Category: Rising Tide Cascadia

Get in the action with Portland Rising Tide

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We’re currently working on two big issues:

  1. the Columbia River Crossing mega-bridge of craziness and
  2. Liquefied Natural Gas, as aggressively pursued by big-money energy speculators looking to destroy Oregon.

Learn more below and get involved in these issues by signing up to receive updates. Click here to join our e-mail list to hear about upcoming actions.

Sign up to attend NW Natural Shareholders Meeting: click here.

Columbia River Crossing

The CRC is an I-5 Highway expansion planned for Portland and Vancouver. Current plans for the I-5 expansion are designed to enable a 34% increase in passenger vehicle traffic at a price tag of up to $ 4 billion.

With vehicle traffic responsible for 40% of our regional global warming pollution, the Columbia River Crossing would lock us into a carbon intensive transportation policy.  Furthermore, North Portland has the highest rates of asthma in the region, with diesel particulate from I-5 the leading cause. Meanwhile, people on both sides of the Columbia River living where new feeder roads are planned are threatened with relocation and permanent damage to their communities. $3 to 4 billion would be the most expensive project in regional history. Let’s use that money to build communities we want to live in: for health care, for education, and to create permanent jobs supporting a local, sustainable economy with world class rail, buses, street cars, and bike lanes.

We need your support to stop the CRC. Our grassroots effort is entirely volunteer run! Portland Rising Tide is a founding member of the Coalition to Stop the CRC – check out www.stopthecrc.org for all the details. There you’ll find background information and information about how to get involved.

Liquefied Natural Gas

There are currently three proposals to build LNG importation terminals in Oregon, two on the Columbia River and one in Coos Bay. Each of the pipelines come with hundreds of miles of pipelines proposed, which would rip through hundreds of local farms, watersheds, state forests, and event clear-cut through Mt. Hood National Forest. LNG is very every intensive because it is natural gas that would be extracted from other countries and is condensed and shipped across the ocean. LNG is up to %30 more greenhouse gas intensive then the gas we currently use, and the is the biggest fossil fuel project on the West Coast.

Sign the petition by clicking here.

One of the biggest companies pushing the projects is NW Natural Gas, of which many of us are customers. While NW Natural aggressively pursues the Palomar Pipeline through Mt. Hood and LNG, they also spend millions of dollars on public relations building their green image.

There are a lot of opportunities to hold this corporation accountable, and participate in some fun actions. Stay updated and learn more at www.HeyNwNatural.org.

A crucial message from Rising Tide North America

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asGreetings friends and supporters of Rising Tide North America!

Would you like to see RTNA continue to grow and build its network of groups and individuals striking directly at the root causes of climate change? RTNA is humbly asking you, your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues to support our grassroots efforts by putting your money where your heart is.

RTNA fills a niche in the fight for Climate Justice that is very hard to raise money for the traditional way since we advocate non-violent direct action and loudly oppose corporate power: as such your involvement in our work is essential to our success.

The donation of even a dinner out to eat a month worth of money from each person reading this would make many things Rising Tide has dreamed about for years finally possible:

What would the movement for climate justice be like if Rising Tide could provide free, on-call training and logistical support for community organizers demanding an end to fossil fuel exploration and burning in their own back yard?

A deeper commitment from our supporters to help fund our work would allow us to get great works of analysis like Hoodwinked in the Hothouse out to 100,000 instead of just 10,000 people.

We’re going to try to make donating a few dollars a month easy for you: you can use a paypal donation of $5, $10, $15, or $20 a month, by clicking this link below:

Continue reading

Rally against Interstate 5 expansion rides in Portland, Oregon

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P1020489“Twelve Lanes? That’s Insane!” chanted 70 Portlanders as they rallied at Mississippi Avenue, just south of Mason Avenue Sunday evening. The rally was accompanied by a mobile bike-carted sound system, live musicians, and a huge banner unfurled from the roof of a nearby construction site reading “More Lanes=More Cars=More Climate Change. No CRC!” The protest followed a “Pedalpalooza” bike ride earlier in the afternoon – organized by Portland Rising Tide which toured areas of North Portland impacted by the current Columbia River Crossing (CRC) proposal, talking to neighborhood activists opposed to the project.

“Building a bridge of such obese proportions in a city that prides itself for its environmental leadership is deeply hypocritical,” said Sarah Goforth. “If our city truly aims to create sustainable transportation options to reduce car traffic, then building a super-sized mega-bridge will only impede these efforts.” Continue reading

Pedalpalooza Ride Against the Columbia River Crossing, Sunday June 14th

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anti-crc-poster-final

Pedalpalooza has traditionally been a place for people to celebrate Portland’s thriving bike culture. Portland Rising Tide decided to celebrate this culture by hosting a ride to inform and empower folks to resist our region’s biggest threat to bicycles and the people that love them.

WHEN: Sunday June 14th
WHERE: meet at the South end of Peninsula Park (650 N. Ainsworth)
WHEN: 3pm, ride leave promptly at 3:30 pm

The Columbia River Crossing (CRC) is a $4+ billion dollar proposed freeway expansion project along a five mile stretch of Interstate 5 between North Portland and Vancouver, WA. As conceived, the project will:

· Increase global warming pollution

· Harm people’s health, predominately those in low income neighborhoods

· Undermine our region’s vision of a sustainable economy.

· Leave us unprepared for the future, while draining $4 billion of our limited public resources.

· Create a faster corridor for Free Trade to ship products from the exploited Global South to privileged countries such as the U.S. and Canada.

The ride will stop at a number of places that may be affected by the CRC to inform folks about related environmental justice issues, about how this project ties into the Global Free Trade infrastructure plans, and how we can stop it. All while dancin’ and groovin’ to fun music throughout the ride. The ride will end at a secret action, but don’t worry it will be a fun, low-risk space for the whole family.

Download a flyer!
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/cascadia/Flyer.pdf
Download handbills!
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/cascadia/Quartersheets.pdf