350PDX is recruiting new board members

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Do you believe environmental policies and practices should center the needs of those hit first and worst by climate chaos?

Do you believe in a climate future grounded in racial equity?

Interested in building transparent, just and accountable systems?

Want to participate in creating a culture of climate resiliency, optimism, and anti-racism?

350PDX is recruiting new board members! And, if you answered yes to any of these questions, that could be you!

We are a grassroots, climate justice organization that engages in direct action and organizing to challenge fossil fuel development, industrial forestry practices, and works to pass bold policies that move us towards a sustainable future, like the Portland Clean Energy Fund.

Our organization is run as a staff collective with 7 staff and 6 board members currently. There is no Executive Director and operational decisions are made by all staff via a democratic process, and the board offers support in a variety of ways to the staff team, in addition to holding standard legal responsibilities.

We are excited to have new board members who have been involved in the 350PDX community as volunteers, but new people to 350PDX are very welcome too.

Some skills that would be useful (but not necessary) include:

  • fundraising experience and/or enthusiasm
  • experience on nonprofit boards (and/or staff)
  • legal background
  • but above all, enthusiasm and experience in the work and goals of 350PDX

We value the wisdom that comes from lived experience on the front lines of climate chaos and the extractive economy, and strongly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and other candidates of color who hold those experiences. Ideally, board members have 10-15 hours a month to commit. In alignment with our desire to remove barriers to board participation, small stipends (approximately $150/month) are available to all board members.

If you want to learn more, please email Devyn Powell (devyn@350pdx.org), telling us a little about yourself and why you’re interested to join the board. We’ll ask for your resume and for answers to our board application questions. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with no set deadline right now. Please feel free to reach out with any questions and share with folks who may be interested! We look forward to hearing from you!

Launching the 2021 Art Sale!

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Today we are launching our annual end of year art sale fundraiser! 

All pieces in this sale have been generously donated by staff, volunteers, or supporters of 350PDX, and 100% of the proceeds go towards helping us hit our end of year fundraising target of $80,000.

The sale starts today and goes until December 18th, so we can make sure to have all the art delivered before the holidays.

Check out the art sale here

We’re still looking for more art for the sale, and will keep adding pieces until early December! Want to contribute a piece? Click here for more info.
Can you help spread the word?

  • Forward this email onto friends and family
  • We’ve got two flyers here that you can print and put up in coffee shops and community bulletin boards in your neighborhood!
  • Share these posts on Facebook, and Twitter.

 

In solidarity,

Chris (Volunteer Manager, 350PDX) and the 350PDX Arts Team

P.S. We’re doing volunteer-powered free pickup/delivery in the Portland metro area! Want to volunteer helping deliver art? Contact chris@350pdx.org.

Art and artists wanted! For end of year art sale

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I’m excited to announce we’ll be doing our end of year art sale fundraiser for the second year running! We’ll be selling donated pieces of art with all proceeds going to 350PDX to help us hit our much needed end of year fundraising target of $80,000.
Are you an artist? Do you have artist friends or family? We are looking for donations of anything from oil paintings to postcards, sketches to sculptures, climate themed or totally unrelated. Price range can be anywhere from $5 – $500 (or more), although last year our best selling items by far were in the $20-$100 range. Please forward this email onto anyone you think might be interested!
If you’re interested in donating a piece, or have any questions, please reach out to artsale@350pdx.org.
Info we’ll need from artists:

  • Name of the piece
  • High resolution picture of your art
  • A suggested price
  • A small description – including dimensions, whether it is framed, year it was made, etc.
  • A link to your website/Instagram (optional!)
  • Your phone number and address so we can coordinate pickup/delivery
Deadline: November 14 to launch the art sale website. But we can also add pieces to the sale through mid-December, so it’s OK if you can’t make that deadline.
Interested in volunteering to help make this art sale happen? Liaising with artists, managing the website, helping deliver pieces? Let me know too! We could do with all the help we can get to make this a big success.
Thank you!
Chris – 350PDX Volunteer Manager
P.S. Thank you to Lauren Sullivan on the Arts Team for the great flyer!

Tell Wyden – No Fossil Fuel Subsidies

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On Sept 13 the House Ways and Means Committee released an outline of proposed revenue-raising legislation for the Build Back Better Act. The draft text contains various tax reforms to fund President Joe Biden’s priorities and would end key international tax breaks for fossil fuel companies.

But it fails to eliminate domestic fossil fuel subsidies.

This is a key moment, and with over 500 allied groups and 50+ members of Congress strongly on our side, we can win. Sen. Schumer has already expressed strong support for ending subsidies, and he and Sen. Wyden (as well as President Biden) have positioned themselves as champions on the issue — this is their opportunity to prove it.

Can you email or call Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to ensure fossil fuel domestic subsidies are eliminated in the budget reconciliation package? 

Sample script:

“Hello, I’m calling/emailing for Senator Ron Wyden. My name is xxx, I am an Oregon constituent, and I am calling to ask you to ensure that fossil fuel subsidies, both nationally and internationally, are eliminated in the budget reconciliation package. Thank you”

Feel free to add a reason too, e.g. “because my tax dollars shouldn’t be going to subsidize the biggest polluters on the planet”.

202-224-5244 ; Email here

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network stated:

“Ending all fossil fuel subsidies is a top line strategy to end the climate crisis. One of the key solutions for building a just transition is to shift fossil fuel funding to Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other people of color communities confronting climate and environmental injustice. By failing to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, Chairman Neal and the Ways and Means Committee are ensuring billions of dollars of public money to flow to the biggest polluters on the planet at the expense of Indigenous Peoples rights, livelihoods, and well being. On behalf of our communities, all life, Mother Earth, and future generations, it is imperative that we stop the egregious cycle of corporate welfare for fossil fuels, end fossil fuel subsidies, and Keep It In The Ground!”

WE DID IT! City of Portland denies permit for Zenith Energy!

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Today, after over three years of dedicated grassroots organizing, the City of Portland has listened to thousands of us and denied the land use permit for Zenith Energy’s crude oil facility. WE DID IT!

In an unambiguous statement this morning, the City declared that Zenith’s oil-by-rail storage and transfer facility is inconsistent with the City’s land use rules, and denied them from receiving a crucial Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS). Now, Zenith must stop transporting tar sands and crude oil entirely. By denying the LUCS, the City concluded that Zenith’s oil-by-rail operations are inconsistent with our own land use goals, following years of policy commitments to reduce carbon emissions, address the climate emergency, and oppose oil trains.

In his statement on the denial, Commissioner Dan Ryan wrote “It is time to stop kicking our declarations down the road of intention—and start acting with the urgency needed at this critical time in history.” We couldn’t agree more.

For over three years, thousands of community members (like you!) have been fighting this crude oil facility, everywhere from the streets, the river and train tracks, to the courtrooms and City Hall. The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, 20 Oregon state legislators, and 46 neighborhood organizations all separately submitted letters and statements demanding this permit be denied. Tens of thousands of people marched in the streets, signed petitions, and made calls.

When we organize, we win. This announcement is yet another example of how when people come together, we can stop the fossil fuel industry from continuing to destroy our climate, our communities, and our shared future. Grassroots organizing works.

Zenith thought this permit would be a simple and easy box to check, one they’d get by just putting their fancy lawyers in front of City officials. But we didn’t allow it. Together with our amazing coalition partners (shout out to Columbia Riverkeeper, Breach Collective, CedarAction, Willamette Riverkeeper, Portland Harbor Community Coalition, Families for Climate, NAACP Portland, Portland Youth Climate Council, Stand Up to Oil, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Oregon Sierra Club, XRPDX, Sunrise PDX, Portland Audubon, and more!) we shined a light on this process and made this an issue the City could not ignore. You helped us to that. We did this together. Read the response from us and our amazing coalition members here.

Want to keep fighting and winning against the fossil fuel industry?
Sign up to join our Fossil Fuel Resistance team!

Support our successful work stopping the fossil fuel industry from destroying
our communities and our climate here!

No oil trains or tar sands in Portland! Take action to Stop Zenith.

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No tar sands or oil trains in Portland! Take action to Stop Zenith!

A critical moment is upon us! We need you to join us to stop Zenith Energy from continuing to put our communities at risk with its dangerous oil-by-rail operation.

In a matter of weeks, the City of Portland will make a critical decision that will impact the immediate health & safety of Portland’s residents and the integrity of the climate. The City will decide whether Zenith’s facility in NW Portland is consistent with the City’s land use goals. The obvious answer: It’s NOT!

Years of your hard work and advocacy have led to this decision point. Now more than ever, we need you to use your voice to demand that the City of Portland deny any new permits for Zenith. In the face of the climate emergency, Portland has the opportunity to say “NO!” to this dirty oil company and assert our vision for a sustainable city—one that values community and environmental health over profits for fossil fuel companies.

It’s critical that any decision on this dangerous fossil fuel project be throughly investigated, including an analysis of the risk and harm to existing land uses, health and safety, and tribal resources.

Now is the time to mobilize and we need you to join us. Here is the most important thing you can do to help us stop Zenith:

  • Call Portland City Council Members to demand they say no to Zenith oil-by-rail and to conduct a thorough tribal consultation process:
    • Dan Ryan
      Dan Ryan oversees the Bureau of Development Services (BDS), which will make the decision regarding Zenith’s Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS).
      CommissionerRyanOffice@portlandoregon.gov
      503-823-3589

      Mingus Mapps
      MappsOffice@portlandoregon.gov
      503-823-4682

      Ted Wheeler
      mayorwheeler@portlandoregon.gov
      503-823-4120Jo Ann Hardesty
      joann@portlandoregon.gov
      503-823-4151

      Carmen Rubio
      Comm.Rubio@portlandoregon.gov
      503-823-3008

Victory! The Energy Affordability Act passes!

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Victory! On Thursday, with bipartisan support, the Oregon Senate passed a historic bill for working families across the state. The Energy Affordability Act, which will help low-income families afford their energy bills, will now move on to Governor Brown’s office for her signature. This bill is the first of three pieces of environmental justice legislation put forward and supported by the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity campaign, led by frontline climate and environmental justice groups statewide and supported by allies like 350PDX.

“The high electric bills that people have to pay month to month have caused many families to struggle,” said Maria Dolores Torres, a 25-year resident of Beaverton and a mother of three. “I support the Energy Affordability Act because this bill will change the lives of many community members and low-income families like mine. As I was raising my children, many times I had to choose between giving them healthy foods or maintaining a warm home. It was very difficult to pay high electric bills and on top of that pay other utilities as well as keeping up with monthly rent. This bill will help change that.”

You can read more about this exciting win at www.cleanenergyoregon.org/en/news/hb2475-victory. If you want to know more about how you can help this campaign to create good local jobs, reduce pollution, and improve energy resiliency by transitioning to 100% clean energy, please contact Dineen O’Rourke at dineen@350pdx.org.

In solidarity,

Indi & Dineen

Coalition Manager and Campaign Manager, 350PDX

Want to help us build on this exciting momentum? Please consider making a donation to support this critical work in support of frontline communities!

Make a donation to 350PDX today!

Another victory: Multnomah County votes for fossil fuel-free buildings!

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Our movement is becoming unstoppable in the fight against fracked gas.

After permanently stopping the Perennial WindChaser fracked gas power plant yesterday—what could be the last new gas power plant in Oregon—we also won a major victory against the gas industry in Multnomah County.

Yesterday, the Multnomah County Commissioners passed a Fossil Fuel Free Buildings resolution, which bans the use of gas in new County buildings. The resolution asserts that it is now “[Multnomah] County policy to oppose the use of fossil fuels in new building projects” and to “work with energy providers to reduce the use of fossil fuels at existing buildings through efficiency and the replacement in part or in whole with less or non-emitting renewable or low-carbon alternatives.” Read more from our Press Release here.

350PDX and 16 other organizations—representing youth, environmental justice, conservation, and clean energy constituencies— submitted a letter celebrating the County’s resolution while urging for a prohibition on gas in all new buildings in Multnomah County (not just County-owned buildings) and an actionable plan to transition existing gas use to clean energy.

We urged strong regulatory action due to the extreme and disproportionate health and safety risks associated with “natural” gas from the site of extraction, through transport, and where combusted; the rapidly growing evidence of the alarming health and safety risks of indoor gas usage and the efforts of the natural gas industry (reminiscent of the tobacco industry) to hide, downplay, obfuscate, and deny these risks; disproportionate effects of indoor gas pollution on marginalized communities; and the vulnerability of gas infrastructure to expected significant seismic events and the threat this poses to Multnomah County’s residents.

Will you join us in contacting the Multnomah County Commissioners now to echo these demands? We want them to know, loud and clear, that we all support this resolution as a first step towards fully and equitably electrifying all new buildings in Multnomah County. Our community’s health and safety and our climate depend on it.

Did you know that buildings account for about one third of Oregon’s climate pollution? And that buildings consume nearly 43% of all energy in Oregon? That makes buildings the largest source of climate pollution in Oregon after the transportation sector. (Read our letter to learn more about this.) That’s why cities and municipalities across the county are taking action to ban gas from being hooked up to new buildings, because constructing a new building today that will run on gas for decades is building new fossil fuel infrastructure that delays the necessary transition to clean and safe energy.

Let’s tell Multnomah County Commissioners where we stand by reaching out to them today. It’s time for a fully Fossil Fuel-Free Multnomah County!

With excitement,

Dineen O’Rourke,
Campaign Manager, 350PDX

P.S. — You can support our ongoing fight for a livable future by donating today. Thank you!