We Can't Recycle Wasted Time!
The Eugene Climate Strike on Friday, September 15th, was a huge success! Middle and high school students left their classes and joined Sunrise Eugene organizers at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza for chill hospitality (pizza & cold beverages) and an inspiring line-up of musical performers and dynamic speakers, including several fired-up students, Doyle Canning and Eugene's Climate-Mayor, Lucy Vinis. Over 150 community members joined the youth in demanding: 1) President Biden stop permitting new fossil fuel projects, 2) Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read divest state retirement funds from fossil fuel investments, and 3) Eugene Electric and Water Board provide more electrification incentives. Big thanks to everyone who planned activities and turned out.
Eugene's Climate Strike was held in solidarity with hundreds of strikes across the country, complementing a massive March in NYC on September 17th in advance of the UN's Climate Ambition Summit which started September 18th.
It's time for climate action! We're running out of time. Let's be fierce!
Eugene's Climate Strike was held in solidarity with hundreds of strikes across the country, complementing a massive March in NYC on September 17th in advance of the UN's Climate Ambition Summit which started September 18th.
It's time for climate action! We're running out of time. Let's be fierce!
THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT GOES TO BAT FOR OUR FORESTS
The forests in the Pacific Northwest have the potential to take up and store more carbon than the Amazon tropical rainforest, yet during this climate emergency our government agencies still prioritize “short term timber profits” over clean water, biodiversity and community wildfire resilience.
This year, federal land managers, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, have been directed and are in the midst of rulemaking processes to increase protections for carbon rich mature and old growth forests. But despite this, controversial logging projects, which began during the Trump administration, are going forward and a BIG PROJECT is located west of Eugene.
This BLM project (“N126”) is set to commercially log over 25,000 acres in 30-130 year old Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) forests north of Highway 126, which have been specifically set aside for spotted owl habitat and old growth characteristics under the Northwest Forest Plan.
So 350 Eugene, along with other partner organizations within the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, are demanding strong durable protections now! This month saw multiple actions in Washington and Oregon to draw attention to the need to ensure mature and old growth trees stay in the ground, starting with the Deep Roots Forest Climate Action Camp, June 1-4, followed by a week of actions in late June / early July of banner drops, music festivals, skills training, various non-violent direct actions and media.
Check out the KLCC on-line article “Environmental Activists Protest BLM Timber Sale July 5, 2023” and this terrific piece from the Eugene Weekly, “Locked Down for Old Growth Forests.”
Sign up for our blasts and watch our calendar for more details on actions we’re taking to protect our forests! Join in!
This year, federal land managers, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, have been directed and are in the midst of rulemaking processes to increase protections for carbon rich mature and old growth forests. But despite this, controversial logging projects, which began during the Trump administration, are going forward and a BIG PROJECT is located west of Eugene.
This BLM project (“N126”) is set to commercially log over 25,000 acres in 30-130 year old Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) forests north of Highway 126, which have been specifically set aside for spotted owl habitat and old growth characteristics under the Northwest Forest Plan.
So 350 Eugene, along with other partner organizations within the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, are demanding strong durable protections now! This month saw multiple actions in Washington and Oregon to draw attention to the need to ensure mature and old growth trees stay in the ground, starting with the Deep Roots Forest Climate Action Camp, June 1-4, followed by a week of actions in late June / early July of banner drops, music festivals, skills training, various non-violent direct actions and media.
Check out the KLCC on-line article “Environmental Activists Protest BLM Timber Sale July 5, 2023” and this terrific piece from the Eugene Weekly, “Locked Down for Old Growth Forests.”
Sign up for our blasts and watch our calendar for more details on actions we’re taking to protect our forests! Join in!
Banner drops in 16 locations along the I-5 corridor on June 26th.
Community members blocked access to roads leading into the Walker Point sale, a parcel of the larger N126 project west of Eugene, which was auctioned on June 29th.
Community members and forest defenders rally at the Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) mill in West Eugene protesting the corporation’s public lands logging in the N126 BLM Project.
More photos of the Sierra Pacific Industries protest here courtesy of Robert Scherle.
More photos of the Sierra Pacific Industries protest here courtesy of Robert Scherle.
Forest Defense is Climate Defense and forests are a vital climate solution.
We need them now more than ever. Let’s protect them.
We need them now more than ever. Let’s protect them.
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
CLIMATE PROGRESS IN EUGENE!
Eugene’s greenhouse gas emissions have been rising since our first Climate Energy Action Plan in 2010. Since then, city staff and council, with the steady advocacy from concerned citizens, have engaged in careful planning and outreach to create and implement a solid Climate Action Plan with many steps. On February 6th, in a 5 to 3 vote, city leadership took the first step and ACTED on those plans, and passed an ordinance changing building codes to allow for only electric construction in residential homes starting this summer.
Unfortunately, the for-profit investor-owned private gas utility immediately mounted a fight joined by the Chamber of Commerce to repeal the ordinance that was signed into law on February 7th, with the goal to put it on the ballot during the November election.
With all the work our leaders have done to comply with the 2014 Climate Recovery Ordinance that mandates greenhouse gas reductions in the face of the climate emergency, this is the time to move ahead, not repeal climate progress!
Our community has long demanded climate action. We must fight efforts to stop or delay climate progress by corporate-funded actors. At the same time let’s acknowledge the courageous work of our elected leaders who put community health and safety first.
You can learn about how to get involved and take actions by signing up for our bi-monthly newsletters & action alerts. Sign up now to be part of the electrification revolution!
Unfortunately, the for-profit investor-owned private gas utility immediately mounted a fight joined by the Chamber of Commerce to repeal the ordinance that was signed into law on February 7th, with the goal to put it on the ballot during the November election.
With all the work our leaders have done to comply with the 2014 Climate Recovery Ordinance that mandates greenhouse gas reductions in the face of the climate emergency, this is the time to move ahead, not repeal climate progress!
Our community has long demanded climate action. We must fight efforts to stop or delay climate progress by corporate-funded actors. At the same time let’s acknowledge the courageous work of our elected leaders who put community health and safety first.
You can learn about how to get involved and take actions by signing up for our bi-monthly newsletters & action alerts. Sign up now to be part of the electrification revolution!
To keep in touch and find out where & when to show up, join our email list and check our website calendar
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The seas are rising, and so are we.
350 Eugene is a grassroots, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, started in 2013, that works toward climate justice by organizing people to make deep system change: transitioning off fossil fuels; advocating for needed strong climate policies; and fostering resilient, just, and welcoming communities with creative, artful & joy-filled outreach, education and events. We do this through a diversity of tactics including policy advocacy, public education and non-violent direct action.