TEAM UPDATES

Forest Defense Team

BIOMASS CAMPAIGN:  On January 8th, the Forest Defense Team co-hosted a movie night at the Clinton Street Theater, along with the Fossil Fuel Resistance Team and the NW Forest Climate Alliance. Over 100 people gathered to watch “Burned: Are trees the new coal?” a documentary by the Dogweed Alliance about the biomass pellet industry in the American southeast and its ecological, community and climate impact. Drax, one of the villains of the movie, has proposed building a wood pellet processing and export facility in Longview, Washington and we’re mounting a campaign to stop it.  Learn more and take action at our new webpage: www.350pdx.org/ax-drax.  If you missed the movie – good news!  The Burned website lets you stream or download the movie.

And, here are four quick actions that our friends in the Dogwood Alliance recently shared that support the national and international resistance to the false climate solution of woody biomass energy:

• Tell US federal agencies to end biomass subsidies and tax credits.
• Urge the UK government to stop subsidizing the “forests as fuel” sham.
• Ask Congress to take meaningful climate action to defend forests and communities.
• Add your name to make dirty Drax clean up their act.

URBAN FOREST CAMPAIGN:  We are thrilled to report good news in our ongoing Shade Equity campaign, whose primary goal is securing funding for street tree maintenance. Commissioner Carmen Rubio recently proposed using money generated by the Portland Clean Energy Fund to fund maintenance of street trees throughout Portland! While this is not yet a done deal (stay tuned for advocacy opportunities!) it is a huge step in the right direction of creating a more equitable urban forest for all Portland residents. And, it’s awesome that 350PDX’s past work to pass the PCEF program is now helping us win our climate justice campaigns.

FUN TOGETHER: The Forest Defense Team had a great time at our annual team holiday party, which included wonderful food and drink, tree-themed games and a spirited white elephant gift exchange. Thanks to everyone on the team for all your contributions in 2023!

Policy Team

350PDX’s newest volunteer-run team — the Climate Justice Policy Team — is building 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 is also playing a bigger role in organizing Portlanders to integrate a climate justice focus into all policy decisions at the city and state levels.

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 Portlanders organizing for strong climate policies.

Arts Team

The 350PDX Arts Team took a surprise day off from artbuilds, due to weather on January 14. So the art build planned for February 11 is especially important — we’ll catch up with the scheduled tree puppets’ rehabilitation, complete Mr Capitalist puppets, and other timely tasks, as well as moving supplies into our new space. Ideas for April’s Earth Day will be discussed.

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!

SW Team

Welcome to the Southwest Neighborhood Team, which includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland. Our street corner demonstrations continue weekly in January, raising awareness of the climate emergency. These sign-waving events take only one hour of your time, once a week. Street corner demonstrations in January are scheduled for every Monday from 12 noon – 1 p.m. at SW Multnomah Blvd. and SW 35th Ave. in Multnomah Village. Street parking is available or take the bus or ride your bike. We have extra signs to share.

Are you planning Brown Bags at work, or programs for your civic or social group? Consider scheduling one of our series of dynamic presentations on climate change.  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.

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 started our new year with our second annual group hike at Chehalem Ridge Park. At our monthly online meeting, we learned about Hillsboros’s recent comprehensive greenhouse Gas Assessment and how that will pave the way for State and Federal funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Hillsboro. Our sign waving team expects to be in action in Hillsboro on Saturday, January 20 from 10am to noon – check our Facebook page for more details. We are beginning work to partner with local groups to create an Earth Day event, and we are discussing whether to continue our work on public film events.

Brooklyn Neighborhood Team

The Brooklyn Neighborhood Team has been busy spreading the word about Zenith Energy and distributing yard signs throughout the neighborhood. We’ve also been supporting a new cargo bike sharing scheme in the neighborhood, to help folks moving into the new apartment buildings not need to rely so much on cars.

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.