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Street Roots • June 10-16, 2016
News
CLIMATE, from page 4
a talk titled “Climate Futures: Beyond Paris”
at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. His
appearance is the final installation of World
Affairs Council of Oregon’s 2016
International Speaker Series. Tickets are
still available and range from $25 to $150.
McKibben has repeatedly been named as
one of the most influential people in the
world and is credited with writing the first
book about climate change for a general
audience (“The End of Nature,” 1989).
And his influence is about to expand into
directly shaping American politics. In late
May, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
appointed McKibben to the 15-member
committee that authors the Democratic
Party’s platform. It’s an opportunity for
McKibben to combat Republican efforts that
he says are impeding global efforts to stop
global warming.
“The reason that when the world’s
nations came together in Paris last year they
had to make voluntary pledges, not make a
binding treaty, is because everyone knows
that the U.S. Senate would never ratify a
treaty,” he told Street Roots in an email.
“Our sick politics are dragging down the
world.”
His recent appointment to the
Democratic platform committee conflicted
with a previously scheduled appearance at
First Unitarian Church in downtown
Portland on June 17, which has been
canceled.
Portland is a regular stop for McKibben,
and he has publicly praised Mayor Charlie
Hales and the city’s adoption of progressive
climate strategies.
“Portland is doing remarkable things,”
McKibben told Street Roots. “Its decision to
stop any new fossil fuel infrastructure is a
groundbreaking step which is resonating
around the world.”
He said the climate movement has grown
to become truly global, with Break Free
protests equating to “the biggest, broadest
movement that humans have yet seen.”
The local chapter of his organization,
350PDX, joined forces with other Pacific
Northwest activists in Washington to protest
oil refineries on tribal land.
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C O U R T E S Y P H O T O B Y T R IP J E N N IN G S /B A L A N C E M E D IA
Protesters block fossil fu el train traffic in Anacortes, Wash., as part o f the Break Free climate campaign in May.
Its director, Voss-Andreae, said hundreds
of Portlanders joined what amounted to
more than 2,500 participants in refinery
protests, the Indigenous Day of Action, a
blockade, workshops and other Break Free
events.
“Those two refineries in Washington
equal 47 percent of the fossil fuels we use in
the Pacific Northwest,” Voss-Andreae said.
She said the message behind Break Free
was that not only do we not need any fossil
fuel infrastructure expansions, but we must
also dismantle existing infrastructure “as
rapidly as possible.”
She said 350PDX plans to launch a
campaign this summer aimed at the state,
demanding that public pensions be divested
from fossil fuels.
In addition to the derailment response,
Voss-Andreae said from July 6 to 12 there
or at
risk of
becoming
homeless?
will be opportunities for the public to
engage with climate change activism, as the
Pacific Northwest commemorates the three-
yea r an n iversary of t h e L,ac-M égnatic oil
train d isa ster th a t to o k t h e liv e s o f 4 2
people in the town of Lac-Mégnatic in
Quebec, Canada. The 74-car freight train
was carrying Bakken crude oil, the same
type of oil carried on the train that derailed
in the Columbia River Gorge by Mosier on
June 3.
Solving climate change can sometimes
seem daunting and insurmountable. Most
American activities, day-to-day, contribute
either directly or indirectly to greenhouse
gas emissions, from the food we eat and the
clothes we wear to getting from point A to
point B.
We asked McKibben if he thought the
impending nature of climate change was
affecting our collective psyche.
“I think a lot of us tell ourselves that it’s
too big for us to affect,” he said. “That’s
tr u e in a s e n s e — w in ch i s w h y w e b u ild
m o v e m e n ts, to co m b in e ou r p ow er. A s
individuals we can’t do much; together we
can.”
We also asked him what a world that
doesn’t warm the planet would look like.
“It looks like one where the political
power of the fossil fuel industry has been
broken, and hence we’ve made the rapid
transition to renewable energy,” he said. “At
which point most of what we do will be done
cleanly. The question is not if we’ll make
this transition - it’s if we’ll make it in time
to get ahead of the physics of climate
change.”
emily@streetroots.org
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