Activist Alert 7-16-2015

Eugene 350’s Summer Meetup will be from 7 to 8:30 pm Thursday, July 16, at First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street. On the agenda is campaign organizing and arts projects, including giant banners and “Puppets for Climate Change.” Actions are being planned leading up to the U.N. climate talks in Paris. Email 350eugene@riseup.net or call 343-5091.

A report from the 2015 Legislature is the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, July 17, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette Street. Speakers will be Rep. Val Hoyle, Oregon state House majority leader, and Sen. Lee Beyer. $5 for non-members.

• The Emerald Empire Hempfest is back and will run 11 am to 10 pm Friday and Saturday, July 17-18, and 11 am to 9 pm Sunday, July 19, at Maurie Jacobs Park off River Road north of the viaduct. Access is also available across the footbridge from Valley River Center. Free admission, but donations are appreciated, says organizer Dan Koozer. His number is 517-0957 or see emeraldempirehempfest.com.

• A concert with musical activists Anne Feeney & Dana Lyons will be from 8 to 11 pm Saturday, July 18, at Sprout!, 418 A Street. in Springfield. Feeney is known nationally as a “notorious labor hellraiser” and Lyons is a longtime environmental activist through his music. The two are billed as Teamsters and Turtles. Sliding scale donations requested of $8 to $50. The event is a fundraiser for the Civil Liberties Defense Center’s Next Generation Climate Justice Action Camp coming up Aug. 4-8.   

Kari Norgaard, Ph.D., will speak on “Living in Denial: Climate Change, Emotions and Everyday Life” at 4 pm Sunday, July 26, at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1685 W. 13th Ave. Norgaard is an associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at UO. She is widely published and her lecture title is also the name of her book published by MIT Press in 2011. Free.

• New and reduced logging setbacks for riparian areas were on the agenda of the Northwest and Southwest Oregon Regional Forest Practice Committees that met July 15 in Salem. Recommendations will be presented to the Board of Forestry on July 23. By law the majority of members of these committees must be timber industry people. Directions on how to submit public testimony in this regard are hard to find on the ODF website, but an email listed is information@odf.state.or.us.