“Too many news organizations stoke hate and spread misinformation for profit. Organizations including Fox News, Newsmax and the Sinclair Broadcast Group — the owner of the largest number of local-TV stations in the United States — all rely on a business model that dehumanizes people, especially communities of color.” (Free Press. https://www.freepress.net)

“News coverage is far more than a benign source of facts. From our attitudes to immigrants to the content of our dreams, it can sneak into our subconscious and meddle with our lives in surprising ways. It can lead us to miscalculate certain risks, shape our views of foreign countries, and possibly influence the health of entire economies.  It can increase our risk of developing post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. There’s emerging evidence that the emotional fallout of news coverage can even affect our physical health – increasing our chances of having a heart attack or developing health problems years later.” BBC

Check out this great fake news detector resource from 350.org.

Resource for media ownership, and media involvement in political campaigns: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/futureofmedia/index-us-mainstream-media-ownership

The Harvard summary on media ownership:

May Day Action Week

Attend a rally near you next week. Join Third Actors and concerned citizens across the country for a May Day National Day of Action

Find an Oregon rally near you.

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Two Actions to Take TODAY

Defend Medicaid From Republican Budget Cuts

Republicans are advancing a budget reconciliation bill that, if finalized, will cut mass amounts from Medicaid and directly harm millions of low income and disabled Americans.
Use 5calls to contact Oregon’s Senators and your representative in Congress to push back on this cruel attempt to cut an essential program in order to pass a tax cut for the rich.

Block a Massive Budget Increase for ICE and Mass Deportations

In the same budget reconciliation bill that will devastate Medicaid, Republicans are proposing billions of dollars to increase ICE’s reach and fund mass deportations. To ensure due process for every single person living in the United States, tell our Oregon representatives to oppose any budget that increases funding for ICE. Use this 5calls link.

NOTE: If you prefer to email your representatives, that’s fine! You can use the great content provided in the 5calls links above to help craft your email. And this link provides the email addresses for all of our Oregon representatives.

EXTRA CREDIT

If you haven’t had a chance to do so, use AARP – Oregon’s simple online form to email your Oregon members of Congress and tell them to protect and save Social Security.

Take Action to Defend Our Democracy

“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” John Lewis (March 1, 2020).

Resources offering suggested actions:

• Mobilize network – A platform used by many organizations (like Indivisible) to list and promote events
• 5 Calls – A simple and effective way for U.S. constituents to make an impact. Pass this along to family and friends.
• TeslaTakedown – Action Network – A list of the many Tesla protests across the U.S. including Oregon
• Take action with Indivisible – various chapters include Indivisible Oregon (appears to be mostly Portland Metro) and COIN (Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network – many Indivisible chapters across the state). Go here to find a chapter near you!
• Chop Wood, Carry Water – Each day, Jessica Craven shares actions and encouragement—about 10 minutes or so of your time. To receive your own daily list of things you can do to help save our democracy, click here.
• 50501 – Fifty Protests, Fifty States, One Movement. Provides a list of peaceful upcoming events

Phone Banking and Writing Opportunities

• Environmental Voter Project
• Activate America
• Vote Forward
• Bluewave Postcard Movement
• Field Team 6

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Legislative Action in Oregon

With a supermajority in both the House and Senate, Oregon has exciting opportunities this year to pass groundbreaking climate legislation.

Links to bills TAO is supporting are below. (Note both the Pause Act (SB 681) and Superfund (SB 1187) are not moving forward in this legislative session.)

• TAO Citizen Advocacy Action Team (CAAT) Update
• Constitutional Amendment for the People’s Right to a Healthy Environment (SJR 28)
• CEI Hub bills (HB 3450, HB 2949, HB 2152)
• We’ve added another bill to our list! A bill for a “One-Stop-Shop 2.0” (SB 3081, Chief Sponsor: Levy) We’ll need volunteers to help shepherd this bill to passage! Please let us know if you’re interested in joining this team.

Citizen Advocacy Tips and Resources

To learn more or join the Citizen Advocacy Action Team (CAAT) send us a message to oregon@thirdact.org.

Move Your Money

Here’s a short, Oregon-specific guide to Move Your Money from those climate criminal banks and credit cards into climate-friendly banks and credit unions. You can sign the Third Act pledge to move your money.

Our Climate Finance team is available to support you in this action. Contact: David Parker – david.bodhi@gmail.com, or Sheila Golden – goldensheila6@gmail.com.

Third Act Central Training and Events

There are many upcoming training opportunities offered by Third Act Central. Bookmark their page and visit often for upcoming webinars!

Alternative News Sources

For independent news sources that merit our support, check out  TAO’s Take Back the News page.

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Third Act Oregon newsletters

This is an ongoing list. Each of these publications contain a wealth of vital information and more information and action links.

• January 2025
• February 2025
• March 2025
• April 2025

First, know who your legislative reps are!

Confirm who your legislative reps are by going to the Oregon Legislative website and typing in your full address in the lower right corner of the page as shown below:

Get to know each legislator through online content (their websites, their biographies, their committees, and their environmental and climate voting records via Oregon League of Conservation Voters scorecards, etc.).

How to follow a bill in the 2025 Legislative Session.

To learn more about a bill (sponsorship, committee assignment, actions, etc.) go to OLIS, The Oregon Legislative Information System:

• Scroll down to “Search Bills.” Enter the bill number and click (make sure to enter a space between the letters and number – for example, SB 88)
• On the new screen under “Filter Your Search” select “2025 Regular Session.” The new screen offers your options.
• Select the correct bill number (you might have to scroll down). The new screen is about the bill.
• You can read the overview, full text, analysis, amendments, and testimony. It also offers options to register and submit testimony.

What is lobbying? What do I need to know?

• When we advocate for specific bills, we are lobbying.
• When we inform and try to influence our elected officials’ actions and votes, we are lobbying.
• Our advocacy might include writing, calling, and visiting elected officials to share our perspectives and encourage them to take certain action.
• Lobbying by ordinary people is effective because officials know we are motivated to take the time to reach out. They also know we are not paid – and we vote. Our lobbying and advocacy show how deeply we care. Through lobbying, we educate, we build constructive relationships, and we also learn!

How to make sure your support is heard: Speak Up!

You’ve probably seen Action Alerts encouraging Third Actors to submit testimony supporting important bills that are under consideration by the Oregon State Legislature.

You might ask: “How do I testify?” “I’m not an expert. Why would they want to hear from me?”

Legislators hear from the “experts” and paid lobbyists, but all too often they don’t hear from us. In a democracy, elected officials care about what we think! We are experienced and our testimony can sway them!

Here’s how to get started: How to submit written testimony and provide oral testimony.

Some hints for effective testimony

Explain your position the same way that you’d explain it to a friend – in a simple, understandable, interesting, and compelling way.

• Explain who you are and why you care.
• What is the problem this bill can solve based on YOUR experience. Statistics have nothing on personal stories!
• Make a clear “ask”. Refer to the bill number, lead sponsor, and ask for their vote.
• Use talking points provided by Third Act or other organizations to help you write your testimony.
• When you submit written testimony, you provide contact details (these are not shared publicly). In your testimony, do not insert personal information that you do not want shared publicly (such as address, phone number, etc.).

Above all, be persuasive and respectful. Go to this webpage for How to Submit Written Testimony.

Oral Testimony: consider delivering your testimony in a hearing or a legislative visit.

• Count on having only 2 minutes. Time yourself! Your written testimony can be longer.
• Nervous? Say so! It humanizes you and breaks the ice. Everyone can relate!
• You can read your testimony but be sure to make eye contact with committee members.
• If you plan to speak, it is a good idea to write it out first. Consider giving the committee a written copy. (It can be longer than your oral testimony.)

Here are guidelines for how to provide oral testimony in Oregon.

This video by Washington State social studies teachers is a helpful introduction to providing testimony.

Let us know if you have questions, want help, or have suggestions! Write to us at Thirdactoregon@gmail.com

Watch Third Act Central’s How to Lobby webinar (Passcode: +J*30trN)

Look on the back of your credit card.  It’s likely to be one of the big Wall Street Banks (Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo) that continue to finance new fossil fuel extraction and distribution. That’s a crime against humanity that will visit death and destruction on people and animals around the world for centuries to come, and you don’t want to be an accessory that crime!  Check out the Action Hub to find out how to ditch your big bank credit card and move your money to a better bank or credit union.

Contact: David Parker – david.bodhi@gmail.com, or Sheila Golden – goldensheila6@gmail.com.

Last month, we had a terrific, upbeat meeting of 21 like-minded TAO members and friends at DaRa Cafe in Eugene on March 27th.  Finding joy in comradery is one of our radical acts at this time in our nation’s history! We heard from our actions teams and focused on preparing for upcoming eventsand beginning to assemble a team for Sun Day in the fall.

On Saturday, April 5 our TAO Eugene group joined ACES(Activist Coalition of Eugene and Springfield) for the family friendly non-violent Hands Off Mass Mobilization event at City Hall in Eugene. The turnout was fantastic and local news estimated there were over 2,000 people there. Folks completely filled the main arena along the beautiful Willamette river to listen to music and speakers and applaud the wildly creative signs that filled the space. There were kids and teens, families, friends, elders, and other-abled persons with chairs and with walkers. The energy was high and the feelings were so positive! The huge crowd spilled over onto nearby bridges and streets and waved signs and cheered to an orchestra of supportive honks and happy shouts from passing cars. Some of us Third Actors were on the de-escalation and safety team, some of us marched with signs, and some held down the fort at the TAO info table.

A few days later, four members of our group joined other TAO members in Salem on Monday, April  for Lobby Day to support of the Climate Superfund Bill to shift some of the enormous costs of extreme heat, droughts and wildfires from Oregonians to the fossil fuel companies.  

SB 681, a proposed moratorium on private investments by the State Treasurer in fossil fuel dominant funds, called the “Pause Act” (Chief sponsor: Senator Golden). Divest Oregon led the coalition supporting the bill. Nearly 300 people submitted testimony supporting the bill, and many, including Third Actors, attended the hearing in the Committee on Finance and Revenue on March 19th. Unfortunately, the Oregon Treasury opposed the bill, and there is no path forward. The Divest Oregon coalition supports the alternative Treasury-supported HB 2200, while continuing the campaign for a stronger bill in the future.

SB 1187 (formerly SB 682) proposed a Treasury process to collect monies from the fossil fuel industry based on proportional GHG emissions to fund a state resiliency plan to address those climate impacts (chief sponsors: Senators Pham, Golden, Campos, and Representatives Andersen and Gamba). Hundreds rallied for the bill on April 7th, the day the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment heard testimony from more than 30 people, including several Third Actors. Despite the support, the bill died in committee without a vote after a second day of hearings on April 9. TAO will continue the campaign by talking about the bill with leaders in towns, cities, and counties that are struggling to pay the costs of protecting their citizens from extreme weather events.

But several other important bills are still alive! These include:

SJR 28, a proposed amendment to the Oregon Constitution relating to a clean, safe and healthy environment (Chief sponsors: Senators Golden, Manning J., and Prozanski, and Representatives Andersen, Gamba, and Tran). Third Actors joined a lobby day organized by OCERA on March 26th visiting legislators, attending and testifying at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Rules, and joining a rally outside the Capitol. We are waiting for the next action on this bill.

The Critical Energy Infrastructure HUB (HB 3450; HB 2949; HB 2152) provides 90% of the state’s liquid fuels and 100% of the state’s jet fuel – but is at great risk of becoming a catastrophic disaster that will endanger the state’s economic and environmental health – because it is located on unstable liquefaction soils and in a wildland-urban interface fire zone. TAO is supporting 3 bills to prevent these well-documented dangers.

• CEI Hub Transition Plan (HB 3450) that will support a holistic plan, with clear implementation benchmarks to ensure that Oregonians have long-term access to the fuels they need and that public and environmental health and safety are protected.
  • 4/11 Working session complete. Recommended for pass, referred to Ways and Means by order of the Speaker. No scheduled events.
• Risk Bond Requirement (HB 2949) will require privately-owned facilities – not the public – be financially responsible for damages that result from spills, releases, or fires.
  • 4/11 Working session complete. Recommended for pass, referred to Ways and Means by order of the Speaker. No scheduled events.
• Fuels for Disaster Response (HB 2152) directs the OR Department of Energy to develop strategies to geographically diversify liquid fuel reserves for disaster response and recovery.
  • 4/08 Working session complete, recommended for pass. Committee voted 4-3. Next step: referral to Ways and Means.

We’ve added another bill to our list!

A bill for a “One-Stop-Shop 2.0” (Chief Sponsor Levy), will expand the existing energy efficiency and incentives directory program, supporting more dynamic navigation services, reducing complexity, and providing better service to customers. It has just passed from the Committee on Energy and Environment to the Ways and Means Committee. We’ll need volunteers to help shepherd this bill to passage! Please let us know if you’re interested in joining this team.

In your communication with legislators, join CAAT and TAO in thanking our Senators and Representatives who are working hard on these bills for their efforts to safeguard Oregonians. Find info on all the bills and your legislators on the OLIS site. If you want help, let us know!

Let us know if you have questions or if you’d like to join CAAT! Write to us at: oregon@thirdact.org.

April’s Democracy and Voting zoom meeting was held on April 16th. Our monthly meetings are on the third Wednesday of each month from 5 – 6pm; the next meeting will be on May 21st.

To learn more and receive a summary of April’s meeting, email John McAlpine at coachmcalpine@gmail.com.

Reflecting on an historic call to action
From the Hands Off! protest in Beaverton on April 5th, this was among the many memorable signs:

Like me, lots of fellow protestors nodded in agreement and snapped a picture. Indeed, Cory Booker’s substantive and uplifting speech, which was live streamed on multiple platforms and received over 400 million likes on TikTok, was a welcome condemnation of Trump’s first two months in office and an inspiring display of commitment to our democratic ideals.
What Cory Booker said is even more poignant when we consider what he did! Setting a new record for retaining the floor, he spoke in the Senate Chamber for over 25 hours; a remarkable display of stamina, perseverance, and conviction. A truly bright moment during this dark time.

Amidst the Trump administration’s seemingly limitless cruelty, lawlessness, and greed, Cory Booker reminded us that this is “America’s moral moment”. It’s a time when each of us, in our own way, can step up and make a difference.

The four are no strangers to activism; each has a history that goes back many years. Some go back to the sixties. Like the rest of us in Third Act Oregon, they view Bill McKibben as a guiding light for the over 60 who want to stay involved to affect the way politicians deal with climate change. In that effort, Sandie Goldie says that Third Act Eugene works with 350.org, which McKibben helped organize in 2008.

Third Act Eugene grew from a small group that during the COVID period met mostly online. But Zooming made it difficult to organize because, as Debra says, when the pandemic subsided, “…in-person organizing kicked off more action.”

But what really kicked off Third Act Eugene was when John and Cyndi McAlpine came down from Portland to speak to the group; traveling with them was Bigfoot himself! That told Bruce Tinker that Third Act Oregon was not only well-structured, but it had not forgotten the need for people to have fun when organizing and at actions.

In-person meetings consistently bring new members into Third Act Eugene. The group discovered that food at meetings is a critical ingredient in getting to know one another. They developed a simple meeting formula: a social hour, with food, followed by a business meeting. To ensure things get done at the meetings, both the social gathering and the meeting are held strictly to one hour each. Within that hour, each person at the meeting is allowed time to be recognized to voice ideas and concerns.

Sandie Goldie and Jim Bronson say that they get, “…a lift to be with people who care and are willing to do something.” The others agreed, which is why they put a lot of energy into engaging in actions, like the recent Hands Off! demonstration, the trip to Washington, D.C. to protest Project 2025, tabling and postcards, going to Town Hall meetings and testifying, and group gatherings. Debra says, “Events draw and inspire people.”

Asked about the importance of some actions, Bruce Tinker singles out lobbying the Oregon legislature in Salem, and the coalescing of groups at a viewing party to watch McKibben speak. One of the group’s favorite past actions was at Costco to demonstrate against the company’s relationship with Citibank, a prime financier of fossil fuels—Third Act members interjected humor by dressing as the Costco hot-dog.

In the end, Bruce Tinker and Jim Bronson reminded us: energy, love, and a good sense of humor are key ingredients that help Third Act Eugene meet its multiple missions of affecting action on climate change and saving our democratic republic.

Third Act Oregon members were out there, in multiple locations across the Portland Metro region, Eugene, Corvallis, Bend, and other communities. In fact, there were more than forty Hands Off! events across the state that day.

Hands Off was organized by 50501, Indivisible, and many other groups or individuals across the state. A true testament to many different groups and individuals finding a way to participate in large cities and small towns all across the nation.

According to organizers, the April Fifth Hands Off! event drew between 3 and 5 million protestors nationwide. And future protest demonstrations will be scheduled regularly, until changes take place in our federal and state governments that serve the people and not the oligarchs.

Thank you to all that came out for the April 5th Hands Off! rallies and marches across the state.

A reminder there continue to be Tesla Takedown rallies and Social Security rallies happening weekly.

Check our TAO Action Resource Hub for weekly updates of actions you can take.