Welcome to our monthly newsletter, where we highlight some of the amazing work our volunteer teams have been up to and how you can take action!
TEAM UPDATES
Want to get involved but not sure where to start? Fill out the Volunteer Form
Fossil Fuel Resistance Team
Our team continues to work together with our partners on our 3 main campaigns: fighting Zenith Energy’s dangerous oil-by-rail facility, fighting the GTN Xpress fracked gas pipeline expansion, and advocating for a clean air standard at Multnomah County. 2023 was a big year for our Fossil Fuel Resistance team and campaigns. Thank you for joining us in the streets, on the river, in the City and County chambers, and for calling and writing to our elected officials. We have a few ways you can get involved this month:
Dec 14: Rumble on the River #11: Educational Community Forum
Join us Thursday, December 14 at 6 p.m. at Augustana Lutheran Church (2710 NE 14th Ave) for our 11th community forum in the Rumble on the River series! This forum will focus on false solutions to the climate crisis: projects that are promoted by the fossil fuel and financial industries, such as: biomass, renewable diesel, hydrogen and carbon offsets. Learn more about the great lineup of panelists here.
Take action: Fight for Clean Air in Multnomah County!
Multnomah County has a huge opportunity to fight back against the gas industry and enact policies that ensure cleaner and safer air for us all to breathe. The problem? They’re stalling, and need to hear from us to take this bold action. Join us in calling and emailing Multnomah County Commissioners to say we need Clean Air Quality Standards NOW! Learn more here.
Communities in the Blast Zone coming together!
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. You can also pick up a yard sign to have in your front yard or apartment window to educate your neighbors about the blast zone and what they can do to #StopZenith. Send an email to stopzenith@350pdx.org to coordinate receiving a yard sign from one of our team members.
We’re also helping folks hold Neighborhood Parties to educate their community about the issue, reach out to dineen@350pdx.org and lisebethjacobs@gmail.com to learn more.
Submit a public comment to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline – by Dec 13
The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and grassroots water protectors have led the resistance against the dirty Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) since the beginning. Now, thanks to their continued resistance and leadership, thousands of us have a chance to go on the record with our support and submit official public comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers against this dirty oil pipeline.
Following a 2021 court order, the Army Corps is taking public comments on its recently released Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the pipeline — providing us with an important opportunity to continue to Stand with Standing Rock and demand the shutdown of a pipeline that never should have been built to begin with. Submit your written comment to the Army Corps of Engineers by Dec 13 — tell them why it’s time to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline once and for all!
GET CONNECTED: Our next meeting (and last meeting of 2023!) is on Tuesday, December 13 at 5:30 pm on Zoom. It’s a great time to join the team! Reach out to Dineen and Melanie to get plugged in and schedule an orientation meeting: dineen@350pdx.org, me
Forest Defense Team
The Forest Defense Team is learning more about wood biomass and the British energy giant Drax, which has proposed building a wood biomass processing and export facility in Longview, Washington. We are hosting a viewing of “Burned,” a documentary about woody biomass and its climate impact (hint: it’s not good!) at the Clinton Street Theater on January 8th. Come join us! You can reserve a ticket here (suggested donation ~ $15).
We are also planning a campaign to make sure that the new Portland City Council is pro-tree and pro-shade equity. This will include reaching out to candidates and educating them about these issues, and developing, with our allies, a tree platform for Portland.
Policy Team
We are excited to announce that 350PDX is starting a new volunteer-run team — the Climate Justice Policy Team! This group will build on the work of the City/County Watchdog Team and 350PDX’s work to advocate for strong legislation that moves us toward a just and sustainable future.
In addition to keeping an eye on our city and state political leaders as the City/County Watchdog Team did, the Policy Team will also play a bigger role in organizing Portlanders to integrate a climate justice focus into all policy decisions at the city and state levels. Through the Policy Team, we can build and leverage our collective power — showing legislators that there a large number of voters advocating for strong climate action in city and state politics.
Last year, we organized hundreds of people to call, email, and meet with their representatives during the 2023 Oregon Legislative Session — helping pass a Climate Resilience Package dedicating $90 million to climate action — and gathered thousands of signatures to help pass Measure 26-228 for city charter reform. Through the Policy Team, we’ll build on this momentum to create a more powerful block of Porlanders organizing for strong climate policies. The Policy Team will also support our other campaign teams at 350PDX, uplifting work to defend Oregon forests, fight fossil fuels, help build a just transition to renewable energy, and more.
Support Indigenous Leadership to Restore the Lower Snake River!
Last month, we supported an Indigenous-led “All Our Relations” Snake River campaign event stop in Portland, hosted by Save Our Wild Salmon, Native Organizers Alliance, and other groups. This tour around the Pacific Northwest drew attention to the plight of the salmon and their ecosystems along the Snake River. Four dams must be removed to restore essential salmon habitat before it’s too late. Send this letter today to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
GET CONNECTED:
The Policy Team’s first meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, Dec 7, from 5:30-7:00PM, on Zoom. Reach out to me (Cherice, 350PDX Policy Manager) at cherice@350pdx.org to join the meeting, or sign up here to join the Policy Team.
You can join this first meeting to:
- Learn more about the Policy Team’s work and how you can plug in
- Meet others in your district organizing to win climate justice policies
- Be in the loop about future action opportunities, such as opportunities to host/join lobby days, house parties for calling legislators, and more!
Arts Team
350 PDX Arts Team works at providing visuals to make our climate work more powerful. To do that we have artbuilds every 2nd Sunday of the month. This Sunday’s artbuild, December 10, we hope to create new Mr Capitalist/Monopoly puppets to strengthen street theatre possibilities.
GET CONNECTED: Can you help us? We’d love to have you on the Arts Team and at our artbuilds. Contact Donna for details: murph1949@aol.com
Creative Team
The Creative Team uses storytelling to make the climate justice movement irresistible. We’ve finished gathering submissions for a 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. Now we’re working on selecting submissions to add to a zine that we’ll be publishing in the spring!
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.
SW Team
Happy Holidays from our southwest neighborhood team, which includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland. Our street corner demonstrations continue weekly in December to raise awareness of the climate emergency. These sign-waving events take only one hour of your time, once a week. Our street corner demonstrations in December will be every Monday from 2-3 p.m. at SW Garden Home and Oleson Road. Parking is in the Garden Home Recreation Center lot, or take the bus or ride your bike. We have extra signs to share.
Are you planning Brown Bags or Office Parties and need an extra activity? Our series of dynamic presentations on climate change issues will stimulate discussion. The themes for the one-hour programs include: How to Save Our Planet, How to Replace Fossil Fuels, How to Rewild Our Planet, and How to Save Our Oceans. To schedule a presentation, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com.
GET CONNECTED: Join our next monthly meeting on Monday, December 11th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Zoom. A link will be sent out to SW Team members prior to our meeting. To get involved in our outreach actions, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com, or visit https://350pdx.org/campaigns/
Washington County Team
Our team hosts monthly sign waving and film events, tabling for climate justice in the neighborhood, and lots more! This month – we are bringing the 350WashCo team to a Friends of Trees planting in Hillsboro on Dec 9th from 8:45 AM – 1 PM. Contact Maureen (mdannenster@gmail.com) to join the tree-planting. Please arrive by 8:45am to sign-in and be assigned a planting crew. The planting starts at 9:00am. We (FOT) provide gloves, tools, and guidance, as well as light breakfast snacks and coffee/tea/hot chocolate. We ask that all volunteers dress for the weather, wear sturdy shoes/boots you don’t mind getting dirty, and be ready to have fun!
GET CONNECTED: We always welcome newcomers to our regular monthly 6:30pm second Tuesday (online) meetings and at all our events. This December there will be no zoom meeting, but we will have an in-person December holiday party and potluck December 17th 3-5 PM in downtown Hillsboro. Contact Debby (debbygactivism@gmail.com) for the address if you’d like to attend.
Brooklyn Neighborhood Team
The Brooklyn Climate Action Team has been focusing on neighborhood climate resilience and mutual aid this month. We’re sharing resources with our BCAT 100 mailing list like the local tool library and the Facebook Buy Nothing group, as well as encouraging our community members to reach out and meet their neighbors. A big indicator of how well a community does in a natural disaster is how well neighbors know each other, and community cohesion helps a community get more involved in activism too, so it’s a win-win! We also helped with a brainstorming session at local grocery store Know Thy Food to think together how we can make it a better resource for the local community.
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! Any questions, contact chris@350pdx.org.
Outreach Team
We’re relaunching our Outreach Team: a group of folks trained up and ready to do a variety of outreach activities, such as tabling in the community; putting posters up around the city; giving out flyers outside big events; wheatpasting; giving community presentations.
GET CONNECTED: Reach out to kiera@350pdx.org know and we’ll loop you in! You can also join our rescheduled in-person Quarterly Outreach Training on Jan 30, 2024, from 6-8pm – learn more here.
In solidarity,
350PDX Staff
350PDX Board & Team Leads
