Note: this guest post is written by Mika Hernandez, one of the great team of student organizers who made Paint Past Coal a reality in Oregon.
Bright yellow shirts with the words “BEYOND COAL” boldly printed across the fronts dotted the Southwest waterfront in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, August 17th. As cars zoomed past and families strolled through Water Front Park, the group in the distinctive tees gathered for a community event known as “Paint Past Coal.” The youth climate organizers who put on the event hoped to promote knowledge about the risks connected with operation of Oregon’s Boardman Coal Plant, and the need to close this plant by the year 2015.
The Boardman Plant is the only coal plant located in Oregon, and the debate over what year it closes has become an issue of interest and concern for people throughout the state. This is the that issue drew together the youth organizers of Paint Past Coal. Rallying for a 2015 closure date for the coal plant, the young people involved hail from colleges and cities across the state. With the original idea behind the event being “creativity with a cause,” Paint Past Coal took the form of a peaceful artistic protest against Portland General Electric (PGE), a prominent Oregon company and operator of the Boardman Plant. The event took on added significance in light of PGE’s recent announcement that it will continue pushing to keep the plant open until 2020.
Combining creativity and passion, “Paint Past Coal” outlined and brought to life on canvas a “vision of a coal-free Oregon.” Families, bikers, tourists, and Portland natives alike wandered toward the large canvas and hodgepodge of paints to contribute their ideas and their paint skills, too. Complete with wind turbines, solar panels, community gardens, and efficient public transit, the mural illustrates a future vision of the transition away from Oregon’s dependence on the Boardman Plant. With Oregon already a leading state in the effort toward renewable energy practices, the coal plant stands as a vestige of an outdated attitude toward energy production. The event spoke to this message, while inviting the community to paint their coal-free vision and learn about Boardman Coal Plant.
When the mural was finished the event culminated in a march to PGE’s offices. The art and a signed petition in favor of closing Boardman by 2015 was presented to PGE, as local media and passersby observed. As of now, PGE is pressing to keep its coal plant open at least ten more years. But the pressure is on as more and more people in Oregon communities are putting their support behind the 2015 option – the only environmentally and economically responsible closure date on the table. The degradation of Oregon’s air, water, and climate caused by this coal plant is not acceptable, especially in the eyes of Oregon’s youth and student population.
Hoping to continue the momentum from Paint Past Coal, many event participants are planning to bring “creativity with a cause,” back to their campuses – and who knows what creative actions targeting PGE this school year will bring to colleges across the state? With this in mind, Paint Past Coal ended that hot Tuesday afternoon on a positive note. Having spoken with various community members and with PGE respectfully observing the event, the activists in bright yellow shirts felt optimistic at having shared their vision for a coal-free Oregon.
