Take Action Now
Here are the most effective quick actions you can take right now to fight for climate justice. Want to get more involved?
Climate change is scary, but there are meaningful actions that anyone can take to fight back. Help us build the just, resilient world we all deserve by signing the Pledge of Action! Whether you are brand-new to the movement or a seasoned activist, we want you to join us by taking the pledge.
Take action with the Building Resilience Coalition for clean energy!
The statewide Building Resilience Coalition includes climate justice, public health, family, and youth organizations, business, labor, faith, and frontline communities, and thousands of Oregonians. We are advocating for legislative action to promote healthy, affordable, resilient homes and buildings that run on clean energy.
Homes and buildings are our first line of defense against climate harms, like extreme heat and wildfire smoke and the second largest source of climate pollution in Oregon. We can’t wait any longer for safer homes and buildings that protect us from climate extremes, provide life-saving cooling, and reduce climate pollution.
This legislative session, the Building Resilience Coalition is working to pass four priority bills:
– SB 868 – Healthy Heating and Cooling for All: Sets a target to install 500,000 new heat pumps that will both heat and cool homes efficiently and affordably. Provides financial assistance and other help to purchase and install heat pumps and prioritizes low-income households and those at highest risk from extreme weather.
– SB 869 – Build Smart from the Start: Ensures that the building codes for energy efficiency and materials in new construction align with our state climate goals, which is healthier for people, for climate and for family budgets.
– SB 870 – Building Performance Standards: Set standards for energy efficiency and pollution reduction for large, commercial buildings, with enough transition time and financial incentives for owners to make the needed upgrades.
– SB 871 – Smart State Buildings: State buildings should lead by example, and demonstrate how increasing resilience and efficiency and transitioning to clean energy is feasible, affordable, and beneficial.
Write and Call the Portland City Commissioners: Stop Oil Trains and Stop Zenith Energy!
At the end of last year, behind everyone’s backs, the City quietly approved Zenith’s third request for a land use permit, paving the way for Zenith Energy to continue transporting crude oil for 5 more years before supposedly transitioning to “renewable” fuels. The City turned its back on 46 neighborhood associations, Multnomah County, 20 state legislators, 17 environmental and community organizations, and thousands of Portland residents who all expressed concern over Zenith Energy and originally urged the City to deny this permit. This decision was made without any community or Tribal input on the process.
Send Portland City Council members a reminder that they swore an oath to protect and serve the people of Portland, NOT a Texas-based oil company whose business plan destroys the climate and threatens our city’s very existence. Here’s how you can get involved:
Call & Email City Council and Demand they Rescind the LUCS Permit for Zenith:
- Commissioner Carmen Rubio: 503-823-3008, comm.rubio@portlandoregon.gov
- Commissioner Dan Ryan: 503-823-3589, commissionerryanoffice@portlandoregon.gov
- Commissioner Rene Gonzalez: 503-823-4151, gonzalezoffice@portlandoregon.gov
- Commissioner Mingus Mapps: 503-823-4682, mappsoffice@portlandoregon.gov
- Mayor Ted Wheeler: 503-823-4120, mayorwheeler@portlandoregon.gov
Click here for sample language you can share when you call, and to sign the pledge of resistance.
Timeframe: ASAP
What can you do to take action?
FIRST OF ALL, WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME TO ATLANTA FOR A WEEK OF ACTION THIS MARCH 4TH-11TH
This is a mass mobilization for folks to come together to support those on the frontlines of the #StopCopCity fight, defend the Weelaunee Forest, and honor Tortuguita. More details will be coming soon, but please make your plans now, and share this invitation with your networks, organization, friends, and family. Learn more about the mass mobilization here
SECOND, WE NEED YOU TO ORGANIZE AT HOME.
Here is a calendar with actions across the country where folks are showing up in solidarity with the forest defenders.
Learn more about how you can organize your own solidarity action here.
FINALLY, TAKE 10 MINUTES TO MAKE CALLS AND SEND EMAILS TO #STOPCOPCITY.
Timeframe: ASAP
The urgency of the climate crisis requires bold and meaningful action at every level of government. Right now, we have an opportunity to create important change across all of Oregon in the 2023 Legislative Session, which runs from January to June.
350PDX enters the 2023 State Legislative session ready to support and advocate for bills that nurture the type of changes we need for a more climate-stable future. 350PDX’s Priority Bills span many different facets of state policy — from housing and land use to financial transparency and climate resilience — but all share a core value of furthering climate justice.
It is essential that our Senators and Representatives hear from us often, in as many different ways we can contact them: emails, phone calls, legislative meetings, constituent coffee days, lobby days in Salem, and more. Please join us in contacting your Oregon State Senator and Representative to highlight these important bills and ask that they are made a priority this session. Your voice as a constituent matters greatly, so use it!
Check out our 2023 Oregon State Legislative Session Priorities to see the most up-to-date information on bills we’re supporting and how you can get involved in getting them passed!
Then, join us in taking action and email this Climate Justice Legislative Package to your legislators, urging them to support these bills this session.
Timeframe: ASAP
Sign the Petition & Write to Congress: Restore Federal Recognition for the Chinook Indian Nation
In 2001, the Chinook Nation obtained federal recognition from the U.S. government. However, celebration turned into heartbreak when the U.S. government rescinded this recognition eighteen months later.
The Chinook Indian Nation was essentially declared nonexistent in the eyes of the government. The nation has been unable to access programs and resources to which federally recognized tribes are entitled. Over the last 20 years, the lack of federal recognition has cost $200 million dollars, opportunities for youth, and countless lives.
Congress has both the power and authority to recognize tribes. We are calling on our elected officials to do what’s right and end this humanitarian crisis. Stop the genocide. Federally recognize the Chinook Indian Nation.
ASAP
After years of massive public opposition to Zenith Energy’s dangerous oil-by-rail operations, the City’s recent decision to quickly and quietly approve a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS) guaranteeing five more years of dirty oil trains in our communities is a serious breach of public trust.
Join us in demanding the City of Portland reconsider the approval of Zenith and include public input. Oil-by-rail’s significant impacts on public health, safety, and the climate crisis demand further investigation.
Background
We’ve co-hosted three “Rumble on the River” community forums on Zenith Energy’s oil-by-rail operations and the CEI Hub –– a six-mile stretch of old tank farms located in NW Portland. The hub holds more than 90% of all liquid fuel in Oregon and is on an earthquake liquefaction zone — meaning that in the event of an earthquake, local communities would face huge threats to their health and safety. The CEI Hub is also home to a Zenith Energy oil terminal and oil-by-rail operations. Check out videos of the forums below:
ASAP
Tell your local city and county leaders we need action to protect our communities from harmful methane gas!
Recently, a new report was released that details the public health impacts of methane gas in our community’s homes, apartments, and buildings. The report, Methane Gas: Health, Safety, Economic, and Climate Impacts, is authored by local leaders and experts in our community and 76 different organizations across the region signed on in support of its findings.
Join us in sharing this crucial information with your local City and County elected officials and policy makers. We need our political leaders to stand up for the climate and our health by making a just transition away from gas. As this report shows, research supports the rapid electrification of Pacific Northwest buildings as an affordable way to help meet Oregon’s carbon reduction goals and keep our communities healthy and safe. Thank you.
Timeframe: ASAP
East Portland Residents Oppose Prologis Distribution Center
“We, the members of the East Portland community, strongly oppose the proposed redevelopment of the old K-Mart location at 122nd and NE Sandy Blvd. into a 38-bay distribution center, proposed by ProLogis, Inc. This proposed development poses significant risks and concerns to our community’s health, safety, and well-being.
First, the increased truck traffic and air pollution will have severe impacts on the air quality in our neighborhoods, particularly for the most vulnerable members of our community, such as children, the elderly, and those with respiratory problems. The constant noise and air pollution from the diesel trucks will not only be detrimental to the health of our community members but also create a disruption to the quality of life we cherish.” READ MORE HERE AND SIGN THE PETITION.
350PDX Book Club
Join us for our bimonthly book club, where we alternate between fiction and nonfiction books. We meet on the second Wednesday at 6pm in-person, every other month (in 2023 Feb, April, June, August, Oct, Dec) Contact Chris@350pdx.org to get more info about the next session.
Timeframe: anytime – it’s not actually specific to summer, and we’re going to change the name soon to reflect that!
350PDX Summer School
A free, self-paced, online course that explores the fundamentals of the climate justice movement. 25 video lessons (90 minutes total) take you through three sections:
- People Power 101
- Climate Justice 101
- Finding Your Place In The Movement
Available throughout the summer of 2022 (and beyond) so folks can skill themselves up in the slow summer months when other things – like actions, events, team meetings – tend to be less frequent.
Click here to enroll in the course.
Anytime
Join the 350PDX Creative Roster
Our Creative Team uses art and storytelling to make the climate justice movement irresistible.
This team does the whole creative process, from developing the story (or the narrative strategy) of our campaigns, to figuring out the most strategic way to get the story out to the right audiences, to producing all the banners, videos, songs, performances, creative direct actions, social media campaigns, press releases, webpages, animations, poems, and whatever else that will get our message out there.
The creative roster is our list of folks with creative skills that we can call on when we have a one-off need. Next time we need a songwriter or a photographer we’ll look through the roster and reach out to a few people who have those skills to see if they are free to help! Sign up here.
Deadline: ASAP
Wall Street CEOs: Stop Funding Climate Chaos
Wall Street banks and insurance companies are the largest financial backers of corporations expanding their fossil fuel operations. Since 2015, six US Banks have loaned nearly $500 billion to the 100 corporations most aggressively expanding fossil fuel operations. Insurance giants AIG, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, and Chubb are among the top ten insurance providers to the oil and gas industry.
Send the CEOs, executives, and top decision-makers of each of these corporations a message: they must pass policies prohibiting support for any company that is continuing to ignore climate science and expand its fossil fuel operations.
Deadline: ASAP
Take Action with Divest Oregon!
Over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that fossil fuel investments are risky and dangerous. There has been a wave of organizations and states divesting from fossil fuels, most recently the State of New York. Still, the Oregon State Treasury remains invested in fossil fuels. Not only is the Treasury jeopardizing our state’s financial future by holding onto risky investments, but they are actively fueling the Climate Crisis. We’ve already seen the impacts of the crisis – from wildfires to droughts to heat waves. We’ve seen how Black and Indigenous People and People of Color, working people, and other marginalized groups are bearing the worst of these impacts.
Divest Oregon is a grassroots coalition of over 85 organizations, including 350PDX, fighting for our state to divest from fossil fuels and invest in our future.
Learn ways to take action with Divest Oregon!
Become a donor!
350PDX is a grassroots, volunteer led organization. Our supporters not only lead our campaigns and programs, but are foundational pillars in our funding. By making a gift to 350PDX, you are investing in the longevity of our organization and the role we play in building our local climate movement! Anything, from $10, to $20, to $100 helps us fund the movement, and lets us keep our focus on our campaigns instead of fundraising.
Thank you for your support and commitment to climate justice! Donate here.
Do a Facebook Fundraiser for 350PDX
Facebook can be a great tool for the climate movement. A movement grows through personal connections – when people see their friends involved it paves the way for themselves stepping in. By setting up a Facebook Fundraiser you can let your social network know why you care about the climate crisis, and encourage them to take a small first step into climate action – by donating. A birthday fundraiser raising $350 can be super effective at growing the movement! See our guide to Facebook Fundraisers here.
Get trained up on movement skills
There is a world of learning out there. We are standing on the shoulders of the movements and activists who came before us.
We encourage 350PDX volunteers to be on an ongoing journey of learning through their time as activists. Our trainings page has dozens of prerecorded trainings and resources for you to get skilled up, and also shows any upcoming live trainings we’re putting on.
Join the 350PDX Mailing List
We are building a people’s movement to fight for climate justice. Will you join us?
We send a weekly update with all the latest news and opportunities in the Portland climate justice movement, and occasional other action alerts and general emails throughout the month. Join the mailing list here.
Check out our monthly update
Each month we send out a update about what all our teams and campaigns are up to. This is the best place to learn what we are working on, and how best to get involved in our teams and campaigns. Read most recent update here.
Any questions? Email action@350pdx.org.
