDX means to you all. Here’s another favorite of ours:

“350PDX is my antidote to climate anxiety! It gives me hope, empowerment — and, above all, community. 350PDX works to bring people together to grow the climate movement and do the critical work of protecting our shared home. There are so many ways to get involved, whether you are a lifelong activist or just starting to learn, and the campaigns make a real difference in state, local, and regional policies. 350PDX is like no other community, and I feel so fortunate to have found such a passionate and active group of diverse folks. Please join me in becoming a monthly donor, or make a one-time donation to keep the momentum going!” – Elizabeth

Aw, we’re blushing! If you’re feeling inspired to give in these final days of our campaign, we’d be so grateful.

With so much gratitude,

Cherice, Dineen, Irene, Jessica, Katie