For Immediate Release:

September 15th, 2023

Press Contacts

Freddy Finney-Jordet, he/him, f.finneyjordet@gmail.com, (541) 383-0852

Amelia DuBose, she/her, ameliadubose137@gmail.com, (541) 904-5235

Emme Lurding, she/her, elurding@icloud.com, (502) 243-5305

 Youth Climate Activists Protest in Bend for Global Climate Strike

BEND, OR - Hundreds of Central Oregon residents joined with youth climate activists in a march through Bend on Friday as part of the Global Climate Strike, an international day of action. The “Global Climate Strike in Bend” was a peaceful, nonviolent protest to demand immediate action on the climate crisis, and was organized in close cooperation with over thirty climate action groups across Oregon, with climate strikes also taking place in Portland, Eugene, Salem, and Florence. 

Specifically, the community members listed three primary demands; for the Bend City Council to adopt and implement an electrification plan to transition buildings off of polluting fossil fuels like methane gas; for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny the proposed GTN XPress pipeline expansion; for Oregon Governor Tina Kotek to declare a climate emergency; and for President Biden to declare a climate emergency.

“Young people across Central Oregon are demanding an end to the era of fossil fuels, and for concrete actions from our elected officials to tackle the climate crisis and transition our communities to run on 100% clean, renewable energy,” said Rowen Lucas, one of the strike’s organizers. “Our generation does not have time to wait - the planet isn't going to fix itself - we need action now.”

The day of the march, youth organizers presented Bend City Council with a letter from dozens of local organizations and businesses calling for immediate action to ensure that future construction in the City is all-electric, and for the Council to develop a plan to transition buildings off of polluting methane gas. The organizers are also collecting signatures on a petition to Council to support climate action and electrification.

“We can’t wait around for climate action to come to us. We need immediate action from every level of government,” said Freddy Finney-Jordet, one of the strike’s organizers. “52% of Bend’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, and specifically the use of fossil fuels, so electrification is the best way that City Council can fight the climate crisis. We want to see council adopt an electrification plan within sixty days.”

The strike was organized by Deschutes Youth Climate Coalition and Fridays for Future Bend, and co-hosted by 350 Deschutes, Vocal Seniority, Indivisible Sisters, and Energize Bend. The strike is part of a number of statewide actions in five cities across Oregon, organized by a coalition of over thirty climate action groups across the state, including Portland Youth Climate Strike, 350 PDX, and others.

Read the full narrative of the strike, as well as the demands, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/134SIo8FcsUIcrXxiSf7lbrq4KTfaxXNzRGzdqjq3szs/edit?usp=sharing