350PDX October Team & Campaign Update

Happy October! Welcome to our monthly newsletter, where we highlight some of the amazing work our volunteer teams have been up to. Read on to learn about their accomplishments, how you can join a team, and opportunities to take action!

350PDX November General Meeting

Join our next General Meeting Monday Nov 8, 6:00PM – 7:15PM on Zoom. These monthly General Meeting are open to all. Whether you’re a new or existing volunteer with us, these meetings are a great place to meet staff and other volunteers, hear what the other teams are up to, and deep dive into a specific topic. This month will be a good first chance to meet our new staff members, Brenna, Julia, and Jana. Hope to see you there!

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

Fossil Fuel Resistance Team

We’re hard at work in campaigns to fight the dangerous myth of “natural” gas. Did you know that cutting methane is the strongest lever we have to address climate change in the next 25 years? That’s why we’re developing educational materials to share with our legislators and neighbors about the dangers of methane gas. We’re also calling on Multnomah County to enact a ban on new buildings hooked up to fossil fuels and fighting the incessant greenwashing and misinformation campaigns coming from our local utilities, like NW Natural.

TAKE ACTION: Submit a public comment against the Carty Generating Station, a fracked gas power plant in Boardman, OR. PGE is seeking a new permit to allow more air pollution at the facility. Let’s make sure the Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality hears from us loud and clear: don’t give PGE a green light to pollute!

GET CONNECTED: We meet virtually every other Tuesday at 5:30pm, and our next meeting is on Tues, Nov 9. To get the zoom link, reach out to Melanie (melanie.plaut@gmail.com) and 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.

What’s happening now:

Divest Oregon: Reinvest in a Fossil-Free Oregon – a statewide coalition that our team helped to found – is pressuring the Oregon Investment Council to end new investment in fossil fuels, transparently phase out current investments by 2026, and reinvest in climate-safe investments using a social justice framework.
Deadline Glasgow: Defund Climate Chaos – STMP is demanding that all financial institutions stop financing the corporations engaged in climate destruction and human rights abuses, with actions pressuring leaders at the Glasgow Climate Talks (COP 26).
Support of frontline resistance to fossil fuel infrastructure such as Line 3, a tar sands pipeline in Minnesota
Local divestment campaigns in educational institutions, with our team providing resources and support

TAKE ACTION: Tell the State of Oregon to divest from fossil fuels

GET CONNECTED: Reach out to Jenifer (jenifer@350pdx.org) for a conversation about our team and to receive our weekly team email. We meet on the 4th Thursday of every month, 7-8:30 pm.

Forest Defense Team

We fight climate change by protecting Oregon’s forests from harmful logging practices and building forest climate resilience. One of the biggest community impacts of industrial logging is the degradation of community water supplies. Our team is working on a multi-level approach to reduce industrial clear-cut logging, which will lead to greater carbon storage and cleaner water for people and fish!

Over the past month, we’ve been:

Working with North Coast communities to learn more about their struggles with pesticide pollution and reduced streamflow in their water sources – with an aim to help improve watershed management there.
Urging the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to take more responsibility for forest waters, including regulating logging practices to bring streams and lakes into compliance with the Clean Water Act. We submitted comments connecting clean water and climate change and urging real change in forestry regulation.
Working to change state level leadership that will prioritizing fighting climate change and protecting the water.

TAKE ACTION: Urge the Board of Forestry to adopt the Climate Change & Carbon Plan – submit a comment by Oct 31

GET CONNECTED: Join us at our next team meeting on Nov 15th at 6:00pm or contact Brenna Bell (brenna@350pdx.org) to learn more. Take a hike with the Forest Defense Team in Tryon Creek State Park from 1:00-3:00pm on Saturday, Oct 30. We’ll meet in front of the Nature Center (11321 SW Terwilliger Blvd).

City/County Watchdog Team

We’re ramping up efforts to get environmental justice and climate action addressed in the City Charter Review process. The City’s charter is like its constitution, and the review process is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform structural barriers into supportive and responsive systems and institutions that will support Portland in surviving and thriving for the decades to come.

TAKE ACTION: Submit a public comment on the Charter Review process by Dec 9th.

GET CONNECTED: Join us at our next Watchdog meeting on Thursday, November 4, 5:30-7pm. Contact Brooke (brooke@350pdx.org) or Indi (indi@350pdx.org) for meeting details or for more info about the team.

Solidarity Team

Our Solidarity Team organizes in the intersections of climate justice and social justice movements through genuine partnership and coalition building. Email dineen@350pdx.org and indi@350pdx.org to join the team or for more info.

Creative Team

Right now, we’re collaborating with the Fossil Fuel team on their gas campaign. Over the summer we started exploring how a story-based strategy might shape how the campaign is shared with various audiences. After a pause, we’re picking that back up and considering which words, images and methods might help us reach a specific target audience with limited resources.

We also wrapped up a set of social media graphics with the Divest/Reinvest team last month, thanks to a fabulous volunteer with beautiful graphic design skills. Finally, we’re planning to work on our training offerings so new folks can get up to speed on what a “story-based strategy” is.

Some things we’re attending / exploring right now:

350 Strategic Messaging Workshop (Oct. 30)
The Race Class Narrative webinar (recorded here) from the group We Make The Future

GET CONNECTED: Fill out this form to get on our roster.

Arts Team

In September and October, 350PDX Arts Team hosted fun Art Builds, assembled posters, repaired puppets, wrote poetry, painted Earths, and screenprinted muslin. You can do all this, too! Join us as we add visuals, color, and texture to Portland’s climate movement. In November, we’ll continue on promoting COP26 and organizing our Arts Team Fundraiser. The fundraiser was so successful last year we are doing it again, and you can help. We need artists to donate their work!! We need team members to help the sale sail smoothly through November and December by delivering and picking up items and marking it all down on a spreadsheet. Reach out to Donna Murphy (murph1949@aol.com) if you’re interested.

GET CONNECTED: Join us for our monthly meetings – next meeting is Nov 22, 7:00-8:30pm. Reach out to Donna Murphy (murph1949@aol.com) for more information.

JEDI Team

This month, we launched our first ever Conflict Cohort for 350PDX active volunteers, with 18 folks joining the 6-month training series. Conflict avoidance is a white supremacy cultural trait that holds us back as individuals, as teams, and as a movement. This cohort aims to build healthy conflict skills among folks on the staff, board, and 350PDX volunteers.

We will begin with exploring our individual styles of dealing with conflict – whether that’s to jump in and fight, or to avoid the difficult topic altogether. From there, we will build skills and awareness for making conflict useful, finding the positive change that is trying to happen, and assisting it to unfold. We will also deepen our understanding of power and privilege in all its forms, and respectful ways to intervene early in oppressive situations. The sessions are being led by Elva Redwood, a 350PDX volunteer on the JEDI committee, experienced Processwork counselor and facilitator, and trauma specialist.

SW Team

The 350 SW Team has been an active neighborhood team of 350PDX since 2015. We have about a dozen active people, with others who follow what we’re doing and join us for our monthly Monday meeting when they can. You’re welcome to check us out!

Recently, members of our team have submitted comments to advocate for strong rules in DEQ’s Climate Protection Plan and to OR State Treasurer Tobias Read to oppose PERS investments in fossil fuel energy companies. Some of us have been holding signs for Climate Action Now (met by many friendly honks and waves) at busy SW intersections most Friday mornings (8:00-9:00am), weather permitting.

GET CONNECTED: Contact emilypolanshek@msn.com or patk5@msn.com to get on our email list or find out more about us!

Washington County Team

Over the past weeks our team made a major push to deliver comments on the DEQ/EQC hearings on The Climate Protection Program (CPP) in advance of the October 25 Deadline. At our last meeting, we agreed to adopt Bagley Park in downtown Hillsboro for pollinator stewardship and a dose of public education on climate and environmental issues. We are developing a campaign to inform the Washington County Board of Commissioners about the importance of retaining mature trees in the landscape.

We’re partnering with the Hillsboro’s Bag & Baggage Theater for a Climate Change Theater Action. At this live community event, B&B actors will present short plays and the Washington County Team will lead a discussion of ways to take climate action locally. Join us on Saturday, Nov 13, at the Vault Theater (350 E Main St in Hillsboro).

GET CONNECTED: The 350 Washington County team meets virtually at 6:30pm on second Tuesdays. For more info or to join the group, please contact Debby Garman at debbygactivism@gmail.com

In solidarity,

350PDX Staff – Brenna, Chris, Dineen, Gaby, Indi, Jana, and Julia
350PDX Board & Team Leads