April 2010

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On-going Events.
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The Kinton Grange is sponsoring a Film Series on Agriculture and Food starting Wednesday, Jan 20 and continuing on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday through April.
The Kinton Grange is part of a national organization created for the benefit of farmers and eaters in 1868, a time of national crisis and recovery following the War Between the States.
Please come early and stay late for informal discussions over snacks and desserts. Topic the movies will cover: CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture, GMOs, Genetically Modified Foods, Food supply chains, Surplus and shortages, Food and life styles, farm methods. Movies are mostly documentaries, some are foreign, a few are quite old, but still relevant. "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" is humorous as well as revealing. Goal is to promote discussion and greater awareness, so we invite your suggestions for additional titles.
Free, but $5 donation is requested. Refreshments are pot-luck.
Other movies may include but are not limited to: King Corn,The Real Dirt on Farmer John,The Gleaners, ., Harvest of Shame, Our Daily Bread, Grapes of Wrath, Supersize Me, Of Mice and Men, Botany of Desire
www.kintongrange.org" Link to our website at www.KintonGrange.org for more info.
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April '10
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Monday, April 12, 7:30 PM (doors open at 6:30) First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park, Portland
Illahee Lecture Series Power, Change and Money, Jessica Jackley

Jessica Jackley is a co-founder of Kiva.org, the world's first peer-to-peer online microlending website. Kiva lets Internet users lend as little as $25 to specific developing world entrepreneurs, providing affordable capital to help them start or expand a small business. Kiva has been one of the fastest-growing social benefit websites in history, connecting hundreds of thousands of people through lending across over 150 countries. More information at http://www.illahee.org/lectures
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Tuesday, April 13, 6PM to 7:30 PM, People's Food Co-op, 3029 SE 21st

Oregon's Dirty Little Secret: Kicking the Coal Habit & Oregon's Clean Energy Future

Here in Oregon, we pride ourselves on being clean and green, yet 40% of our electricity is generated from burning dirty, dangerous, outdated coal. Oregon’s single largest polluter and contributor to global warming is Portland General Electric’s coal-fired power plant in Boardman, causing haze in the Columbia River Gorge, and contributing to a host of serious illnesses. Yet PGE wants to keep burning coal at Boardman for another decade or more. How can we ensure a clean energy future that is good for our health, environment, and pocketbooks? Join the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign for a “Coal 101”, an overview of Oregon’s energy landscape, and to learn action opportunities to move Oregon Beyond Coal and into the clean energy future.More info: 503-ORGANIC
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Tuesday, April 13, 7PM, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Candidate Forum for Portland city Commissioner Position 2 & 3
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Portland

All candidates for Portland City commissioner Position 2 & 3 have been invited. Event will be moderated by the League of Women Voters, is free and open to the public. Election day is May 18, 2010
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Wednesday, April 14, 7 PM, Gresham City Hall , 1333 NW Eastman Pkwy

Candidate Forum for Multnomah County Chair and Sheriff
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Portland

All candidates for Multnomah County Chair and Sheriff have been invited. Event will be moderated by the League of Women Voters, is free and open to the public. Election day is May 18, 2010
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Thursday, April 15, 7 PM, Doors open at 6 PM
First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main, Portland.

Conscience in Action – How does Conscience Inform Action?

Answers to the question of how does conscience inform action especially regarding civil disobedience as resistance to violence will be responded to at this event on this day more important than any other in America – America's Tax Day.

6:30 PM - See the Portland premiere screening of “Death and Taxes.”
7PM – Start of main program with

Keynote speaker: Brian Willson – the noted conscientious objector to war, he has participated in lengthy fasts, act of nonviolent civil disobedience and tax refusal. In 1987, he lost his legs while protesting US arms shipments to Central America.

Other presenters will be from Iraq Veterans Against War and Portland's local tax redirection community.

This event will benefit Coffee Strong, a new GI coffeehouse outside Fort Lewis (Wash). This veteran owned and operated coffeehouse provides a safe space for soldiers to question their service and get information on opposing war.

Admission: $5 -10, but no one turned away.
More information: Pam Alee, 503-285-6371
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Thursday, April 15, 5 - 6:30 PM, Main Post Office, 715 NW Hoyt

Tax Wall Street - National Day of Action

For 30 years, corporate CEOs and Wall Street speculators have put the squeeze on workers with globalization, privatization and union-busting.

They used their rising profits to buy congress, convincing them to hand out tax breaks to the rich and gut banking regulations and consumer protections. Then they invented unscrupulous mortgage and investing practices, turning our financial system into a casino. When their speculation didn't pay off, they got Congress to bail them out to the tune of $15,000 for every household in America.

Doesn't it make sense to make the banks and corporations that profited off of stagnant wages and financial speculation pay for th ehavoc they caused? A good first step is a tax on the speculators of the Wall Street casino. this would put 3 million people to work fixing our infrastructure, teaching our children, improving our public services, and seriously starting to reverse climate change.

Take Action to Make Them Pay!
We Need Jobs Now!
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Friday-Monday, April 16-19, Hood River
NW Strategy Conference: Challenging Robotic Warfare and Social Control Predator.

Reaper. Hellfire. These are the names which developers choose for their high-tech automated killing machines, the missile-armed pilotless drones that now prowl the skies of SW Asia, raining death and injury on tribal villages on the Afghan-Pakistani frontier. Yet these machines are only the first advance guard of the robot legions now being rapidly developed and manufactured in a little-understood emerging new era of human history, a trend documented in Brookings Scholar P.W. Singera 2009 book, Wired for War. People of conscience need to take action now, before it is too late, to resist the unexamined progression of these invasive and dangerous technologies into both military action and civilian life. The strategy conference will expire the implications of and resistance to development of robotic technology for use in both warfare and civilian social control. The conference will conclude with a nonviolent witness action at the near by Boeing/Insitu drone development facility.The conference is sponsored by the Alliance to Resist Robotic Warfare and Society and the Columbia River Fellowship for Peace. for more info, contact resistroboticwar@gmail.com on online at www.robotic-warfare-watch.blogspot.com, 509 447 4250.
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Saturday, April 17, 10 AM, First Unitarian Church, SW 12th and Salmon

Cap and Trade/ Cap and Dividend/Cap and Tax with Kristen Sheeran, environmental economist

Sponsored by the Alliance for Democracy and Community for Earth of the 1st UU Church

The received wisdom says that the market needs to be involved in the solution to Global Crisis (aka Global Warming). That market involvement is cap and trade. But cap and trade can come in a number of forms. Instead of giving the credits to pollutors, they can be sold with the money generated coming back to the citizens. Are finanicals offsets necessary or a roadblock to effective carbon reduction? What are the differences between Waxman/Markey cap and trade bill and Cantwell-Collins bill of Cap and Dividend?

Kristen Sheeran is the Executive Director of Economics for Equity and the Environment Network at EcoTrust as well as co-author of Saving Kyoto

Doors open at 9:30 AM. Free but donations accepted.

More info: David Delk 503.232.5495
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Sunday, April 18, 1-4 PM, Portland City Hall

Food and climate Day with Anna Lappe, author of new book Diet for a Hot Plant

1:00 P.M. Rededication of the City Hall Better Together Garden
City Hall (1221 S.W. Fourth)

See the spring plantings and get vegetable gardening advice from OSU Master Gardeners, Oregon Tilth and the City of Portland Community Gardens program.

2:00 P.M. Food and the Climate Challenge: What You Can Do About It
Portland Building (1120 SW Fifth)

Anna Lappé, television host and author of Diet for a Hot Planet
Scott Givot, President, International Association of Culinary Professionals
Chris Schreiner, Executive Director, Oregon Tilth
Allison Hensey, Oregon Environmental Council
Kunmar Venkat, President, CleanMetrics,

Our food system is likely responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet Johns Hopkins University reports that of four thousand articles on climate change published in sixteen leading U.S. newspapers, only 1 percent had a “substantial focus” on food and agriculture.

In her recently released book, Diet for a Hot Planet, Anna Lappé says, “If we are serious about addressing climate change we have to talk about food.” Lappé will lead that conversation in Portland on Sunday April 18 where she will participate in a panel discussion, Food and the Climate Challenge: What You Can Do About It. This free event will also feature other area experts who will address how food affects our personal and environmental health and the simple steps we all can take to make a difference
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Sunday, April 18, 7:30 PM, Powells World of Books

Diet for a Hot Planet
Book talk and book signing by Anne Lappe

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Monday, April 19, 7PM, Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Bill McKibben, Earth

Please join us in welcoming Bill McKibben to the Bagdad Theater, Monday, April 19. Twenty years ago, McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming in The End of Nature. In his latest book, Eaarth, he insists we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way.

Tickets to this event ($24) include admission and a copy of Eaarth, and are available at the Bagdad Theater, the Crystal Ballroom, and Ticketmaster.
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Wednesday, April 14, 7 PM, Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.

Sierra Club presents SWEET CRUDE

The Sierra Club, Oxfam America, and the Presbyterian Church USA are proud to announce a complimentary screening of the film Sweet Crude at the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland. Filmmaker Sandy Cioffi will be in attendance to discuss her journey and answer questions directly after the screening.

Sweet Crude captures the tragedies of oil extraction in the Niger Delta where billions of dollars of crude oil flow under the feet of a desperate people and immense wealth and abject poverty stand in stark contrast. This screening is part of our organizations’ ongoing efforts to help citizens from resource-rich countries hold their governments accountable for the management of their natural resources.

TICKETS: Admission is free of charge but reservations must be made in advance. Click on this link to reserve your free tickets: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=CHP_OR_SweetCrude
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Wednesday, April 21, 7 PM, Water Resources Education Center, 4600 SE Ciolumbia Way, Vancouver.

Washington State Sierra Club presents: Beyond Coal Town Hall, The Path to a Clean Energy Future

The TransAlta coal plant in Centralia, WA is the largest source of global warming pollution in Washington State. It's also the largest source of toxic mercury pollution, which is especially dangerous to children and future mothers, and is responsible for haze pollution which destroys the beauty of 12 wilderness areas, including Mt. Rainier.

We can do better. We can replace coal with clean, renewable forms of energy like wind, solar and efficiency that will create jobs and reduce global warming. Washington can be a national leader on clean energy. Join us for a free expert panel discussion

Presenters include:

Ted Nace - Author of Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal.
Doug Howell - Director of the Sierra Club's Coal-Free Northwest campaign.
Maye Thompson - Environmental Health Program Director for Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Cager Clabaugh - Local Labor Leader

For more information on a coal free Washington, visit www.coalfreewashington.org
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Thursday/Friday, April 22, 23, Lewis and Clark College, Council Chamber, Templeton Campus Center, Lewis & Clark College

The Clean Air Act at a Crossroads

Lewis & Clark’s 2010 National Environmental Law Forum, “The Clean Air Act at a Crossroads: Turning 40, Confronting Climate Change” will bring national law and policy experts to campus to discuss current issues and future tensions in air regulation, including whether and how the Clean Air Act will play a role in preventing catastrophic global climate change. This event is open to the public.
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Saturday, April 24, 10 AM to 7 PM, Washington High School, SE 12th and Stark

Earth Day 2010, Reseeding the World

Earth Day 2010 will be engaging all of Portland, especially the Buckman Neighborhood, in the annual Celebration of Localization. Earth Day is a project of City Repair and is proud to organize this event for the eleventh year in a row! This year’s theme, Re-Seeding The World will focus on how we all can positively contribute to creating the world we want. A world with an infrastructure that is sustainable, community focused, empowering to its citizens, respectful of the natural world and provides places for people to gather. Be part of this sea change; volunteer, sponsor, get a booth or just come to Earth Day 2010, which will feature booths of sustainable local businesses and delicious eateries in Portland, music, speakers, interactive activities such as parades, and the Kids Village.

More info: http://cityrepair.org
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Monday, April 26th, 6:30 - 9:00PM, Central Catholic HW, 2401 SE Stark St.

Portland Plan, Phase II

THERE'S TALKING ABOUT IT. AND THEN THERE'S DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

OUR FUTURE, THAT IS. We understand that jobs, education, equity, public health and sustainability are important to the people of Portland — because you told us. Now it’s time to take the next steps. The upcoming series of Portland Plan workshops will be about setting direction — identifying our goals and choosing targets to tell us whether we met them.

So whether you’re new to the Portland Plan or you participated in Phase I, we want to hear your ideas and dig deeper into the issues that Portland faces.

Please join your neighbors and fellow Portlanders at one of the workshops listed below. Help sort through this information, tell us what’s important and chart the course for Portland’s future!
For more information, visit www.pdxplan.com
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Monday, April 26, 7:30 PM (doors open at 6:30) First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park, Portland Illahee Lecture Series
The Nature of Power, Robert Green

Maybe it's time for sustainability advocates to toughen up, in which case they might want to talk with Robert Greene. He doesn't preach “random acts of kindness.” In fact the release of his book The 48 Laws of Power prompted New York Magazine to declare “Machiavelli has a new rival. Greene is a sought after management strategist and has consulted to businesses in the U.S and abroad about image-building and strategy. He has been invited to lecture by Google, Microsoft, and the US Olympic Governing Body among many others.More information at http://www.illahee.org/lectures
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Thursday, April 29 , 7PM, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Board Room

Candidate Forum: Multnomah County Commissioner District 2
Sponsored by League of Women Voters of Portland

All candidates for Multnomah County Commissioner District 2 have been invited. Event will be moderated by the League of Women Voters, is free and open to the public. Election day is May 18, 2010
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Thursday, April 29, 6:30 - 9 PM, Beaumont Middle School, 4043 NE Fremont st.

Portland Plan, Phase II

THERE'S TALKING ABOUT IT. AND THEN THERE'S DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

OUR FUTURE, THAT IS. We understand that jobs, education, equity, public health and sustainability are important to the people of Portland — because you told us. Now it’s time to take the next steps. The upcoming series of Portland Plan workshops will be about setting direction — identifying our goals and choosing targets to tell us whether we met them.

So whether you’re new to the Portland Plan or you participated in Phase I, we want to hear your ideas and dig deeper into the issues that Portland faces.

Please join your neighbors and fellow Portlanders at one of the workshops listed below. Help sort through this information, tell us what’s important and chart the course for Portland’s future!
For more information, visit www.pdxplan.com