Thank you for coming to our January Action Night! The event was a success–with 80+ attendees! Together we learned how we can make change at the city level with our new form of city government. Thank you to our amazing guest speakers–Councilor Candace Avalos and Portland’s Chief Sustainability Officer Vivian Satterfield–for joining us and sharing your perspectives from inside City Hall.
Upcoming Events
- Join us for February Action Night on Thursday, February 20, from 6:00–8:00pm. This Action Night will focus on state level priorities and insights into the legislative process. Guest speaker Jacqui Treiger, Senior Campaign Manager for Oregon Environmental Council, will share about the Building Resilience coalition. And guest speaker Jason Santos-Lyons, Senator Pham’s Chief of Staff, will share about the legislative process and how we as advocates can effectively make change during the legislative session.
- The Forest Defense team is going tree planting with Friends of Trees on March 8, meeting at 9:45am at Nadaka Nature Park.
Team meetings are listed below with team info!
Team News
Fossil Fuel Resistance Team
Thank you to everyone who joined us outside of City Hall this morning to protest the outrageous decision from the City to approve Zenith Energy’s Land Use Compatibility Statement. Together, we made it clear to the City that this decision is unacceptable. Check out initial coverage in The Oregonian, Street Roots, Portland Mercury, and OPB.
We know folks are feeling extremely frustrated right now, and it’s completely warranted. With everything happening at the federal level, we need our local government to step up and be brave, yet they let us down. We know that this decision came from the City Administrative level, specifically from Deputy City Administrator Donnie Oliveira and City Administrator Michael Jordan, with Mayor Keith Wilson signing off and consenting to the decision as well. We know that the 12-member City Council was not included in this decision. District 2 Councilor Sameer Kanal mentioned on Bluesky that he found out about this news from the press release, after the decision had been made. There’s more backstory to this, too–earlier this week Willamette Week reported on how District 2 Councilors have been expressing frustration about “excessive staffing on the administrative side” at the City.
We’re not giving up. We’re committed to fighting this fight and we see this as a bump in the road. Now it is more important than ever to get involved and join this fight to hold Zenith and our local government accountable.
Join us: The Fossil Fuel Resistance Team meets every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 5:30 pm, rotating between virtual and in-person at the 350PDX office. Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 11 at 5:30pm and is virtual over Zoom. Contact [email protected] to get connected.
Climate Policy
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The 2025 Oregon legislative session is in full swing! We will be announcing our complete list of bill priorities next week. Ways you can get involved:
We want to again send a huge thank you to City Councilor Candace Avalos and Portland’s Chief Sustainability Officer Vivian Satterfield, who shared at our January Action Night! The new City Council established a Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee, a great pathway for addressing our shared concerns. Additionally, Vivian and her staff are sifting through an abundance of applications for volunteer seats on the new Sustainability & Climate Commission. If you are interested in advocating for better climate policy at the city level, join our Climate Justice Policy Team! We meet on the second Wednesday of each month from 6:30–8:00pm. Email Cherice for details: [email protected]. |
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Forest Defense Team
Equity work! Our new project has two main aspects: 1) partner with our allies ThriveEastPDX and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council to bring the next few Shade Equity Socials to the outer east side; and 2) create educational videos and outreach materials about the importance of the urban forest.
State Forests: Last month saw State Forester Cal Mukumoto resign so there will soon be a new leader for Oregon’s state forests and we’re pushing for a good one. In the meantime, we’re opposing a new timber industry bill, HB 3103, that would legislate the amount of logging on state lands.
Protecting Forest Park: We’ve joined the campaign to prevent PGE from clearcutting almost five acres of Forest Park for new energy transmission lines. On January 29, many team members joined a “watch party” for the online public hearing about the project and submitted this letter to the hearings officer encouraging her to deny the PGE proposal. The hearings officer is expected to make her decision by mid-February, and we’ll keep you posted on next steps.
Join us: Our meetings are on the first and third Monday of the month from 6-7:30 pm. Contact [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] to get connected.
Community Development
We are building a brand new volunteer-driven team: the Action Night team! This core group of volunteers will be responsible for obtaining food and drinks, setting up and taking down, and greeting attendees for our monthly Action Nights in the 350PDX workshop. Please reach out to Community Development Manager Katie Hutchinson ([email protected]) if you’re interested or have any questions.
Our 350PDX Book Club meets the first Wednesday every other month at the 350PDX office to discuss books about climate justice, science, and resilience, with potluck-style snacks and drinks. We will discuss The Deluge on April 2, 6:30-8:00pm. More info about the book and meeting here. Click here to get on the mailing list, or reach out to [email protected] with any questions!
Arts Team
We continue our role of preparing powerful visuals to support 350PDX’s climate justice actions. In January, that meant sharing newly-learned large puppet techniques to even more interested people. We constructed new large trees to add to our forest for future rallies.
Can you join us? We need paper mache-ers, puppeteers, and carpenters. All skills are taught! We gather every 2nd Sunday at the wonderful 350PDX workroom on N Mississippi, 1:00pm-4:00pm. We offer snacks, conversations, and meaningful important work. The next session is this Sunday, February 9. Let Donna [email protected] know if you can join.
350 Washington County Team
Our next online meeting will take place Tuesday, February 11. We’ll share information on Washington County campaigns, including our just-launched campaign to save the Washington County Office of Sustainability from being shut down by budget cuts.
We’ve joined the campaign to prevent PGE from clearcutting five acres of Forest Park for new energy transmission lines. On January 29, team members joined a “watch party” for the online public hearing about the project and submitted testimony opposing the proposal. We’ve been attending local legislator coffees and Town Halls, and are diving into climate policy work for the next legislative session. Our general activities include: connecting with the Beaverton and the Tigard Climate Action teams, stewarding our Pollinator Garden at Bagley Park in Hillsboro, and more! We always welcome newcomers to our events and to monthly online meetings (6:30pm on the second Tuesday of the month). To receive updates, please sign up HERE.
With gratitude,
Brenna, Cherice, Dineen, Irene, Jessica, Katie
