Spring is headed our way, with fire season right behind it… So let’s get to work:
FOSSIL FREE KING COUNTY
Last month, we passed the #FossilFreeKC ordinance and won a 6-month moratorium on all new fossil fuel development in King County. But that’s just the start!
Per procedure, there’s a public hearing on the moratorium and King County is asking for public input on its decision; in other words, this is a BIG opportunity to continue building energy behind the moratorium and shape the long-term planning process to make it permanent.
Which means that we need YOU to show up and let King County Council know that the community is 100% behind them as they take on the fossil fuel industry.
Public Hearing on the #FossilFreeKC Moratorium
Wednesday, March 13, 10:30–11:30am
King County Council, 516 Third Avenue, 10th Floor, Seattle 98104
Shareable event page
Want to know more? Join us for an action meeting where you can learn about the moratorium and public hearing, ask questions and prep your testimony.
FFKC Action Meeting – Prep for Moratorium Hearing
Tuesday, March 12, 6:30–8:00pm
350 Seattle’s NEW office! 1127 10th Ave E., Seattle 98102
CALL-IN TO PSCAA
At the end of March, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency will release their response to over 10,000 comments submitted last fall—let’s see if we can get at least 100 calls made on the 15th!
Friday, March 15
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency: (206) 343-8800
Suggested call script:
“Hi! My name is _______ from ______. I’m calling to thank the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency for the additional environmental review on PSE’s Tacoma LNG facility. Please produce the strongest review possible that accounts for the 2014 IPCC data and the true climate impacts of fracked gas! The Air Agency has my full support in delaying the review again so long as you accurately examine upstream methane emissions. I’m confident that faced with the facts, the agency will ultimately deny the air permit for this facility. Thanks so much for your work!”
Pro tip: Put the phone number and script in a reminder on your phone for March 15th!
OH, TACOMA
The city of Tacoma is still dragging its feet on its promise to hire a third-party consultant to determine if the LNG project needs supplemental review. Please call City Manager Elizabeth Pauli at (253) 591-5130 and city attorney Steve Victor at (253) 591-5638 to share your support for the Puyallup Tribes’ request to have a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) that addresses safety concerns and substantial project changes.
Letters to the editor needed
Can you help educate our neighbors and elected officials about threats Puget Sound Energy’s proposed LNG fracked gas project brings to our Salish Sea communities? Check out our handy Letter to the Editor Guide for tips, talking points and even email addresses of where you can submit them!
HEY JAY, SAY NO TO FRACKED GAS
Check out this inspiring video of last month’s visit to Olympia where we delivered nearly 150,000 fracked gas comments to Governor Inslee! Want to add your voice? Click here to send our form letter urging the Governor to protect our climate, health and safety by opposing all new and expanded gas infrastructure. You can also call his office at (360) 902-4111.
BOOK ‘EM, PETE
Nine U.S cities and counties, from New York to San Francisco, have already filed claims against the fossil fuel industry for knowingly causing climate change, lying about it, and spending billions fighting any meaningful climate policy. It’s time for Seattle to step up and join this vital front of the climate movement.
Click here to sign our petition calling on the Seattle City Attorney to file claims against the fossil fuel industry. And while we’re pleased that City Attorney Holmes has already responded to our petition by announcing that they’ve hired a legal firm to explore suing the industry, hiring a law firm isn’t enough. We need to see Seattle move forwards and take the fossil fuel criminals to court!
CHASE-ING THEM OUT OF FOSSIL FUELS
350 Seattle is partnering with Rainforest Action Network to organize a National Day of Action on April 10th that will call out Chase’s role in the climate crisis. Already, there are actions confirmed in 11 cities and 10 states! Just last week, Chase announced that it is divesting from private prisons. This great news gives us hope that they can be convinced to divest from other heinous industries, like the fossil fuel industry.
#ShutDownChase – Seattle
Wednesday, April 10
To participate, sign up here.
More details coming soon!
PROMISE TO PROTECT
The Promise to Protect Training Tour is coming to nine cities across the U.S. this spring, preparing thousands of people to stand with Indigenous leaders to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. At this one-day training, you’ll learn about nonviolent direct action and support roles, protocols for mobilizing in Lakota territory, and how to apply these lessons to local campaigns.
Seattle Promise to Protect Training
Register for Saturday, April 27 or register for Sunday, April 28
Space is limited, so sign up today!
Join us as we create a nationwide wave of resistance against fossil fuel development in our communities, and prepare to show up when called by Indigenous leaders to stand against the Keystone XL pipeline.
AMAZON TAKES A CATCH-UP STEP
In a win for tech worker organizing and community pressure, Amazon made its first-ever announcement that it plans to reduce shipping emissions! Amazon committed to making 50% of shipments ‘net zero carbon’ by 2030 and to release its carbon footprint later this year.
Yet, in the same week, we learned that Amazon (along with other big tech companies) is actively courting fossil fuel companies to sell artificial intelligence that accelerates exploration, extraction, and production. So, clearly, we have a lot more work to do to pressure Amazon on climate justice. Stay tuned for next steps, and if you haven’t already, show support for the tech workers’ shareholder resolution by signing this petition.
WE’RE MOVING!
At 350 Seattle, we love to work together—and with you! But we haven’t really been able to, because our old office only comfortably fit two or three people.
So we’ve taken the plunge and signed a lease for a brand spanking new office—a beautiful space with two big rooms and lots of light that gives us room to grow, and a place where we can work together and welcome volunteers. But this is a leap of faith for us: our rent is going up $1100/month.
We need your help!
Head to our GoFundMe site and help us reach our goal. All money will go to paying for the new space. The Gofundme will be live until March 15!
And if you’d like to help us plan more fundraising events, please contact Shemona, we would love to have more people on the team!
STRONGER TOGETHER
Frontline Allies welcomes your participation in everything from organizing trainings on undoing racism and other oppressive systems, to supporting our allies in climate-related justice work. To join, contact Kara. More information and links are available here, including upcoming support and education opportunities. Our monthly meeting is a great place to learn about our work and current projects. Please join us Monday, March 18 at 7:00 pm to hear more about ways we can deepen our understanding of systemic oppression, ways to help out or attend the upcoming Our People Gonna Rise Workshop Series, and more. If this is your first meeting, please plan to arrive at 6:30 for an orientation. RSVP to Kara for the address of a home in the Wallingford neighborhood.
Our People Gonna Rise: Undoing Racism Workshop Series
Two more workshops are left in the series, and you don’t need to have attended the first one to attend these! These 6-hour workshops, facilitated by the Mangrove Collective, create a safe space for difficult conversations as we come together and commit to ending racism in our climate justice work. The format is a mix of short presentations on how oppressions (specifically racism) work and how individual experiences can intersect along axes of different oppressions; small group storytelling (longer times with opportunities for deeper sharing and deep listening); large group sharing (shorter and mostly of highlights from small group discussions); and time for individual creative reflection. Please click here for more information and to reserve your spot!
yəhaw̓ at King Street Station!
yəhaw̓ is an Indigenous-led exhibition that will run March 23 – August 3, 2019. It’s the inaugural exhibition for ARTS at King Street Station, Office of Arts & Culture Seattle’s new cultural space.
yəhaw̓ – Opening Celebration
Saturday, March 23, 12:00–7:00pm
Performances, song, and storytelling all day. The exhibit runs through August 3.
Event page here.
This show features the work of 200+ Indigenous creatives at over 20 sites across Seattle and beyond. Curated by Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Seminole), Asia Tail (Cherokee), and Satpreet Kahlon, this project series celebrates the depth and diversity of Indigenous art made in the Pacific Northwest.
Solidarity with Unist’ot’en update
For weeks, the RCMP and Coastal GasLink (CGL) workers have denied residents of the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre access to their traditional traplines, and in some cases, destroyed traplines in the process of work. The BC Environmental Assessment Office issued an order to “not resume activities that may affect” the use of this trapline until June 12, 2019. CGL is not honoring this request, and continues to block access, operating bulldozers and excavators within meters of active traps last week.
The trapping program is an integral part of Unist’ot’en Healing Center activities, providing a cultural, land-based activity that lets residents connect with ancestral knowledge and practice, acquiring skills that establish a sense of personal esteem and mastery, building up their confidence as knowledge keepers and eventually as teachers.
Please share this information! It is important that everyone is made aware of the ways in which corporations and governments continue to place profits over Indigenous sovereignty. Follow the camp Facebook pages for timely updates: Unist’ot’en Camp and Wet’suwet’en Access point on Gidimt’en territory.
GREEN-A-THON 2019
“Those of us involved in the environmental justice movement have a different take on what it means to be an environmentalist. We view our struggle for environmental justice as being organically linked to all struggles for justice. Against poverty. Against homelessness. Against police brutality, racial violence and racial profiling. Against the prison industry. If we don’t have political justice, if we don’t have racial justice, if we don’t have economic justice, we cannot achieve environmental justice.” —Got Green’s Young Leaders Team.
Got Green is a Seattle area environmental justice organization rooted in community, led by people of color and youth. Front-line Allies is launching our team for the Green-A-Thon, Got Green’s annual community building and fundraising campaign. Members of our team, 350 ways to love Got Green, can contribute in many ways: fundraise for Got Green within your own networks (ask a friend, share on social media, hold a bake sale); join group fundraising activities; join the (non-fundraising) Community Canvass Event with all the other Green-a-Thon teams; volunteer to help Got Green; or help organize our team’s work.
Work Party, Thursday, April 18, 6:00–8:00pm
Earth Day Community Canvass, Saturday, April 20
Community Appreciation Party, Thursday, May 9
Work Party, Wednesday, May 8, 6:00–8:00pm
Will you be on our Green-A-thon team this year? Please contact Paul to let us know!
CLIMATE-KILLING NAFTA
While it’s still a mystery when the new climate-killing NAFTA will be up for a vote, we know it’s time to amp up the pressure on our Congressional Representatives and Senators to vote no. There are plenty of reasons to oppose it, like the regulatory chapter full of provisions that threaten our ability to implement the Green New Deal. Learn more here and here.
The Trade team brought these concerns to Senators Murray and Cantwell, as well as the Congressional offices of Derek Kilmer, Adam Smith and Kim Schrier. Thanks to all who attended and spoke eloquently, including Linda Brewster, Hillary Haden (from Washington Fair Trade Coalition), Jack Smith, Brent McFarlane, Mimi Stewart, Kevin Kilbridge, Margie Bone, Camryn, Nancy Corr, and Neal Anderson.
Please call or email your Representative and our Senators and ask them to vote no on the new NAFTA.
NAFTA Webinar
Learn about NAFTA’s impact and how the new NAFTA could continue to harm working people and the environment in three countries.
Trump’s NAFTA – Improve It or Lose It!
Thursday, March 14, 5:00 – 6:00pm
Register here.
This webinar provides context and talking points for contacting members of Congress and offers ways to get involved in the fight against the pro-corporate NAFTA.
PHONES ARE RINGING IN OLYMPIA
Wowza! In just the first 8 weeks of the state legislative session, we have collectively made almost 1,500 phone calls and sent 500 individual emails to legislators! Nice work, civic-minded activists!
Want to join us in making sure that climate becomes a priority for Washington politicians? There’s still plenty of time to make your voice heard in Olympia this session: Sign up here to receive our weekly Civic Action Team Alerts!
TRANSPORTATION = 62% OF SEATTLE GHG
Help us hasten an equitable transition to fossil-fuel-free transportation here in the Seattle area, as well as the region.
Next Transpo Meeting is Monday!
Monday, February 11, 4:15–5:45pm
Vance building, Room 330, 1402 3rd Ave., Seattle 98101
Text 206-427-7884 if you have trouble finding or getting into the building
35th Ave Bike Lane needs a(nother) moment of your time
The mayor still has not announced a decision whether to act, so we’ve updated our form letter to let her know we haven’t forgotten. Whether or not you’ve written the Mayor already, please take a moment right now to send the Mayor our updated 35th Bike Lane email. And for even more impact, write the mayor directly: jenny.durkan@seattle.gov.
Roads are Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
And that’s why we are plenty steamed about a state transportation package that would widen and build roads at the expense of transit, bike, and pedestrian/rolling infrastructure. Read our blog post about it here, and to be kept in the loop, and maybe even help, sign up for the Transpo mailing list: email Andrew.
HOUSING
Housing bills are moving in Olympia—help give these a push!
SSB 5812 / SHB 1797
These bills require cities to increase housing capacity by removing some restrictions on accessory dwelling units (ADUs). These bills are in line for floor votes, so please contact your senator and also your representative, and tell them that: 1) ADUs give both renters and homeowners more options. 2) they can provide affordable housing and needed income for low-income homeowners. 3) Too many cities in WA excessively and needlessly restrict the construction of ADUs, limiting homeowner choices that could help the whole city.
SHB 1923
This bill would fight both climate change and Washington’s long history of racially and economically segregated housing by increasing urban residential building capacity in areas close to transit, services, and opportunity. The House Rules Committee is still considering whether to send it for a vote by the full House—it needs a boost!
Contact your representatives and tell them: We have a climate crisis AND a critical housing shortage: our cities need to increase housing capacity in the neighborhoods that need it most. We can’t allow wealthy neighborhoods with more political power to pull up the drawbridge while lower-income neighborhoods shoulder all our much-needed new urban housing.
ARTFUL ACTIVISM
We welcome all skill levels in any art form, and have lots going on to jump into, from occasional participation to leadership opportunities. Join online here or come to art builds whenever you can! They are fun, no-skills-needed, community gatherings with food and good connections.
Looking for a mural wall
As the weather improves, we’re still looking for a high visibility wall for a beautiful mural. Know of one? If you do or would like to paint bus shelters with young people, contact Doug.
Join the Deployment Team!
Ever wish you had a role during actions and events? Come learn crucial skills with us! We need you! Contact Shemona.
And if you’re a skilled artist (visual, theater, dance, music…) and want to apply your skill or show others how, please let us know!
Join our Photo/Imagery Library Team!
We’re organizing our photos and imagery data and are looking for folks who want to join a team to do photo sorting and labeling for our events and our imagery library. Also looking for folks who want to do photo sorting and be an imagery co-librarian! Contact Lisa.
LET’S GATHER AROUND MUSIC!
It’s a concert for 350 Seattle! Were you at our March General Meeting? Two of our artivists, Alexandra Blakely and her ten year old daughter Femi, opened for us in song. And well, they have lot more songs to share, in a concert to support fundraising for 350 Seattle! Come join us for an evening of medicinal music for social change. Bring a friend or two and let’s continue building community together.
Medicinal music for social change
Saturday, April 6, doors open at 7 for the 7:30 show (event end: 9:45pm)
Kenyon Hall, 7904 35th Ave SW, Seattle 98126
Suggested donation $20 general, $18 seniors and students (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Ticket info and reservations
To make a reservation, please e-mail kenyonhall@earthlink.net with your request. You’ll receive an e-mail confirming your reservation. We accept cash and checks at the door.
Thanks for everything you do!
350 Seattle
