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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2016)
B Y C AT H E R I N A S AVAT T E R E • The PROM benefiting KindTree — Autism Rock’s Friends and Family Camp is 7 pm Saturday, May 21, at the Vet’s Club Ballroom. The PROM features The Joanne Broh Band with Paula Vaden and Teressa Cunningham and special MC is SLUG Queen Markalo Parkalo as well as a raffle, costume contest, limbo and more. Tickets are $15 presale at kindtree.org, or $18 at the door. • Global Community Conversation with Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide Fellow Kristina Sabova (above): “Challenging Coal in Central Europe,” 6 pm Wednesday, May 25, ELAW, 1412 Pearl Street. Call 541-687-8454 for info and to RSVP; FREE. • In recognition of Mental Health Awareness month, WellMama of Lane County and Women’s Care is holding perinatal mental health trainings. “Postpartum depression and other perinatal mood disorders can be difficult for providers to recognize,” says Ahavah Oblak, executive director of WellMama. “Many women suffer in silence, scared to reach out to their family, partner, friends and practitioners.” A “Perinatal Mental Health Training” with Dr. Wendy Davis, executive director of Postpartum Support International is 8 am to 4 pm May 26 and “is designed for nurses, social workers, therapists, midwives, doulas, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, health workers and anyone seeking to learn more about pregnancy and postpartum depression and anxiety support.” An evening session, “Clinical Considerations for Perinatal Mental Health” with Dr. Nicole Cirino, M.D. and Marc Zola, LMFT, LFC, is from 5:30 pm to 9 pm and is oriented towards “OBGYNs, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, pediatricians, midwives and physician assistants.” To find out more or to register, go to wellmamaoregon.com/20 16perinatalprovidertraining. For more information, call Oblak of WellMama at 541-441-2614. CME credits available. • Windermere Real Estate is hosting its Lane County Spring Benefit Concert, featuring Hit Machine (playing hits from all eras) with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Habitat for Humanity’s Springfield/Eugene chapter. The concert is 8 pm (doors at 7 pm) Thursday, May 26, at Venue 252, 252 Lawrence Street, Eugene. Purchase tickets in advance for $20 at windermerebenefit.eventbrite. com, $25 door. Call 541-484-2022 for more information. 8 May 19, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com PROTESTERS MARCH IN FRONT OF SHELL AND TESORO REFINERIES PHOTO: CATHERINA SAVATTERE ‘BREAK FREE OF FOSSIL FUELS’ ACTIVISTS ARRESTED A The tracks are vital to both Shell and Tesoro. The refineries re- bout 50 Lane County residents made the trek north the ceive crude oil by train from North Dakota and the central United weekend of May 13-15 to join thousands more activists States. Oil trains bringing oil from North Dakota are so lucrative that in 350.org’s Break Free Pacific Northwest weekend of Shell is pushing for more train infrastructure to be built to allow more action against the Shell and Tesoro refineries and the cli- oil to be processed each day. mate change-causing fossil fuel industry. Another 50 or Crude oil brought in by trains to these specific refineries, com- so of the 2,000 protesters were arrested. bined with what is received from pipes and ships, brings processing As part of a chain of actions taking place worldwide May 2016, up to 3.8 million gallons per day for Tesoro and 5.7 million gallons the activists took to kayaks on the sea as “kayaktavists” to block per day for Shell. Some of these millions of gallons of processed oil oil deliveries by ship, they slept in tents on the railroad tracks to are then put on trains that trav- prevent deliveries by train, el down through Oregon and marched with multitudes California for distribution. outside the refineries to show “It really doesn’t matter if solidarity and worked behind you’re from Lane County, if the scenes to keep all the you’re from the UK, if you’re actions running smoothly. from South Africa — it’s all Saturday, May 14, was the relevant and important to Indigenous People’s Day of us because it’s a big picture Action, called “It’s in Our — BETZI HITZ, 350 EUGENE thing,” said Kiran Ooman, Hands,” including coastal Eugene native and plaintiff in tribal communities feeling the Our Children’s Trust case, the brunt of climate change as he stood next to his tent on impacts. the railroad tracks. “We all “It’s all about pushing the need to be moving away from fossil fuels. We need to focus and come envelope here. We work through the channels that are trying to together because we’re strongest when we’re a group.” make things better, and it doesn’t work,” Eugenean Betzi Hitz ex- “We live in an environment that’s not in the heat zone so to speak plained. “The time is so short for turning this around that we must do this. Everybody out here feels that way, or they wouldn’t be out — we’re not in the middle of the drought, the famine; we’re not hav- here — thousands of people.” ing our island flooded. It’s real easy to just sit back and go buy some Hitz is part of 350.org’s Eugene branch and drove up with fel- stuff,” Hitz noted as she looked out at the green hills of Anacortes low volunteer Aloha Heart to work as a jail support team. When 52 and thought of her Willamette Valley home. “This state is amazing. It of the train track campers were arrested around 5 am Sunday, May makes this kind of action more impactful when you’re in an environ- 15, after occupying the tracks and blocking oil all weekend, Hitz ment that’s so amazing. I think a lot about what we’re losing if people and Heart acted as outside liaisons for the arrestees. just don’t wake up.” ‘It’s all about pushing the envelope here.’
