Portland Oregon Activists to gather, focus on climate, all are welcome

Portland Oregon News. Coburg, Oregon (near Eugene. Brian Sloan, Monica Vaughan and their friends are serious about drawing attention to issues surrounding climate change and the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
At least 500 like-minded people from Portland Oregon and throughout the West are expected to join them next week for the second annual West Coast Convergence for Climate Action. The event, hosted at River’s Turn Farm north of Coburg, begins Monday and will continue through Aug. 4.
Sloan, a Portland Oregon resident and event co-organizer, said participants can attend workshops that address everything from living a more sustainable lifestyle to staging an effective political demonstration.
“The basic gist of it is to bring together diverse groups throughout the West interested in seeing a rapid and socially justified transition away from fossil fuels,” Sloan said.
On their Web site, organizers call the event — which will run entirely on solar power — “eight days of low-impact living and high-impact action.”
They plan to prove that people don’t need to burn fossil fuels to survive.
“By focusing on sustainability and living communally, we are trying to demonstrate the type of life we’d like to see people live,” said Vaughan, of Eugene Oregon.
While the gathering’s primary focus appears to be on education, the agenda also includes civil disobedience actions.
Sloan and Vaughan wouldn’t say Friday if any of those demonstrations would take place in Lane County.
“I think we’re going to keep it under wraps this time around,” Sloan said.
He did disclose that the group plans on Aug. 4 to travel to Portland Oregon to protest the proposed expansion of Interstate 5 at the Oregon-­Washington border.
They will ask government agencies to use money set aside for the road project to instead upgrade Portland’s mass transit system.
During last year’s gathering, 80 people occupied a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal site along Oregons' Columbia River.
In another action, event participants blocked Pacific Power’s Portland head­quarters to demand that the company close dams it operates on Oregons' Klamath River, and stop the development of coal-fired power plants.
No one was arrested at either demonstration.
“We had such big support for the liquefied natural gas occupation, that we had police in the area briefing us on exactly how we should do it, coordinating it thoroughly with them,” Sloan said. “At Pacific Power, they didn’t want to bring attention to it, and told police to back off. They basically allowed us to shut them down for the day.”
Vaughan said part of the group’s reason for choosing Coburg Oregon to stage this year’s scheduled event is because it’s a somewhat central location where people interested in environmental and social justice issues along the West Coast can meet to share ideas and discuss projects they’re working on.
“We feel that the political activity we’re involved with really needs to be inclusive,” Vaughan said. “Eugene already has such a strong social and political base, and we want to get people from throughout the region involved in dirty-energy issues.”
River’s Turn Farm manager John Sundquist, 60, said he and his wife, Marsha, agreed to host the event because they share event organizers’ interest in reducing the general public’s reliance on fossil fuels.
“These younger generations have inherited a world where all the resources are depleted, and they don’t seem to have much political power,” Sund­quist said.
“It’s understandable that they’re trying to effect change, and I support that.”
Lane County Sheriff’s Office officials were not available Friday to discuss whether they would monitor the event.
The Coburg gathering is part of an international network of events that began in 2005. Other climate action convergence camps are taking place this summer in New York, Virginia, England, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Russia and New Zealand.