Cascadia Day is marked by the bioregional marvel, the 1980 anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption in SW Washington. Celebrate community resilience.
Cascadia Day Portland 2025: The Resilience Movement
A Social Gathering on Sunday, May 18
What is the Resilience Movement?
Resilience-building is the term used for adapting place to the climate crisis and impending changes in government policies; city-wide, county, and at the neighborhood level. Initiatives and mutual aid groups are filling many holes, but how can groups came together to reach our frontline communities (those which feel the impacts of the changed climate sooner and worser)?
Let’s come together to mark the anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption to talk about building resilience at the micro-level through a bioregional watershed lens.
time banks (swaps)
neighborhood community gardening
practicing permaculture
rain water catchment
repair cafes
tool libraries
peer support meetings for well-being
bike and small engine repair classes
rewilding our culture social gatherings
composting gardens
elder care programs
About the Cascadia bioregion and note on the word “Movement”
This North American Pacific Northwest bioregion is defined by its three major watersheds of the Columbia, Fraser, and Snake Rivers.
The Cascadia Day Portland 2025 event does not specifically endorse any regional political organizing per se, but it does intend to hold conversation about how we can introduce more people into some of the resilience attributes listed here above— towards living more locally and regionally, depending less on big box stores.
This event seeks to understand how our emotional responses — as people living in this place — can contribute to the future, as in the “Great Turning” —steering away from the status quo. Emotionally, we are feeling sadness, solastalgia, fear, anger, but how can we turn these uncomfortable states of mind into something that builds toward the greater good of this place and its people & ecosystems?
The history of organizing Cascadia began in the mid 1980’s. Dig into the workings here Cascadia Department of Bioregion and/or Regenerate Cascadia.
In the age of the climate crisis, the “Long Dark” is upon us (a term from LaUra Schmidt’s “How to Live in a Chaotic Climate”) and we as a bioregioning and rewilding collective and a forward-thinking and climate-aware faction, are interested in climate “adaptation” and to establish ourselves in what has been called “The Great Turning” (termed by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone in “Active Hope” 2022).
Another scholar on this is Daniel Christian Wahl. Understand his work and the concept of “bioregioning” our future by reconnecting to place through the excellent podcast: The Great Simplification, September 2024. Daniel and TGS host Nate Hagens speak about regenerative living in depth. Highly recommend.
Free. Expect enlightenment.
Discussion, education, and Portland. Drop in anytime between 1 and 5pm.
Featuring
Ron Osborne
1:30 yoga & meditation
"Ron has been joyously practicing and sharing secular Yoga and Meditation for many decades. All are welcome and equal in the circles he focalizes. OM"
An interactive performance by our program partner, Playback Theatre, 3:00.
Environmental Identity, 4:00
Kirk Shephard (he/they) is a queer, neurodivergent parent and group psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience in mental health, community care, and collective healing. He holds a Master’s in Counseling from Lewis & Clark College, where he also completed the Ecopsychology Certificate, deepening his commitment to relational healing between humans and Earth. He’s a Certified Group Psychotherapist and has trained in shame resilience work with Dr. Brené Brown’s team. Kirk brings curiosity, lived experience, and ecological awareness into all the spaces he holds.
Food Sponsors:
Natural Grocers 5505 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
New Seasons, 5320 NE 33rd Ave.
Trivia Game Prize:
Gift Card courtesy of McMenamin’s
Bring your Cascadia Flag!
Interested in presenting or have a talent to share? Are you a musician, live painter, poet, ventriloquist or ? ? ? Community Hour is 2-3:00. Bring it and share it with your fellow Cascadians!
Cascadia Day Tote Bags Limited Edition available for a donation!
Alberta Park, NE Portland
In the Vernon neighborhood. Across from the K-8 public school and Leaven Community Center. Find us on the Killingsworth Street side on the open grass section.
Bring your camping chair, a yoga mat, or blanket.
We’ve secured some beverage, snack & light food donations, but it may not last. If possible bring something to share. This is not a ticketed event, nor are registrations required, but RSVP’s are encouraged! RAIN IS IN THE FORECAST. Wear your sog- absorbing shoes and rain-OK clothing.
Let’s talk about the PNW Resilience Movement.
