TEAM UPDATES

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Fossil Fuel Resistance Team

Our team is busy fighting Zenith Energy and GTN XPress, advocating for a Fossil Free Multnomah County and educating on the dangers of methane gas, fighting for clean and healthy buildings across Oregon, supporting frontline-led fossil fuel fights nationwide, and is engaging in an exciting summer of action on the Willamette River.

Campaign to Stop GTN XPress: A Victory… For Now! Just last week, our team and the greater #StopGTNXpress regional coalition celebrated a great victory. After we were expecting a decision (and what even seemed like an approval) of the GTN Xpress project at the July Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) meeting, at the last minute they removed GTN Xpress from the agenda, pushing the decision back at least another two months. This is after our coalition has been successfully delaying this decision from happening since January.

Delaying costs fossil fuel companies time and money, so this delay is a victory for our campaign! The news came out one day after our FFR team spent time during our meeting making nearly 20 calls to FERC, making sure this issue was top of mind for the agency, and two days after a major TC Energy gas pipeline exploded in Virginia. Following this scary event, Senators Merkley and Wyden re-issued a joint statement calling on FERC to reject the application. This turn of events clearly shows that grassroots organizing works. We just have to keep up the fight.

GET CONNECTED:  Now is a great time to join us! Contact Eloise and Dineen to learn more about the team and to plug in. Eloise@350pdx.org and Dineen@350pdx.org. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, August 22nd at 5:30 pm in-person at a team member’s backyard in NE Portland. All are welcome – for the address, please email dineen@350pdx.org. After that, our next meeting is on Tuesday, September 12th at 5:30 pm and it’s virtual.

Join us at the next Rumble on the River Community Forum!

Thursday, August 24, 6-8:30pm at Taborspace (5441 SE Belmont)

Rumble On The River community forums bring together expert voices to discuss the risks of the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub, a 6-mile stretch of aging tank farms, including Zenith Energy’s oil facility. The CEI hub holds 90% of Oregon’s fuel and stands on a seismic liquefaction zone in the Lower Willamette, putting us in in danger of a Deepwater Horizon level spill right on Portland’s riverfront.

Mobilizing the Blast Zone: Do you live in the blast zone of Zenith’s oil trains? Use this map to find out. If you do, call and write to the City of Portland and share that you live in the blast zone and are concerned for your safety. If you’re interested in making sure your fellow neighbors know about this issue and growing the movement, host a Neighborhood Party with us! Reach out to dineen@350pdx.org to learn more.

Forest Defense Team

The Forest Defense team has been working on two major campaigns — shifting state forest policy toward carbon storage and sequestration and increasing shade equity in Portland — in addition to supporting the efforts of PNW Tribes to remove the Lower Snake River dams and restore salmon populations.

There was a coordinated week of action for Forests and Climate across the PNW at the end of June. Our team participated in several events:

• Team lead Felice spoke about the connection between forests and salmon at an event organized by Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment called “Tipping Point for Salmon.”

• We made banners with forest and climate themed messages and then hung them over I-5 during the morning commute on Monday June 26th.

• Brenna Bell (350PDX Forest Climate Manager) contributed to a Rumble on the River event about how the flammable materials at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub on the Willamette exacerbate fire risks in Forest Park and nearby communities.

• On June 29th, our team hosted a Pedalpalooza Ride led by Jacob Apenes and Tyler Gillmore in East Portland with Thrive East PDX to highlight both areas with great shade and areas that need more trees in East Portland. We also heard from the Parkrose + Argay Opportunity Coalition’s fight against a freight shipping terminal at NE 122nd & Sandy.

There is an upcoming conference at the World Forestry Center September 26th-28th called “Who Will Own the Forest?” This is a timber industry event focused on the profit of Wall Street shareholders. Local environmental organizations are planning counter protests, including an alternative conference called Who Should Own the Forest. If you are interested in helping push back against the anti-climate message being championed by timber investment corporations, please reach out to Brenna at brenna@350pdx.org. 

GET CONNECTED: Our next meeting will be in person, at Felice’s house on August 7th, 6:00PM-7:30PM. Anyone is welcome to attend! Please reach out to Felice at felice.kelly@gmail.com for details

“Climate Superheroes” Pedalpalooza Ride & 350PDX Action Night

Mon August 28th, 6:00PM – 8:00PM

Join us for our monthly 350PDX Action Night! This month’s action night will also be a Pedalpalooza bike ride, and the theme is Climate Superheroes! So bring your tights, capes, and bikes and we’ll see you there! Email kiera@350pdx.org with any questions and learn more here.

City/County Watchdog Team

The City/County Watchdog team works to make sure we have local policies rooted in environmental justice and climate action.

For instance, we’ve been continuing to track the implementation of the City Charter reform Measure 26-228, which nearly 60% of Portlanders voted for last fall. On July 18, City Council held a special work session (see a recording of the session here) to address the sweeping changes to the measure’s implementation that Commissioners Dan Ryan and Rene Gonzalez had proposed. After receiving little support for their proposals and a lot of public push-back, Ryan and Gonzalez are thankfully no longer moving forward with their proposals to reduce the number of City Council seats or change ranked choice voting. However, they are still calling for the mayor to have more power, so we will need to keep up the fight to defend the charter reforms we voted on last fall.

Learn more about City Charter reform measure implementation, and get involved:

• Transition Overview and Timeline | Portland.gov
• Draft District Plan for public comment | Portland.gov (proposed maps in Alder, Cedar, and Maple)
• Events | Independent District Commission | Portland.gov (Independent Redistricting commission work sessions on Aug. 9th, 16 & 21st — which the public can access via zoom)

GET CONNECTED: Want to get involved? Email Chris (chris@350pdx.org) to join us for our next meeting monthly meeting.

Arts Team

The Arts Team works hard to bring visuals to 350PDX and other climate justice actions. Last month, we created art materials for the Paddle Zenith Out of Portland action. We finished our Mother Earth puppet, at long last, and brought her to pose for photos with kayakers. We assembled simple bird puppets and gave them a chance to fly in the sunny blue sky. We screenprinted 25 posters for people to wave. And we made 70 kites/flags for the kayakers to sail while they participated in the Mosquito Fleet.

Upcoming actions in August: a drumming class for our wonderful arts team drumming corps, a redo of our tree puppet forest, and more puppets! And more maintenance on our muslin poster signs.

GET CONNECTED: Can you join us? I hope so! Let Donna know (murph1949@aol.com), and I’ll send information about our August 13 artbuild and drumming class!

Creative Team

The Creative Team uses storytelling to make the climate justice movement irresistible. This month, we’ve focused on promoting the new writing and art contest we’re hosting with the Breach Collective, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Here Together Oregon — Flash Futures PNW: A Climate Fiction & Art Contest.

Climate Fiction Write-In & Art-Making Event

Tuesday, Aug 8, from 6-8pm in the 350PDX office (3625 N Mississippi Ave, Portland)

Join us for a climate fiction write-in and art-making event! At this event, you’ll learn more about Flash Futures PNW: A Climate Fiction and Art Contest, work on your writing or art piece to submit to the Flash Futures competition (submit by Aug 31!), and meet other writers/artists in the community!

Submit a short piece of writing or visual art to Flash Futures PNW: A Climate Fiction & Art Contest

Now through Aug 31

Submit a a short piece of writing (under 1000 words, in any genre or visual art) to the contest responding to this prompt:

What do you imagine for the future of climate justice work in the Pacific Northwest? Tell us a story (through visual art or in writing) about what that work could look like in the future – 10, 50, 500+ years from now. We invite you to dream boldly!

Through art, we can engage in the kind of imaginative work necessary to dream up a future where we’re making strides towards collective liberation and justice. We’re excited to see what you come up with! Learn more and submit here.

GET CONNECTED: Fill out this form to get on our creative roster, or reach out to Julia at julia@350pdx.org to get involved with the team. We meet roughly every other week on Thursdays from 4-5pm on zoom, and our next meeting is on Aug 10.

SW Team

Welcome to our southwest neighborhood team, which includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland, from PSU to Hillsdale, Multnomah Village, Beaverton and Lake Oswego.

Our ‘How to Save our Planet’ series of presentations are now available to groups and community organizations. The series consists of four one hour programs that include video segments and discussions focused on changes that can slow and eventually stop human induced global warming. The programs include:

• How to Save Our Planet – There is much we can do to help ensure a livable planet for those alive now and in the future. Find out more in this introduction.
• How to Replace Fossil Fuels – There are ways to change our energy use and reduce impacts to our climate. Advances in sustainable energy, and the adoption of electric vehicles and appliances can slow global warming and prevent some of the worst outcomes of climate change.
• How to Rewild Our Planet – Discover how effective protection and management of forests, grasslands and savannahs combined with the restoration of degraded habitats are essential to conserve biodiversity, meet our global climate goals, and sustain a thriving food system.
• How to Save Our Oceans – The ocean may seem vast and indestructible, but it is now in serious trouble. Learn about sustainable seafood choices, how to reduceplastic pollution, and the latest on the United Nations’ treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity.

To schedule a presentation, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com.

Our new yard sign campaign was launched in July. Team members will be canvasing highly traveled areas and attending community events to distribute signs to residents who support Climate Action Now! Street corner demonstrations were resumed in June. Volunteers gather weekly to raise awareness of the climate emergency at these sign-waving events at various locations in Southwest neighborhoods.

GET CONNECTED: To get involved in our outreach actions, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com. Join our next monthly meeting on Monday, August 13th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Zoom.

Washington County Team

This month:

• Join us for our monthly sign wave on Saturday, August 19. (Sign waving events from 11am to noon on third Saturdays monthly at NE Cornell and 25th in Hillsboro)
• On Tuesday, August 20, we will be hosting an EV Cruise In at the Tuesday Market in Hillsboro. If you’d like to show off your great EV and visit with prospective EV buyers, let us know and we’ll give you the details to join the fun.
• Stewarding our Pollinator Garden at Bagley Park in Hillsboro

We also enjoyed a summer potluck picnic in July.

GET CONNECTED:   We always welcome newcomers to our regular monthly 6:30pm second Tuesday (online) meetings and at all our events. Our next team meeting is Tuesday, August 8, at 6:30pm (learn more on the 350PDX calendar). We’ll catch up on all recent actions and plan for the future. If you are in Washington County and would like to receive updates from us, please sign up HERE. You can also “like” our Facebook page for updates.

Brooklyn Neighborhood Team

This month we’re continuing our Fossil Free Multnomah County campaign, to encourage our County Commissioners to ban gas hookups in new residential buildings. After getting our neighborhood association to pass a resolution in support in May, we’re now backing up that resolution by building community support in our neighborhood by educating our neighbors and gathering petition signatures.

The hope is to build a Brooklyn email list of several hundred people willing to take action for climate justice, that our team can call on to show up for our neighborhood climate resilience and mutual aid efforts, and also to step up and take action when our climate justice campaigns ramp up.

GET CONNECTED:  Join our Brooklyn Climate Action Team mailing list here to get 1-2 emails a month with local action alerts. Know someone in our neighborhood? Forward this email onto them!

If you’re interested in neighborhood-based organizing where you are, or want to get involved with the Brooklyn Neighborhood Team, reach out to 350PDX Volunteer Manager Chris at chris@350pdx.org.