Summer Heat / Columbia River Climate Action
Photo credit: Alex Milan Tracy
On Saturday, July 27th, Summer Heat came on strong in the Pacific Northwest. More than 800 engaged citizens gathered at Vancouver Landing in Vancouver, WA, to make a big display, symbolically blockading the Columbia River against planned fossil fuel export terminals in the area. The Northwest is quickly becoming a hotspot in the fight against expanded usage of fossil fuels. Our region is poised to play a pivotal role with projects that could release hundreds of millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year. If we stop these terminals that means they can’t ship it. If they can’t ship it, they can’t sell it. That means it stays in the ground.
350 PDX was one of many organizations that brought people into the action. Activists traveled from Corvallis, Eugene, and Salem in the south, and Seattle, Bellingham, Astoria, Hood River, and the Tri-Cities to the north, to have a peaceful day of workshops and speaking, culminating in a show on the river and along the I-5 bridge.
It was a beautiful and energizing day, and a great step in building this movement to quicken the end of the fossil fuel economy that threatens our way of life.
