Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 2016)
News Page 4 Street Roots • June 10-16, 2016 Local climate activists PHOTO BY PFC. LEVI READ/COAST GUARD Rail cars bum near the Columbia River Gorge after an oil train derailment June 3 near Mosier, Ore. plan their response to oil train derailment The impending ‘mass direct action’follows a global climate change campaign led by 350.org. Its founder, Bill McKibben, is coming to Portland to speak. PHOTO BY NANCIE BATTAGLIA Bill McKibben is the founder of350.org, a global organization at the forefront of the climate movement. He’ll speak June 16 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland as part of of World Affairs Council of Oregon’s 2016 International Speaker Series. BY EMILY GREEN mammoth month for the climate change movement In early May, tens of thousands of climate n the evening of June 6, more activists across six continents took part in than a hundred climate activists the most expansive global civil disobedience met at the First Unitarian Church action in history against the burning and in downtown Portland to discuss extraction of fossil fuels in history. These their response to the oil train derailment in actions followed April, the 12th consecutive the Columbia River Gorge three days month of record heat according to National earlier, said 350PDX director Adriana Voss- Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Andreae. For 12 hours, they shut down the United “The call for a temporary moratorium on Kingdom’s largest coal mine in Wales. In oil trains is a call for a shred of decency for Australia, more than a thousand protesters the Mosier community, but it does nothing blocked one of the world’s largest coal ports to meet the magnitude of the problem,” she with kayaks obstructing the harbor while said. “If the government won’t stop the others lay across rail crossings. In the U.S., bomb trains, then we must do so ourselves. thousands marched through downtown Los There will be a mass direct action in the Angeles; hundreds protested at two oil coming two weeks. We encourage all to refineries in Washington; activists disrupted join.” an auction in Colorado where public lands Details will be posted at 350.pdx.org or were being sold for oil and natural gas portlandrisingtide.org as they develop. drilling; in Washington, D.C., they called on The derailment and ensuing outrage in the White House to stop offshore drilling; Oregon comes on the heels of what was a STAFF WRITER ■ and in Chicago they gathered.at an oil refinery and at the site of a 2014 oil spill at Lake Michigan. They marched in Africa, New Zealand, South America, Canada and the Philippines, where 10,000 people showed up for a march in Batangas City to demand the closure of a coal plant These coordinated events were all part of a 12-day-long call to action under the banner “Break Free” and targeted what organizers say are the world’s most dangerous fossil fuel projects. Break Free was largely orchestrated by 350.org, a global organization at the forefront of the climate movement with roughly 40 other climate action organizations from around the world joining in. Sitting on the board of 350.org is founder and senior adviser Bill McKibben, and he’ll be in Portland on Thursday, June 16, to give See CLIMATE, page 5
