350 Portland

In this issue:

Intro: May Action Night / Volunteer for Election Work /Energy Justice Team / Protect Portland’s Climate Justice Fund / Portland Budget Update / Forest Defense Team / Arts Team / Data Centers: Good News / Welcome Summer Interns / Book Club / SW Team / Brooklyn Action Team / Washington County Team / Rumble on the River / Venmo, Totes, & Stickers – Oh My!

Thanks to all of you, we had an illuminating and inspiring May 21 Candidate Meet & Greet Action Night, our first event in the 2026 Vote for Climate Justice campaign! 15 candidates from Districts 3 and 4 attended. Each candidate briefly shared about their climate priorities, and at least 80 Portlanders circulated at their tables to learn more. Ten candidates have fully endorsed our Climate Justice Platform, and one has endorsed parts of it. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see if your preferred candidates have endorsed it.

Visit our news page to see Action Night photos by 350PDX volunteer Dana Schot, as well as video of each candidate’s speech.

Volunteer for Election Work

We’re recruiting volunteers to support our District 3 & 4 city council election work. Whether you can table at an event, assist with candidate forums, do outreach in your neighborhood, or lend a hand behind the scenes, there is a role for you in this pivotal moment for climate justice in Portland! Sign up at 350pdx.org/volunteer or email us at info@350pdx.org.

And, if you know of events in D3 or D4 that 350PDX should attend, please share with info@350pdx.org!

Energy Justice Team

350PDX’s newest campaign team, the Energy Justice Team, has fully launched! We’re working on everything from protecting PCEF to fighting for safety in the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, from stopping Zenith and data centers to advocating for transportation justice. Join us! We meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month from 6:00-7:30 PM, rotating between virtual and in person. Our next meeting is Tuesday, June 9 at 6:00 PM on Zoom. To get the link or sign up for an orientation, reach out to team leaders Dineen and Cherice: dineen@350pdx.org, cherice@350pdx.org

THIS WEEK: Join us at the Toxic Roots of the Silicon Forest Conference, hosted by Portland Jobs with Justice! The conference takes place at Portland State University, and begins tonight (Wednesday) evening with a film screening and continues all day tomorrow (Thursday). Come explore the legacy of the semiconductor and microchip industry (the backbone of AI…), discuss its impact in our own backyard, and plant the seeds for a more equitable and sustainable future. Get tickets here.

PCEF to Police? Protect Portland’s climate justice fund!

Portland police and wealthy special interests are gathering signatures for a ballot measure to raid the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF), diverting 25% of it to the police. Portlanders can:

• Decline to sign measures you don’t support.

• Share concerns with friends and family.

• Sign the Protect PCEF pledge.

• Learn more

Ethics violations have been filed against those who filed this ballot measure, alleging they are training signature gatherers to mislead the public about the purpose of the measure. See this story in the Portland Mercury for more info. Here is the text of the petition.

Portland Budget Update

14 Tree Protection Jobs Saved!

Major thanks to everyone who contacted their council members and submitted testimony in support of our city tree budget for long-term cooling. Councilor Koyama Lane’s amendment to restore 14 (mostly PCEF-funded) urban forestry and tree permitting jobs passed 8-4. See vote results here; search for “urban forestry.” Consider dropping your councilor a note.

Through our advocacy together, a budget amendment to fund the fire engine that serves Linnton and the CEI hub also passed, and the budget includes two new positions in the Office of Sustainability. Unfortunately, some PCEF money was diverted; stay tuned to see if more advocacy will help before the budget is finalized.

Forest Defense Team

Stop by 350PDX’s Shade Equity table at Columbia Slough Watershed Council’s Annual Slough Celebration, Saturday June 13, 2:00-6:00 PM, 1880 Northeast Elrod Drive.

Would you like to co-host a tree walk in your neighborhood? Reach out to Noelle@350pdx.org.

Arts Team Because of a conflict with the No Kings event on June 14, our June Artbuild will be postponed. Watch for an email with more information and new June Artbuild date! We’ll be planning for the NW Climate Week in July, and an Oregon Wild event in August. Stay tuned! Donna, Lauren, Dannika, and Ali Data Centers—Good News about the POWER Act!

Data centers have swooped into the state and are charged less than half of what residential customers pay, while drawing immense amounts of power. That is about to change! Due to the POWER Act, which 350PDX helped advocate for in the 2025 legislative session, Oregon’s Public Utility Commission is requiring PGE to charge data centers more, reducing the burden on regular ratepayers. Learn more.

Welcome Summer Interns

We’re excited to welcome two summer interns. Natalie Severson is a third year Reed College student majoring in political science and sociology. Her main focus will be PCEF, and helping organize our District 4 tabling opportunities and candidate forum. Owen Wegner just graduated from Reed (congratulations, Owen!) with a degree in environmental studies and a concentration in political science. He’ll be helping develop our Climate Justice Scorecard and organizing our District 3 tabling and candidate forum.

Book Club

The 350PDX Book Club meets every month on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 PM. Every other month is in-person and the others are virtual. Reach out to books@350PDX.org with any questions or to join our list, and please RSVP so we can inform you of any meeting changes.

Join us on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:30 PM for our next non-fiction in-person meeting. We’ll discuss Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie, a global exploration of the eight remaining species of bears―and the dangers they face. RSVP at books@350PDX.org.

Save the date for our other upcoming discussions:

• Wednesday, July 1 at 6:30 PM (Google Meet) – Book to be selected in June

• Wednesday, August 5 at 6:30 PM (In Person) – Book to be selected soon

• Voting starts soon for our next batch of books! Email us your suggestions.

Do you like to talk about books and climate justice? We are seeking volunteers to help facilitate! Contact books@350PDX.org to learn more.

Southwest Neighborhood Team

The Southwest Neighborhood Team includes neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Portland. We work together to raise awareness of the climate emergency.

A big thank you to our volunteers for supporting our kiosk at SW Sunday Parkways on Sunday, May 17. Your efforts resulted in big gains for our SW Neighborhood Team. We signed up 40 people who were interested in the District 4 candidate forum. We gave out 18 Climate Action Yard Signs to community members willing to raise awareness about the climate crisis, and we are quickly gaining ground on efforts to reign in data center expansion in Oregon. Photo: Matt Austin

Our street corner demonstrations continue weekly in June and July, every Friday from 3:00-4:00 PM at SW Garden Home & SW Oleson Rd. Street parking is available or reach us via bus or bike. We may make adjustments to our gathering time to accommodate our volunteers. We are suspending our monthly Zoom team meetings for June and July. We will resume meetings on the third Monday in August (Monday, August 17th, 2026, at 6:30 PM).

To get involved, please contact Pat Kaczmarek at patk5@msn.com.

Brooklyn Climate Action Team (BCAT) 

BCAT is heading into a busy summer. Our popular Go-Bag Series returns June 9, June 23, and July 7 at 7:30 PM at Brooklyn School Park (near Winterhaven Elementary School) — a community favorite for building emergency preparedness alongside neighbors. Whether you’re refreshing an existing kit or starting from scratch, come join us!

We’ve also been busy this spring: last month, neighbors gathered for BCAT’s first Climate Action Writing Night, putting pen to paper on letters to representatives urging protection of our National Forests.

See our full calendar here.

Washington County Team

We are super excited to see last year’s successful community event moving forward in partnership with The City of Hillsboro, the Westside Planet Alliance, and Hillsboro Saturday Farmers market, with sponsorship from PGE.

Please join us for year *TWO* of our event:

Westside Sustainable Living Fair
July 18 | 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM  2nd Avenue between Main and Lincoln Streets, Downtown Hillsboro

Explore interactive exhibits, hands-on games and activities, giveaways, prize drawings, and local resources focused on clean energy, electric vehicles, water conservation, urban forestry, waste reduction, watershed health, wildlife-friendly gardening, and more. The Fair is adjacent to the downtown Hillsboro Farmers Market, which features fresh local produce and goods, prepared food, and sustainable products. Visit PGE’s Ride & Drive experience on 3rd Avenue between Main and Washington Streets in the Heritage Bank parking lot where you can learn about and test drive a number of electric vehicle options.

Our group will NOT meet online in June.  Our next gathering will be in person for a summer picnic in conjunction with the July 18 event. We always welcome newcomers to our events and to our monthly online meetings (6:30 PM on the second Tuesday of the month). For the link, join us here or contact us at 350washco@gmail.com.

Rumble on the River: Building Community For The Long Haul 

In response to the disheartening onslaught against democracy, humanity, and life on our planet, we come together for inspirations, ideas and actions that will energize us to create a humane and supportive community. Come learn what other neighborhoods and networks are doing and how you can get engaged.

Tuesday, June 16

St Andrew Catholic Church (806 NE Alberta St)

Doors and Info Tables at 5:30 PM, Panel at 6:30 PM

350PDX is on Venmo! @Climate-350pdx

The first 35 people to donate any amount to us on Venmo will receive a screen-printed tote bag & a new Vote for Climate Justice sticker—designed by 350PDX volunteer Joaquin Moore! All donations will support grassroots climate justice advocacy. Donate here! 

Thank you for reading our monthly newsletter. We hope to see you soon!

With gratitude,

Cherice, Dineen, Irene, Jessica, and Noelle

The post 2026 June Newsletter! appeared first on 350PDX: Climate Justice.

On May 21, 2026, 15 candidates for City Council Districts 3 and 4 joined us for our Action Night Meet & Greet. We had an insightful, inspiring evening, and are so appreciative of the candidates that joined us and mingled with community members before and after sharing their campaign goals. We are also immensely grateful for 350PDX’s volunteers, staff, and board members that helped make this happen. It takes all of us! Check out photos by the luminous Dana Schot. And check out our video below which features each candidate discussing their campaign goals as they relate to our climate.

 

The post May 2026 Action Night! City Council Candidate Meet & Greet appeared first on 350PDX: Climate Justice.