Climb-A-Thon Fundraiser

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ClimbAThon“We need to not wait until we are the grownups, because I’m scared it will be too late.”
– Dylan, 3rd grader

While the news about climate change can be really unsettling, working together to make a difference can be inspiring, and even fun.

It started with Dylan Beckett, a third grader in Portland. “I was hearing scary things on the news that made me worry about the planet,” explains Dylan “I felt like I really wanted to do something.” After doing some of his own research, Dylan approached us and asked if he and a group of schoolmates he recruited could organize an event to support our climate work. Read more

“Draw the Line” day of action with Kathleen Dean Moore

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Photo credit: Marguerite Hall, margueritehall@ymail.com

Photo credit: Marguerite Hall, margueritehall@ymail.com

In her speech to the environmental coalition rally against the Keystone XL pipeline in Portland Saturday, September 21st, philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore took aim at the fossil fuel industry.

She called it out for trying to externalize its shame onto people who use its products. “We are not the enemy,” she said. When you consider the shady actions this industry is taking to keep people dependent on its products, she said, the appropriate response is moral outrage.

The 400 member audience responded enthusiastically to Moore’s words, interrupting often with applause. She announced that she is stepping down from her professorship at Oregon State University to devote herself to climate activism. She has written books on the moral implications of climate change.

“The climate crisis is a moral crisis,” she said, and it’s time for people to stop giving up in despair or hiding behind blind optimism and start accepting their role as responsible persons faced with difficult choices. Read more

Kathleen Dean Moore: “If Your House Is On Fire”

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350 PDX, Oregon Interfaith Power & Light, Greenpeace, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility present: Kathleen Dean Moore, distinguished Professor of Philosophy, environmental ethicist, and co-editor of Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, speaking on climate activism. This is a FREE event.

Saturday, September 21, 2:00pm
First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson, Portland 97201

Workshops will follow at 3:15pm. Topics include comment writing for the Longview coal export terminal scoping process, NW fossil fuel exports, and divestment.

Getting there:
– Blue and Red MAX lines stop at Goose Hollow.
– TriMet Bus lines 6, 58 and 68 stop at the church.
– Lines 51 and the 63 stop a few blocks away.
– Free parking at the Church

For more information contact Bonnie McKinlay at 350pdx@gmail or 503-705-1943.

Sun Magazine interview with Kathleen Dean Moore

Bill McKibben Returns to Portland at the Newmark Theatre

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BMckibben1With the publication of his first book, The End of Nature, nearly 25 years ago, Bill McKibben introduced the concepts of climate change and global warming to a previously unaware public. In the quarter century since, he’s written a dozen books and is today recognized as one of the world’s most active, iconic, and dedicated environmentalists. McKibben believes that the climate crisis needs to be tackled at both local and global levels. For example, he spent a year in the company of a beekeeper as part of the growing trend toward local food. He also founded 350.org, the international grassroots organization that was responsible for stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. McKibben’s latest book, Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist, is his account of these mutually reinforcing fronts in the climate fight. Drawing from his new book as well as his life’s work as an environmentalist, McKibben will discuss the need for action along with effective strategies, both local and global, toward the goal of saving our planet.

Bill McKibben is the author of more than a dozen books. He is the founder of the environmental organization 350.org and was among the first to warn of the dangers of global warming. Time Magazine called him ‘the planet’s best green journalist’ and the Boston Globe said in 2010 that he was ‘probably the country’s most important environmentalist.’ He is a frequent contributor to various publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize. He lives in Ripton, Vermont, with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter.

Tickets are available beginning Tuesday, July 30, at PCPA.com, the PCPA Box Office, by phone at 503-946-7272, and at all TicketsWest outlets.

Note: Tickets are $20 – $36. The $36 tickets include a copy of Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist. Books will be distributed at the event.