First Time Ever-Peace Rally Goes Green!

For Immediate Release
March 6, 2008

Coordinating Contacts:
Kelly Campbell, American Friends Service Committee
503-720-1815 (mobile), kcampbell@afsc.org

Rachel Larson, Physicians for Social Responsibility
503-274-2720, rachel@oregonpsr.org

EVENT ADVISORY

March 15 World Without War: A Day of Resistance and Hope
Rally to “Stop the War, Bring the Troops Home Now!” goes Green!

(PORTLAND) After five years of war in Iraq, the PDX Peace coalition and numerous other groups and individuals are organizing “World Without War: a Day of Resistance and Hope” to be held on Saturday, March 15th at the South Park Blocks. Organizers and consulting companies work to lessen the environmental impact of this huge community gathering. The rally will run on solar power, have master recycling, bike parking and generators running on bio-diesel. see below for more information and contact details. Leaders in the peace movement deeply understand the connection between respecting human life and protecting our environment, in fact, every issue is intimately linked. Efforts to subtly remind the community of those connections will be on display around the Action Tents.

Solar Power –contact Peter Clark at email GLS@abstractearthproject.com or visit www.abstractearthproject.com.
A solar (photovoltaic) power system provided by Our Future Now (www.ourfuturenow.org), Mr. Sun Solar and GreenLite Source representative Peter Clark and team will be powering everything within the four action tents on site at the peace rally and will be a live demonstration piece for the local community. GreenLite Source, a dedicated local group providing sustainable solutions to events and gatherings throughout the Western United States, will be on site at PDX peace day to provide information, consultation and education in an effort to raise awareness on the subject of sustainability and carbon responsibility.

Master Recycler -contact Tina Frasnelly at tinafrasnelly@hotmail.com, phone 503.754.4164.
We are making every effort to make this event a green (eco-friendly) event leaving as small of a footprint on the event site as possible. Portland Disposal and Recycling will provide recycling receptacles for paper, plastic, aluminum, glass and food waste with volunteers placed at each recycling station to help make sure the material goes into the correct receptacle. The participants are encouraged to bring as little waste to the event as possible and be responsible for the waste they do generate. Also, regular non-recyclable trash bins will also be present to avoid overburdening the City with the extra disposal needs created by the crowds.

Bike Parking and Bio diesel -contact logistics chairperson, Katie Heald at katieh@riseup.net, cell: 703.859.0038
Katie- We called this event "World Without War," because we felt it was important for the movement to focus on building the alternative world we want to see, as well as being clearly against this war. Nations continue to fight over resources, so by working to make anti-war events sustainable, we're finding and teaching ways to use less resources, thus directly reducing our very reasons for going to war.Katie is ensuring there will be plenty of bike parking at the event and that all generators powering stages or the remaining tents not on solar power are running on bio diesel.

Advance interviews with speakers and organizers are available.

Where: South Park Blocks (SW Park and Madison), Portland, Oregon
When: Saturday, March 15, 2008
10:00-6:00 Action Camp featuring workshops, exhibits, performances, music
2:00 Rally and March

The Action Camp will include workshops, activities and exhibits on:
Military Resistance and Recovery
Costs of War
Iraqi Crisis Under US Invasion
PDX Youth M.O.V.E
Stop the War on Working People at Home and Abroad
US out of the “Middle East”: Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran…
No Human Being is Illegal! Defend Human Rights for All!
Palestine: 40 Years of Occupation and 60 years of Dispossession
Visions of Peace: Building Bridges of Faith to a World Without War

For more information visit pdxpeace.org
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PDX Peace is a coalition of organizations and individuals in the greater Portland, Oregon area building a movement for peace and justice. Our immediate and vital goal is ending the war in Iraq and bringing US troops home. We are committed to US policies based on democratic principles, human rights, and nonviolent resolution of conflict.

March 15 cosponsors include: AFSCME Local 88, Alliance for Democracy, American Friends Service Committee, American Iranian Friendship Council, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Amnesty International, Portland Group 48, Bridge City Friends Meeting, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Portland, Center for Intercultural Organizing, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Education Without Borders, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, First Unitarian Peace Action Committee, Freedom Socialist Party, GlobalFam, ILWU Local 5, International Socialist Organization, IUPAT Local 10, Justice and Witness Ministry Team, Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ, KBOO, Laughing Horse Books, Lewis and Clark Students for a Democratic Society, Living Earth, Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land & Social Ministries of Central Lutheran Church, The Medical Empowerment Program & Counseling Services, Inc., Metanoia Peace Community, United Methodist Church, Mirador Community Store, MoveOn PDX Council, Music Millennium, National Association of Social Workers, Oregon Chapter, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Oregon AFL-CIO, Oregon PeaceWorks, Oregonians Against the War, Pacific Green Party of Oregon, People of Faith for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Portland Books to Prisoners, Portland Code Pink, Portland Peace Memorial Park, Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, Portland Area Rethinking Schools, Presents of Mind, Puppetista Project, Radical Women, Recruiter Watch PDX, Save Refugees, SEIU Local 49, SEIU Local 503, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Sisters of the Road, Spirit Moves Peace Center, Tikkun Olam (Social Action) Committee of P'nai Or, Tom Dwyer Automotive Services, Inc., United Voices, Veterans for Peace Ch. 72, West Hills Friends Peace Committee, White Feather Peace Community, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom--PDX Branch, Workers International League, Willamette Reds, ww.AllRightOnTheMoney.org, Yamhill Valley Peacemakers, Amanda Fritz, John Frohnmayer for U.S. Senate, Jeff Bissonnette for Portland City Council, Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate, John Olmsted for Congress (G.P.), Oregon Democratic Party's Peace Caucus, Oregonians for Ron Paul, Steve Novick for Senate Endorsers: ActivismResource.org, Committee to Elect Mark Welyczko, Community Independence Project, Community Alliance of Lane County, East Timor Action Network, Jobs with Justice, Oregon Action, Oregon Peace Institute, The Portland Alliance Newspaper, Rural Organizing Project, Senator Avel Gordly, Social Action Council of Michael Servitus Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Stumptown Earth First!, Witness for Peace Northwest.