Our August Climate Community Night

We’re thrilled to invite you to Intertwined 2024, our annual celebration, fundraiser, and feast.

This year, our theme is celebrating the threads of our movement web. Like a fungus growing from decay and sprouting tasty, nourishing fruit, our movement is composting all of the dying things of the past to make something new and lovely.

Please join us for our annual party! We will have a gourmet meal featuring foraged local mushrooms, a fantastic program, and many amazing activists in attendance.

SAVE THE DATE: Intertwined 2024
Thursday, November 14th, 6:00 PM
Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, Seattle

Please note that the date has changed since our last newsletter – Intertwined is on Thursday, November 14th. NOT the 16th.

Ticket sales start September 6th, but we are now gratefully accepting event sponsorships.

Interested in helping out with event coordination? Email Shemona.

Us at the Get Out the Vote for Climate Justice campaign launch last week! 

This election year we’re organizing to defeat four terrible state-level ballot initiatives being bankrolled by multi-millionaire hedge fund owner Brain Heywood that would repeal Washington’s most significant steps toward climate action. These initiatives would be a disaster for workers, our communities, and the climate. Read more about each of them here.

To protect workers, our communities, clean air, waters, forests and farmland, jobs, and transportation, we cannot allow these initiatives to pass. It’s looking like a close race and Seattle has the potential to swing the statewide vote in our favor.

So we’re organizing to make sure everyone in our networks and beyond knows about these initiatives, and turns out to vote no to defend climate action at the ballot box!

We have loads of opportunities to get involved:

THURSDAY ACTION NIGHTS

Every Thursday, from 6:30-8:30pm we’ll be hosting a hybrid peer outreach + campaign work party action night. Organizing, persuading, and turning out the people you already know to vote no is one of the most important roles in this campaign – hearing from a friend, colleague or family member has been proven to be the most effective organizing tool  for campaigns to get out the vote! Sign up for an action night event here.

TABLING/DOOR KNOCKING

We’ll also be doing tabling and door knocking events to get the word out in community and secure pledges to vote no! If you’d like to become a lead in this area and join our field team,sign up for a training here. Otherwise, keep an eye out for tabling and door knocking events on our website that you can join.

ACTION NIGHT

Defend Climate Justice Community Night
Oct 3 6:30-8:30
350 Seattle office
5031 university Ave NW, RSVP

Join us for a fun social night with food and good people where you can plug into our campaign to defeat the four bad ballot initiatives that seek to roll back the most significant gains we have won at the state level on climate. We’re doing this in place of our normal climate community night as we’ll be one month from the election and entering our all hands on deck moment to get out the vote!

COMMUNITY EDUCATION

We’ll also be launching our Community Education team soon! Updates coming soon.

Even Gandalf the Grey wizard agrees: we cannot let these state initiatives pass! 

The Seattle Solidarity Budget crew is getting ready to kick off the fall budget season. We are fighting for a Seattle city budget that is anti-racist, centers the needs of the most vulnerable Seattle residents, and responds to the overlapping crises of racism, economic injustice, climate change, and the continuing pandemic and health crises. 350 Seattle has been part of the Solidarity Budget coalition since its inception in 2020 and will continue to support this important advocacy.

Join us Saturday, September 14th at Jefferson Park for community, food, music, art, fun, and information on how to get involved. We will be at picnic shelter #1, near the skate park.

SAVE THE DATE: Solidarity Budget Kick-Off
Saturday, September 14th, 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Jefferson Park

Like to do research? The 350 Seattle AntiWar x Climate Collective is looking for people to dig into questions of resource-control, emissions, and harm to human communities and the land, water, and air they depend upon – related to U.S. military involvement in Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, and other places globally that are of concern to the volunteer-researcher. Contact Mary if interested.

On September 22nd, join the AntiWar x Climate Collective at a location near Port Townsend to protest the U.S. Navy’s shipment of weapons to Israel. As the Instagram post for the Day of Resistance states: “As we work in solidarity for Palestinian liberation, the first step in stopping the genocide is ending the flow of deadly US weapons and military aid to Israel.” A regional coalition of orgs and individuals is coming together to plan this rally, which focuses on the U.S. Naval Magazine on Indian Island, located near Port Townsend.

There will be a range of ways to engage for those with less or more direct action experience and risk tolerance. Contact Mary. Or join the announcements Signal thread using the link at linktr.ee/dayofresistance.wa. 

Finally, help us make 2024 the last year we will suffer the Blue Angels flying at Seafair.Sign the petition or, even more fun, join us in making a series of public comments at remote meetings of the City of Seattle Special Events committee on September 12, October 10, and November 14 – all at 10am. Contact Mary for details.

The Aviation Team has posted our 2024 update to our position paper on so-called “Sustainable” Aviation Fuels. Spoiler alert: there is additional evidence that they are still neither sustainable nor feasible. Please click under “Resources” at the bottom of ourAviation web page. You will also find a fact sheet there about leaded aviation fuel, which is still in use at Boeing Field (aka King County International Airport). Calling for phasing out this toxic fuel is part of our coalition work with the King County International Airport Community Coalition.

Our next team meeting is September 10th, 7-8 pm. Contact Laura at aviation@350seattle.orgto see how you can get involved in this or our other many activities – we’d love your participation!

Did you know? September is State Lands Month! Need some ideas? Our friends at the Sierra Club have got you covered — check out this calendar of events when planning your September!

Celebrate our state’s state lands with some soothing forest-bathing in a Legacy Forest (a hike on nearby Tiger Mountain will be added soon!), or hop up to Bellingham for a film festival, or attend a policy webinar about the myriad ways we can conserve and protect our carbon-dense and biodiverse state forests, or practice speaking for the trees with a letter-writing workshop right here in Seattle!

Celebrate the future of our State-managed forests and all the tools we have to make sure that future is bright!

The Federal Policy Team is supporting the Week Without Driving and invites you to sign up too! From September 30th – October 6th, along with the Green New Deal Networkand coalition partners, we will be participating in Week Without Driving from America Walksand Disability Rights Washington to bring attention and advocate for safer, greener alternatives to fossil-fueled cars. We invite you to join us by minimizing your driving for a week and letting your local officials know what your experience was. We will not win better transportation for everyone without raising all our voices together.

Interested in taking the Week Without Driving challenge? Sign up here. 

The Federal Policy Team also has an exciting opportunity to meet with U.S. Senate staffers.On Tuesday, September 10th from 12-1pm, we will meet with U.S. Senator Cantwell and Senator Murray’s staff members in a Zoom meeting hosted by Seattle Indivisible. There is so much we want to talk to the staffers about, from the Week Without Driving to Manchin’s Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. We would appreciate as many climate justice advocates as possible to join us! If you’re interested in attending and/or asking a question, register here. If you have any questions, email Beth or Linnea.

We meet the first Wednesday of every month at 5pm. Our next meeting is October 2nd, 5pm on Zoom. We’d love for you to join us in discussing our Get Out The Vote efforts among many other topics – check out our rolling agenda here to see what meetings typically look like. If you’d like to sign up, get the link or have any questions or ideas, email Beth or Linnea.

CAF’s 11th Birthday Party!
Friday, September 20th, 6 – 8 pm

Catch up with your friends and celebrate 11 years of Climate Action Families with cupcakes and updates. Learn more about NO-2117 from CAF campaign leads Percy and Emory and special guests from the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Party Potluck! You can bring a dish, but don’t worry if you can’t — we know families are busy. RSVP for Cupcakes!

Fall – Climate Justice Intro Training
Saturday, October 5th, 9:30am – 2pm 

Register now!

Participants from grades 3rd to 8th dive into the essentials of effective advocacy for a just and sustainable future.

Our youth-led trainings are organized into themed blocks interspersed with movement, art, and play. Facilitators focus on the many ways to participate in the Climate Justice movement, the historical significance of youth activism, and the skills of visioning, communication, and resilience.

The Book Club is excited to announce our reading list for the rest of 2024!

In September, we will start by finishing our discussion of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.  This speculative fiction book examines a near-future where climate change and social inequality lead to instability and political collapse, which apropos of nothing, is set in 2024. The story follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who can feel the pain of others and becomes displaced from her home. Several characters from various walks of life join her on her journey north and learn of a religion she has envisioned and titled Earthseed. Our final discussion will be on September 8 from 2:30-4:30. You can join us either in-person at the 350 Seattle office or using this Zoom link.

Our September 22nd meeting which will include a presentation and discussion focused on conservation psychology and how we can use the biases of the neurotypical brain to most effectively engage and shift behaviors in our community.  This is a great one-off discussion that is open to anyone interested in learning more about what social psychology can tell us about conservation messaging!  In preparation, you can check out this article: Naturally Green: Harnessing Stone Age Psychological Biases to Foster Environmental Behavior

If you are interested in staying connected with the Book Club, you can sign up through this form and we will get you looped in to our emails and signal channel!

The climate crisis cannot be addressed alone, and it cannot be faced without turning towards the difficult emotions it raises. Thus we need to create spaces to collectively process our climate-related emotions with one another in order to build both individual and community resilience.

So consider joining us for the next Climate Grief and Empowerment Group, which meets monthly on every second Saturday! Together, we’ll engage in collective practices that deepen our capacity for dwelling with difficult emotions and strengthen strategies for coping in uncertain times.

Our upcoming Climate Grief and Empowerment Group Monthly Gatherings are:

Saturday, September 14th, from 10:00 am to 11:45am (and Saturday, October 12th, from 10:00 am to 11:45 am)

Register here for each session you plan to attend.

We welcome adults (18+) for as many or as few meetings as you would like! The Climate Grief and Empowerment Group is co-sponsored by 350 Seattle and Climate Action Families, out of the recognition that ongoing emotional support plays a critical role in building community resilience and robust social movements.

In August, our friends at 350 Tacoma launched a campaign as part of a national Utility Justice Week of Action aimed at getting non profit organizations, community groups, and faith groups to reject event sponsorships or donations from Puget Sound Energy (PSE). When people see an event focused on environmental or social justice, it can give a false impression that the event sponsors align with the values of the event. It’s time we stop helping PSE greenwash their reputation!

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is a for-profit fossil fuel company, despite cloaking themselves as an energy utility. Around 60% of PSE’s electric energy is sourced from fossil fuels. On top of that, they provide gas to 900K customers. PSE actively works to slow the transition to renewable energy through campaign contributions, lobbying and PR disinformation campaigns.

Their actions are often harmful to our communities – including frequent rate hikes to line shareholder pockets, the Tacoma LNG fracked gas refinery violating Indigenous sovereignty whilethreatening community health and safety, paying influencers to gush over cooking with gas while knowing the health risks, and targeting our children with pro-gas propaganda.

Your organization can join 350 Seattle and others in Pledging to Reject PSE’s Dirty Money here! The campaign web page has articles about PSE’s dirty deeds, a letter you can copy & send to orgs urging them to take the pledge, or a letter to event organizers when you notice PSE is a sponsor, asking them to reject their money in the future.

Join the Artful Team and/or the Artful Alerts list!
Sign up here to get on the Artful email list for monthly info on upcoming community art opportunities and to let us know your still sets! (Scroll all the way down that web page to sign up.) Skills welcome and appreciated! AND… no art skills yet? no problem! Join us! We’ll teach you as you go! You’ll love to be part of making the art for our actions in a supportive, learning, fun, and connecting atmosphere with other people who care enough to show up, and who accept you as you are. Come have fun with us, building powerful beauty for the movement! 

RSVP for Upcoming Art Builds! No experience needed, just energy and smiles! Join us for camaraderie while doing meaningful, beautiful and powerful work!

Sign up to get notified about our September date(s) which are still TBD, noon-4, likely outdoor if weather is good, location also TBD

Likely projects include projecting and painting banners for Indigenous People’s Day March and Rally for Peace, Solidarity Budget, Intertwined including a participatory ideas input on a mushroom-themed piece, and possibly a new Interactive art piece for Climate Justice at Luminata at Greenlake, and more TBD.

For those who want to be more involved, we are growing our teams of volunteer leads who help others participate (with art leads support) and our leads team itself. Maybe you’re experienced in facilitating, or organizing, or have skills in performance arts (theater, spoken word, music, dance, and beyond), visual arts (graphic design, painting, drawing, screen printing, building props, sewing, and so much more). Or maybe you are an organized person, or you like data and want to help with the imagery or photo library behind the scenes, or people with creative strategic humor and energy who like to brainstorm.  We also need people at art builds with skill sets like DJs, snacks setup and cleanup, and welcomer – is that you?

Whatever calls you to the Artful Team, this team is for you! Contact Lisa.

Put Art into Action – Want an important job at actions and events? We’re creating a team of interested people who can show up as able to set up/take down the art, invite people to participate and see that it’s displayed well. Please sign up to learn more!

D-R-U-M-m-i-n-g to enliven our actions – We’ve got bucket drums ready and will be getting people together once we have enough people. Sign up here to drum with us!

Sound Equipment at events/actions needs operators! (including PAs, a sound board, power stations, mics, and bluetooth) We are looking to train a bigger group of people so that someone is likely interested and available when we need sound at smaller events (some comfort with tech, no experience needed, var/hrs when you can). Contact Lisa.

Photos needed for our photo library: Are you willing to share any great shots that you captured at a 350 Seattle event, art build, or action? Please submit your best images to our Photo Library to share them with our community for use in our organization’s storytelling, including our outreach, communications, and fundraising efforts. Here are our guidelines and the email address for submitting photos to our library editors.

Videos! Check out the 350 Seattle YouTube page for events content and DIY Art how-to videos, recordings of past general meetings, webinars, and awesome trainings.

We are excited for the release of climate justice author and storyteller Brianna Craft’s brand new young adult novel, We Don’t Have Time For This! And she’s coming to Seattle at Elliot Bay Books on September 23rd!

We Don’t Have Time For This is an accessible climate justice story for young adults, and it was named by NetGalley as one of 25 must-read books by Black authors in 2024!

Discussion & Signing, Elliott Bay Book Company
Monday, September 23rd, 7:00 – 8:00 PM
1521 10th Ave
Seattle, WA

For a bit more about the novel, Craft was recently interviewed on KOMO’s ARC Seattle about We Don’t Have Time For This. You can watch the interview here. We were thrilled to have Craft speak with us in the past about her last book, Everything That Rises: A Climate Change Memoir, and we hope you’ll support her latest creation.

Help us create a more resilient activist community!

Do you have a skill or service you would like to offer at low or no cost to the 350 Seattle activist community as a way to take part in and support the work we do? No matter your strengths and skills, there is a place for you! Maybe you’re able to offer tax prep help, or a free acupuncture session, or pet sitting. All skills are welcome! Please fill out this form with your own offerings, and we’ll reach out to confirm details. We’re excited to hear from you!

Consider patronizing local Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) -owned businesses! Here is a list of some local community BIPOC businesses to support, with additional lists linked at the bottom. Can you pick one new BIPOC-owned business to support this month??

Lastly, take a minute to bookmark our Community Activist Resource List, full of helpful resources of all kinds. Feel free to share with others in our broader movement community who may be interested!

Pam Ng is always ready to be there, even last minute helping with art creation, welcoming people to Artful and bringing and setting up banners at Climate Community Night, and now helping gather and receive from people checking items out of our on site imagery library.  Thank you Pam!
– Lisa

Tiffany Ha is a great asset to the Art Leads Team, always bringing sweet and gentle energy, a big smile, and skills in both art creation and backend organization and development. Thank you Tiffany!!
– Lisa

Grace and Alice – wow thank you for taking over the newsletter this month during my wedding season, what amazing friends and comrades!
– (is what Ben would say if he was here)

If you are still looking for ways to get involved with your 350 Seattle community, head to our website, join us at Intertwined on November 14th, or just reply to this newsletter. And you can sign up to sponsor Intertwined here!

Thanks for reading along with this special edition of our newsletter and have a superb end of summer!

-Grace and Alice