Happy June! Welcome to our monthly newsletter, where we highlight some of the amazing work our volunteer teams have been up to. But first, some upcoming actions:

Reproductive Rights Actions Tonight

The Supreme Court decision to effectively overturn Roe v. Wade is in direct violation of the rights of millions across the country. We encourage you to show up in taking collective action. We stand in solidarity with abortion access and reproductive justice activists.

Join Portland DSA this evening at 5:30pm at Lownsdale Square (1098 SW 4th Ave, Portland, OR 97204) in protest. There will also be a Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon event at 5pm at Salmon Springs that will march to meet up with the Portland DSA event.

350PDX Heat Week Climate Resiliency Ride & Action Night

Next Tuesday, June 28 — Join 350PDX’s Forest Defense Team on a Heat Week Pedalpalooza Bike Ride about the inequitable distribution of street trees and shade in east Portland. We’ll discuss the impacts of extreme heat on our neighborhoods and how we can fight for equitable street tree access. Meet at 5:00pm, ride at 5:30pm from Lents Park (meet near the playground at SE 92nd Avenue and Steele Blvd). The ride is just under 7 miles on fairly flat terrain, and will include a shady stop to refill water bottles and enjoy the trees. Riders of all abilities welcome!

After the ride, we’ll meet at Colonel Summers Park for an Action Night (food, drinks, art and actions). If you can’t join us on the bike ride, we’d still love you at the Action Night! We’ll be there roughly 6:30-8:30pm.

Learn more about the ride, action night, and Heat Week events at 350pdx.org/heatweek

Read on to learn about their accomplishments, how you can join a team, and opportunities to take action!

TEAM UPDATES

Read more about the teams and volunteer opportunities Volunteer Opportunities page
Want to get involved but not sure where to start? Fill out the Volunteer Form

Our team’s main action right now is working towards a fossil free Multnomah County. Buildings account for a significant portion (1/3rd!) of Oregon’s climate pollution, so it’s time we commit to only constructing buildings that are free of fossil fuels. New buildings that are hooked up to gas must be seen for what they are: new fossil fuel infrastructure that locks us into dirty and polluting energy for decades to come. Electrification is a solution that can create a just transition to homes and buildings that are safer, healthier, and more resilient, and powered by clean energy. To make this a reality, right now we’re gathering petition signatures to Multnomah County commissioners which we’ll present later in the summer. We need your help to make our numbers strong, so sign the petition today and share with your friends!

GET CONNECTED:  Our team is taking a summer vacation in July and encouraging our team members to rest and enjoy the summer. Our next meeting is Tuesday, August 9th at 5:30pm in-person and outside in NE Portland. To RSVP to this meeting, and/or to sign up for an orientation to the team, reach out to Dineen: dineen@350pdx.org.

Defund/Divest Team

Our team follows the money, working as part of the national coalition StopTheMoneyPipeline (STMP). We call on financial institutions, insurance companies, and the government to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Most of the 350PDX Defund/Divest Team is working to Divest Oregon: Reinvest in a Fossil-Free Future, a statewide coalition we founded – now nearly 100 organizations and hundreds of individual members strong! Divest Oregon’s latest news is that the Oregon Education Association has joined all the other teachers’ unions in Oregon in the Divest Oregon coalition. Since we released Risky Business: Oregon Treasury’s Fossil Fuel Problem, which is a good source of info about Divest Oregon’s work, we have realized that the Oregon State Treasury has invested over half of the PERS fund in private, and secret, funds. We are continuing public pressure on the Treasury and exploring legislation and litigation. If you want to be engaged in Divest Oregon, or receive Divest Oregon action and meeting announcements, join the coalition’s mailing list.

Stop the Money Pipeline (STMP) is focused on Wall Street. We have one simple demand for Wall Street: stop. The campaign is emailing the top executives of every major Wall Street bank and insurance company, demanding they stop fossil fuel expansion. The fossil fuel industry is trying to use Russia’s war on Ukraine as a reason to push for fossil fuel expansion. Here’s why that’s a truly terrible idea.

GET CONNECTED:  There are no monthly meetings of the 350PDX Defund/Divest Team at this time. But the team is still active! The Defund/Divest Team is engaged in multiple efforts to divest local educational institutions. Reach out to Jenifer (jenifer@350pdx.org) for a conversation about our team and to receive our weekly Defund/Divest team email. Click here to join the Divest Oregon team!

Forest Defense Team

The Forest Defense Team works to fight climate change by advocating for forest management practices that increase carbon sequestration and storage, decrease forestry sector carbon emissions, and improve community and ecosystem resilience in the face of the changing climate. We have two sub-teams, State Forest Policy and Urban Shade Equity, as well as engaging in many other actions to help promote healthy climate, communities and forests.
The State Forest Policy sub-team has been taking a break this month after all our work preparing comments encouraging the Oregon Dept. of Forestry to improve the Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan.  We’re taking the summer to help out with the Shade Equity team, go hiking and rejuvenate!
The Shade Equity sub-team continued our campaign encouraging the City of Portland to create a plan to assume full legal and financial responsibility for street trees, and tree-related sidewalk repairs, and is currently helping plan Heat Week, from June 26-30, commemorating last year’s deadly heat dome.  As part of Heat Week, 350PDX is leading a Pedalpalooza ride on June 28th navigating between heat islands and well-treed neighborhoods. The ride will end in Colonel Summers Park, where we’ll have snacks and a night of climate justice actions.
GET CONNECTED:  The Forest Defense team is meeting in person at 6 pm on July 11th at Tryon Life Community Farm in SW Portland for both a meeting and an evening hike in Tryon Creek State Park. Please come, and bring food to share for a potluck dinner.  Contact Forest Climate Manager Brenna Bell (brenna@350pdx.org) for meeting details.

City/County Watchdog Team

We have great news! After months of public pressure, the Portland Charter Commission voted this week to advance a set of key reforms to the charter! That means we’ll get to vote on these reforms in November:

  • Ranked-choice voting for City Council positions
  • Expanding City Council by adding 4 new geographic districts, each with 3 new representatives
  • A new governance structure where City Council is focused on setting policies and the Mayor is focused on implementing them

Overall, these changes would open up more avenues for us to build our collective power and incentivize more accountability from our elected officials. Thank you to everyone who delivered spoken and written public comments to get these reforms advanced to the ballot. Let’s vote yes on these reforms in November to usher in a more just, equitable Portland! Learn more about the Charter Review process from our partner, the Coalition of Communities of Color. 

There’s still more work to be done to get environmental justice in the City Charter. Phase II of the commission’s work begins June 30. Stay tuned for more ways to make your voice heard during this critical once-in-a-decade moment to win a better city government capable of delivering safety, health, representation, and justice for Portland through the climate crisis to come.

GET CONNECTED: Want to learn more about charter review or get involved with the 350PDX Watchdog team? Email indi@350pdx.org  or brooke@350pdx.org .

Creative Team

The Creative Team has been supporting Divest Oregon in its campaign to achieve divestment of Oregon’s public funds from fossil fuels. We are also continuing to support the Gas-busters campaign’s messaging. Help us out by sharing the new 350pdx.org/methane webpage with info on the campaign and how we phase out “natural” gas in Multnomah County. Please also share around our Gas-busters video — “Natural gas in is the new lead paint“!

Next steps for the Creative Team include onboarding new core members, learning new Story Strategy tools and techniques, and creating training materials around 350PDX’s approach to Story-based Strategy for various constituents. We’re also starting up a new Creative Team newsletter!

GET CONNECTED: Fill out this form to get on our roster and receive our newsletter!

Arts Team

This month, the Arts Team analyzed the work we did at the Youth Climate strike March. We also took on work for the Divest Team and the Forest Defense Team. We have an Art Build Sunday June 26, where we’ll clean out and organize and record the many visual materials we’ve created the last many years.

Upcoming action in July: The big exciting action will be our Protest Music class. Leslie Hassberg will teach us percussion rhythms, songs, and chants to use in marches and other actions at the 350PDX office (3625 N Mississippi Ave). No worries if you don’t have a drum — we will make some cool ones. Please join us, we have lots of room.

GET CONNECTED: Let Donna know (murph1949@aol.com) if you’re interested in the music class or in the July Art Build or in the Arts Team in general. Artistic ability not required. We will put you on the mailing list, and then you will get our wonderful new monthly Newsletter!

SW Team

Our small but enthusiastic southwest area neighborhood team has been meeting on the third Monday of each month, but may be moving back to the second Monday as we did during our first six years. Please check the 350PDX calendar in the coming weeks if you’d like to attend. We have an interesting presentation on Offshore Wind Energy for which the southern Oregon coast could be a great source, with facilities in Coos Bay already in place for distribution.

GET CONNECTED: Contact emilypolanshek@msn.com to get on our email list or have coffee with one of us!

Solidarity Team

We are still looking for a dedicated volunteer to join this team as a 350PDX representative to the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, a close partner of ours and a coalition we’re a part of. Please let Dineen ( dineen@350pdx.org) know if you’re interested — it’s a great opportunity for someone who’s passionate about climate justice and excited about building connections with other organizations in the community.
In the meantime, all are welcome to attend this  “Stop the Plunder” Campaign Orientation on Tuesday, June 28th from 6:30 – 8 pm on Zoom. U.S.-based multinational corporations like Chevron, Boeing, Tesla, and JP Morgan Chase are all making super profits by looting the Philippines, and the Oregon State Treasury invests our money in all of them. As environmental defenders in the US, it is our duty to join in solidarity with the Filipino people in their fight to defend their lands, resources, and lives. As state violence against environmental defenders in the Philippines escalates under the incoming Marcos-Duterte regime, it is critical for us to take action to hold these murderous corporations, the Philippine government, and our own government accountable. We call on all Oregonians committed to land defense and human rights to join us to learn more about our campaign to Stop the Plunder of the Philippines! Register at  tinyurl.com/STPori628 or email  caw.wilde@gmail.com with any questions.

Washington County Team

On Saturday, June 25 we tabled at the fabulous Westside Recyclers “PlanetCon” event getting out messaging on the climate crisis and collecting messages on postcards asking local governments to save mature trees. Our next meeting will be via Zoom on July 12. We are looking for new leadership participants and ideas for our team.

GET CONNECTED:  We always welcome newcomers to our 6:30pm second Tuesday (online for now) meetings and at all our events. Find our meeting and events listings on the 350PDX calendar. Email 350WashCo@gmail.com to attend. Everyone is invited to join in all of our events. Please “like” our Facebook page for updates.

In solidarity,

350PDX Staff – Anissa, Brenna, Chris, Dineen, Emily, Indi, and Julia
350PDX Board & Team Leads