Weekly Call To Action - April 30, 2023

Quote of the Week:

​“The right of choice is an issue of freedom,” Inslee said. “Health care must remain the province of individual Washingtonians. These laws will keep the tentacles of oppressive and overreaching states out of Washington.” -– Governor Jay Inslee, Bill signing ceremony for five bills that will protect access to reproductive and gender-affirming health care, Apr. 27, 2023

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WA State Actions:

Defend School Boards from Hostile Takeovers

Background:

• The Right-Wing Money and Influence Behind Moms for Liberty
• Merchants of Deception: Parent Props and Their Funders

Current threats to Washington Public Schools and how to join the fight.

The Washington Indivisible Network (WIN) Schools workgroup is learning that the dark-money funded Florida-based group Moms For Liberty (M4L) is setting up chapters in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap and other Washington counties. Yes, it is happening in Thuston too!

M4L claims to be for “Parents Rights” but are in-fact ANTI-LGBTQ, ANTI-DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion), ANTI-CSE (Comprehensive Sex Education), ANTI-SEL (Social and Emotional Learning), and basically ANTI-public schools. 

Action: Join with other Indivisible groups to find out about actions we can take. 

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Take Action to Save Legacy Forests!

Join Friends of Trees and the Thurston Climate Action Team’s Art in Action Group for a community action to demand a moratorium of monthly legacy forest sales. This is a crucial time for us to protect the last 5% legacy forest in Western Washington. 

When: Tues May 2, 2023 - 8:45 am 
Where: Meet in lobby of the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St SE Room 172
What to Wear: Black

This May we are still unsure about the fate of a Thurston county parcel called Juneau. There are parcels up this month that haven't been harvested since the 1800s: Bojack Sorts and Q Harvard. Feel free to start mentioning three parcels called Evergreen Gold that are coming up for sale next year. 

We depend upon legacy forests for crucial carbon sequestration, these cuts set back our local and state emission reduction goals by decades. These trees are quite literally the lungs of Western Washington! Stop polluting and burning carbon credit money.

Join TCAT and Friends of Trees on Tuesday May 2nd at 8:45 in the lobby of the Natural Resources Building wearing all black to look united. Please arrive early and sit in the front rows.

Action: Register Here to give testimony or to attend via zoom. Testimonies start at 9:25 - 10:25 and then they describe the sales and we take the steps below. 

1. Community action at the end of the meeting (whether or not you testify).
2. When the 1st motion for sale is called, we all rise.
3. When the second motion is called, we turn our backs but stand still.
4. After they vote we all file out silently at the front door closest to the board so we are the most visible and the video can be impactful.

Note: We are not committing civil disobedience and this is intended to be a non arrestable action, so please comply if asked to get up and/or leave. There are rules at these meetings so no one is allowed to speak out. For that reason, our actions need to be silent.

Signs: If you decide to bring a sign, please make it small enough to carry. No signs with sticks are allowed in the building.

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Action Cafe 2023,
Every Monday at Noon

Chef Lisa and the Action Cafe crew are back! The Cafe is a weekly Monday Zoom noon-hour gathering where OI members meet, make new friends, and take actions together. Every Cafe comes with a side order of live music and a heapin’ helpin’ of good cheer!

Cafe patrons receive an email on Sunday with a sneak-peek at what we'll do at the cafe the next day. On Monday morning, Chef Lisa will send you a pdf "Menu" which has links to the actions we'll take together at the Cafe. 

Action: Register HERE. We will send you a Zoom link and tomorrow morning, Chef Lisa will send your "menu." 

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​Community Participation:

Only a Week a Away!

Please join Olympia Indivisible’s Team for the annual Thurston's Hunger Walk on May 7 at 3:00 pm. This is a walk and celebration to benefit two local service groups, the Thurston County Food Bank and The Community Kitchen.

As a result of your efforts, hungry neighbors will be served warm meals in encampments, at shelters, and other locations. Others facing hunger will pick up food supplies at the main food bank or its satellites.

Action 1: Help us keep hungry people fed. Please, donate today and help us reach our team's fundraising goal. 

Action 2: Join Olympia Indivisible members and sign up to walk with us on a lovely paved loop at Huntamer Park, 618 Woodland Square Loop SE (Corner of Woodland Square Loop and 7th Avenue SE), or in solidarity elsewhere if you can't make it. This year, yes, you can bring a leashed dog to the park.

Thank you for all of your support! 100% of your donation benefits the two hard-working local agencies that get groceries to, or serve meals to, those in need. Both agencies are serving more people than ever before. ​

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Your Work Pays Off:

Snake River Dams

Over the past two years, Olympia Indivisible members have repeatedly advocated for the removal of the dams on the lower Snake River.This past week, the Washington State Legislature confirmed that honoring Tribal treaty rights and saving lower Snake River salmon from extinction are important priorities. 

The final 2023-25 Washington State Transportation and Operating Budgets funded planning to transition the energy, transportation, and irrigation services currently provided by the four aging dams on the lower Snake River. These plans are the concrete next steps to recover salmon, restore the lower Snake River and maintain clean energy and agriculture in the region.

Decades of scientific analysis and studies conclude - including a recent report from NOAA - the lower Snake River must be restored to stop salmon extinction, and save endangered Southern Resident Orcas whose primary food source is Chinook Salmon.

The four lower Snake River dams are federally owned and operated, and the final decision of breaching will be made by the federal government. So there is more work to be done and you can find out details here. 

Right now, though, please take a moment to celebrate! Your work matters. 


Support Transgender Rally
Big shout out to the Olympia Indivisible members who showed up for the Support Transgender Rally at the Capitol on Friday, April 21. 


Thanks for Showing Up
Three cheers for all of you who showed up for Building Our Bench Strength for a Sustainable Democracy gathering. We have good news to share and we will send you the details next week.