Let’s jump right in:
C’MON MAN, BUILD BACK FOSSIL FREE
On Friday morning, Joe Biden displayed a total failure of leadership by refusing to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), currently operating illegally and without the consent of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Photo: Neal Anderson
So a few hours later, we showed up at Seattle’s federal building downtown with Protectors of the Salish Sea and Mazaska Talks to demand that the Biden Administration #StopLine3 and say #NoDAPL, as part of a national Build Back Fossil Free week of action. Help us spread the action far and wide on Facebook and Twitter!
FEDERAL POLICY TEAM
Speaking of the other Washington, our Federal Policy Team continues to meet with Congressional offices (most recently, with staffers for Maria Cantwell and Suzan DelBene) to push for strong climate policy. They’re also staying on top of several new climate bills being introduced and deciphering the details of Biden’s new infrastructure plan. Want to help? Contact Selden.
In the meantime, we support Sunrise’s messaging on the infrastructure plan—it’s a great start but needs to be stronger.
TACOMA LNG RESISTANCE
Our day in court has finally arrived!
The Puyallup Tribe and Earthjustice’s legal appeals of the facility’s air permit begin on the morning of Monday, April 12th and will last for a few weeks, with a decision anticipated this summer. Join us for an opening arguments Watch Party, and then for recaps and highlights of the previous week’s testimonies and ways to take action.
Opening Arguments Watch Party
Monday, April 12, 9:00–11:00am
Trial Updates
Mondays, April 19 and 26, 12:00–1:00pm
Register for all three dates here
Speak out for Justice
Right now, Puget Sound Energy wants approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to begin operating the LNG facility in May—months before the Puyallup Tribe and environmental organizations challenging the facility will receive a decision on their appeal, which could invalidate PSE’s permits and prohibit the facility from operating. The facility is only fully built because PSE began construction years before actually having the proper permits. Turning on the facility now would be an example of environmental racism in action here in Washington state. Personalize a message to the UTC here.
Writing Letters to the Editor to news outlets about PSE’s attempt to begin operating the LNG facility and other concerns regarding PSE is also very helpful—talking points and tips here!
Flags for the Future
Help us surround the LNG construction site with positive thoughts of alternate possibilities in the form of colorful flags! Each of your “tweet” sized messages will be written onto a flag and hung along the fence. Answer the question that speaks most to you:
- What do you want to see instead of LNG?
- What do you envision for a future without fracking?
Write a brief message now to help us reach our goal! Drop your message here.
Get involved
Our Resistance Team has all kinds of ways to plug in—help us plan upcoming artful actions like street murals and bannering or be part of education and outreach efforts, planning online events, letter writing, and social media amplification. Join us for our next team meeting!
Tacoma LNG Resistance Team Meeting
Thursday, April 15, 12:00pm
Online, register here.
Can’t make it to the meeting but want to get involved? Fill out this form or email Anna! You can also stay up to date on calls to action by subscribing to our Resistance listserv.
NEW RULES FOR FOSSIL FUELS
The Department of Ecology is writing new rules for how to evaluate fossil fuel projects and we have a huge opportunity to get ahead of industry, prioritize community health, and slam the door shut on new fossil fuel projects once and for all!
The initial webinar series is complete, and recordings are now available:
Kick Off: Let’s Get Ahead of Industry, view with passcode: r+U56bGE
Climate Justice is Protecting Community Health, passcode: yWnK=Je1
Centering Frontline Communities, passcode: 6?V$=&n+
Next up, the comment workshop: learn more about what should be included in the rules and get personal help in drafting a comment.
New Rules for Fossil Fuels: Comment Writing Workshop
Wednesday, May 19, 6:00pm
Register here.
The original timeline was for Ecology to release the draft rule in April, with the public comment period beginning in May. Due to COVID, this has been delayed, so expect public comments to start this summer, assuming we manage to…
PROTECT THE NEW RULES!
In one of those special own-goals that makes you wonder who’s working for who in the virtual Olympia, SB 5126, Climate Commitment Act, aka Cap and Invest, was amended in a way that’s designed to kill the New Rules For Fossil Fuels.
In the current version this cap and trade bill, Section 9 (9) would set a weaker standard for greenhouse gas emissions (net, not gross) and limit the state’s ability to mitigate the impacts of emissions by entities included in the cap and trade program.
Unacceptable! Take a moment to register your position with the legislature:
SB 5126 Climate Commitment Act (Cap and Invest)
House Environment Committee
Wednesday, April 14, 8:00am
Sign in “Con” now with one of these options:
Click here to take a position on the bill, up to one hour before the hearing.
Click here to take a position and submit a written comment, up to 24 hours after the hearing.
Click here to sign up to testify online, during the hearing.
(To keep positions from being undercounted, please don’t include an organization unless you’re paid staff.)
And you know what? Section 9 (9) is only one issue with the bill, the rest are as bad or worse: here are 12 Reasons to Oppose Cap and Invest. Now, please take another minute and tell both your Representatives how you feel about this bill.
CRUISE-FREE FOR EARTH DAY
This Earth Day, come celebrate a Cruise Free Salish Sea with 350 Seattle, Seattle Cruise Control, Extinction Rebellion Seattle and a pod of happy dolphins!
Cruise-Free Salish Sea
Pocket Beach, Myrtle Edwards Park, Seattle
Thursday, April 22, 11:00am–12:00pm
Shareable event page.
Help us celebrate Earth Day and the absence of noisy and polluting cruise ships from the Salish Sea. Festivities will include music, dancing, and a press conference with the dolphin pod. We will be joined by kayaktivists on the water with banners! Please plan to wear a mask for this socially distanced celebration. (To be part of the dolphin pod or kayak team email Stacy to get plugged in!)
PLEDGE TO STRIKE ON EARTH DAY
This is a youth led strike, but all are welcome!
We shouldn’t have to worry about what happens if our parents lose their jobs. We shouldn’t have to choose between meals and after school sports. We deserve to live dignified, joyful lives free from economic anxiety. We need a good, green jobs guarantee.
Good Jobs For All – Earth Day Strike
Senator Patty Murray’s office, 2988 Jackson Federal Building, 915 2nd Ave, Seattle 98174
Thursday April 22, 1:00–3:00pm
Sign the Pledge to Strike on Earth Day here.
Ask your Representatives to sign the Good Jobs For All pledge here.
On Earth Day we are again asking Senator Murray to sign the Good Jobs For All pledge. We’ve sent letters, emails, rallied outside her office, and she still hasn’t signed. So, we’re striking. Join us!
STOP THE MONEY PIPELINE
Defund Line 3
Resistance to Line 3 continues to heat up. More than 230 people have been arrested for resisting the pipeline, including this powerful action where Indigenous land defenders blocked construction with a prayer lodge. Meanwhile, police repression is escalating―the fossil fuel company Enbridge has spent at least $400,000 on donations to Minnesota police, including buying them tear gas and riot gear.
Standing in solidarity with frontline Water Protectors, we’re raising money for the legal defense of those arrested taking direct action to stop the pipeline. $40,000 by April 15th is our goal―help us reach the goal by donating here. Every cent we raise goes directly to the Center for Protest Law’s Line 3 legal defense fund, supporting those arrested resisting the pipeline.
We’re also continuing to hold those funding the pipeline accountable. Since February, bank CEOs and executives have received more than 650,000 emails, 3,000 phone calls and 7,000 calendar invites, demanding that they defund Line 3. You can join the action by clicking here and emailing and calling and sending a calendar invite to CEOs yourself! There have now been actions at bank branches in more than a dozen states. Expect to see more coming to a bank branch near you soon!
Liberty Mutual
Every April, insurance giant Liberty Mutual holds an annual meeting for its policyholders to vote on key issues like the company’s Board of Directors. Last year, the annual meeting lasted a whopping six minutes, and Liberty refused to address its role in propping up fossil fuels, despite dozens of questions from concerned customers and frontline communities. For more background, check out ”5 Ways Liberty Mutual is Threatening Communities and Our Climate.”
The People vs Liberty Mutual: Voices from the Frontlines
Wednesday, April 14, 1:00pm
Online rally, register here.
We won’t let them get away with ignoring these voices again this year. That’s why we’re taking part in a digital rally on the afternoon of the annual meeting, to ensure that our demands are communicated loud and clear to Liberty Mutual executives.
Chase
It’s been a busy time for those campaigning against the world’s largest funder of fossil fuels. Just last week, it was revealed that Chase lobbied the Trump Administration to bail out the fossil fuel industry, The Guardian reported on the deep ties between Wall Street boards and polluting industries, and Jamie Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders was released. It was the first time Dimon has ever mentioned climate in his annual letter, but it was still sadly lacking.
You can read our response to Jamie Dimon here. With Chase’s annual shareholder meeting next month, expect to hear more about this very soon.
Letter to John Kerry
Earlier this month, 350 Seattle teamed up with 144 groups to send a letter to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. It demands that John Kerry use his power to end the money pipeline from Wall Street to the companies responsible for the climate crisis. Kerry has spoken of his desire to “partner” with Wall Street and said that private companies, not governments, will lead the fight against climate change. We reminded him that Wall Street is a major part of the problem, providing more than $1.2 trillion to the fossil fuel industry since the Paris Agreement. Click here to Tweet at John Kerry and tell him we need climate leaders who are willing to take on Wall Street.
And like always, you can stay up to date with everything happening with Stop the Money Pipeline by signing up here.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Get Trained!
With the rise of Asian hate crimes and the rights of the transgender community being slashed across the country, now is the time to skill up on how we can respond to, prevent, and intervene in instances of harassment. Hollaback is a nonprofit working to end harassment, check out their plethora of bystander training sessions.
And…
Here are Racial Justice is Climate Justice Recordings and Resources for the four-part series: Abolition, Defund the Police, Affordable Housing, and Environmental Justice.
SOLIDARITY TEAM
Using a node model organized into topics of interest, deepening our anti-oppression work through education, action and reflection, our two current nodes are centered around immigration justice and Indigenous sovereignty & solidarity. Nodes meet bi-weekly, in addition to a larger monthly meeting for all the nodes.
Monthly All Nodes Meeting
Sunday, April 18th, 5:00pm
All are welcome. Contact Anna or Meg O. for a Zoom link or to set you up for a one-on-one conversation about joining a node. Hope to see you there!
SOLIDARITY ACTIONS
Roxanne White, activist with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) is calling for volunteers for an action to help end the silence that has been used as violence against Indigenous People. The epidemic of missing Native people has been an invisible crisis for far too long.
MMIP Event
Saturday, May 15, 10:00am–4:30pm
For more information, contact Anna.
Interested in other ways to stand in solidarity with the Indigenous community? Contact Anna to sign up for the Indigenous Sovereignty Solidarity node!
Bring Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut home
Add your name to those calling on the Miami Seaquarium to free the orca Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut and release her back to her family in the Salish Sea after 50 years of captivity!
MARITIME SOLUTIONS
Despite a stated goal of being “the greenest port in North America,” Port of Seattle Commissioners continue to praise the cruise business’ supposed economic benefits to the region while refusing to do a real examination of the impacts on climate, marine life, water quality and community health. We are in a climate emergency and when it comes to fossil fuel intensive operations like cruising, shipping and air traffic, it’s time to admit that expansion could equal extinction and invest in healthy solutions.
It’s true: the Puget Sound region has one of the highest rates of premature deaths attributed to shipping emissions in the US. This unfortunate truth is one of many environmental justice issues local ports need to address. Are our local ports’ Climate and Air Action Plans going to be enough to meet the needs of near-port communities and the climate crisis? Learn more by attending a community briefing and Q&A session with Seattle and Tacoma port leaders and staff:
Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy
Wednesday, April 14, 4:00–5:00pm
Register here.
Presentations will focus on actions to reduce and phase out air and climate emissions in six sectors of port activity: oceangoing vessels, cargo-handling equipment, trucks, harbor vessels, rail, and port administration and tenant facilities.
Want to join the Maritime Solutions Team?
Join us as we dig into Maritime topics together and work towards justice-centered solutions.
Maritime Team Planning Session
Tuesday, April 20, 7:00pm
Register here!
Can’t make the meeting but want to get plugged in? Email Stacy.
LET’S FIX OUR CRAZED STATE TRANSPORTATION BUDGET
The state House and Senate are debating transportation budgets with investments up to $22 billion that locks in car-centered highway spending for the next 16 years! The increases in climate-friendly transit and infrastructure for folks walking, biking and rolling, while a step forward, are a small fraction of the total, and nothing like action at the scale of the climate crisis.
Here’s two ways you can help:
- Ask your Senator to increase funding for transit and active transportation in the Senate’s 16-year transportation package.
- Tell your legislators that any new revenue must be spent on clean and just transportation, and that carbon-pricing revenue should be invested in carbon-reduction measures, not new pollution!
CALLING ALL PCC MEMBERS!
Natural foods grocer PCC is currently holding an election for new board members. Grocery workers at PCC represented by UFCW 21 are pushing to get two long time PCC worker-members elected to the board. We stand with UFCW 21 members in their effort to bring greater workplace democracy to a coop that has been taking an increasingly corporate turn.
We’re also showing up to solidarity picket lines with PCC workers to support their negotiating efforts for fair pay and conditions at PCC locations across Seattle. Join us!
Solidarity Pickets
Various locations
Wednesday, April 14, various times
More information and RSVP here.
Solidarity with workers and aligned unions is key for building the cross-movement power we need to win a healthy, just climate future for all. PCC members should check out the progressive PCC voters guide, and be sure to vote in the election!
NEIGHBORHOOD MUTUAL AID PODS
Connecting with neighbors builds resilience and safety, and it is also satisfying (and fun!) to care for one another in community. We’ve got a network of dozens of pods around the Seattle area, and pod captains connect across the city so that those pods with more resources can support those with fewer. We’ve also run super successful drives for bikes and warm necessities for distribution all over Seattle. We share information about opportunities to support and donate to folks experiencing the worst impacts of systemic oppression now coupled with the pandemic.
Does this sound like something you want to be a part of? Sign up to be a pod captain and lead your neighborhood organizing efforts here. We’ve got lots of tools and support to help you get it going and figure things out along the way. You can also join a neighborhood pod here. If you have questions or are interested in volunteering in another way, contact Sulakshana.
THE PEOPLE’S ECHO
We’re having our monthly song teach-in alongside the awakening of Spring. Join us as we nurture the seeds we’ve all been planting and connect with those that have been seeded long before us.
The People’s Echo Song Teach-In
With special guest song leader, Yin from Earth Practice
Wednesday, April 21, 6:00–7:00pm
Online, details and Zoom link here.
Let’s get together for some mending, healing, space-bending, web-weaving, earth-centered, and heart-rooted song!
ARTFUL ACTIVISM
Join us in brainstorming creative ways to use art to its fullest potential or join an inspiring project or powerful song circle already under way. Projects from home to join together!
Vision Quilt! No skills needed, just heart!
Make a square at home, on a Zoom art build if you like, with a packet we supply, and maybe give a few words of your vision of a thriving future as well for the border. By quilting our visions and our dreams, we can begin to mend broken seams and create a new tapestry for the future we wish to see. To participate, please sign up on this form now, or with questions, contact Kat.
Street mural actions with the LNG Artful Resistance Team
Risk is low with washable paint on public property! Text Bee at 509-570-4571 to be added to the Signal thread for painting in Seattle with more details, coordinating, and COVID safety conversations!
Relay art builds from home
Would you like to participate in a skilled team doing relay from your homes to do one or more each of the following and pass it along? Interested in helping? Please contact Lisa.
Banner making
Skilled with design, projection, painting, or sewing? Ongoing for various events of ours and for other groups we work with, including this month Stop Line 3, La Resistencia, Green New Deal, and more.
Prop, video, street art
Skilled with a boxcutter or a paint brush? Join us to build props for a TikTok Sea Shanty with theater and other art for New Rules for Fossil Fuels, Stop Line 3 Stenciling, and more.
In-person outdoor small socially distanced art builds
Very likely as the weather warms and COVID rates go down. Join our email list to find out!
Join the Artful Workgroup
We’re looking for people with creative strategic humor and skills in any area of art: creative guerilla art ideas and energy, for those ready to do painted mural, chalk art, and other creative outdoor social distance art forms at any skill level. We welcome all skill levels in any art form. Not skilled? No worries, join us! Sign up here.
Check out our videos
Looking for a recording of the last general meeting, DIY how-to videos, webinars, and trainings? Check out the 350 Seattle YouTube page for awesome content like Stencils for Street Messaging and How to Edit a Video on Your Phone!
CLIMATE GRIEF AND EMPOWERMENT
“We may try to protect ourselves from feeling pain for the world, but that very effort costs us a great deal. We pay a high price in diminished awareness, understanding and authenticity.”
–Joanna Macy and Molly Brown
So many of us long to take action on social injustice and the climate crisis but become overwhelmed with fear and grief. You’re invited to join community members in moving through grief to empowerment using a process called The Work that Reconnects.
Climate Grief and Empowerment Group – Second Saturdays
May 8, 10:00–11:45am
Online, register here.
HELP US RAISE SOME FUNDS
We’re always raising money to support all this work. And we could use your help with this enormous task! Here are two ways to lend a hand:
Give Big will be back, May 4th and 5th. We’re building a team of people who will help us fundraise on Give Big. You just need to set up a personal fundraising page and ask your friends and family to give.
Intertwined, our annual Fall fundraising event, will be held online this year. Want to help plan it? We’re looking for people who can help us find sponsors, auction items, and more.
Interested in either? Don’t be shy! Email Valerie.
LIGHT RAIL IS COMING TO OUR OFFICE
Sure, October is years away, but we can hardly wait! The Northgate, Roosevelt and U-District light rail stations will open on October 2nd!!!
Bikes, wheels, buses, feet and now trains will take us to our new U-District office to do great work together! Appropriately masked and distant but in person! We can’t wait!!!
Okay, now we have to lie down for a second. And just smile.
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350 Seattle
5031 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
United States