2020 Sustainability Symposium Series Presentations

Business as a Force for Good – July 13, 2020

Business as a Force for Good: Connecting purpose with profit in a meaningful way

Moderator: Jami Haaning, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Lam Research

Panelists: Kymm Nelsen, Conscious Capitalism, Holly Braun, Corporate Sustainability Collaborative (CSC), and Mike Mercer – B Local

Today we are faced with unprecedented social and environmental challenges that will take innovation, collaboration, and rethinking how we do business to overcome. Join this panel discussion to learn from three local organizations who are supporting businesses to better connect purpose and profit and make sustainability a business imperative. The discussion will focus on how businesses are making these changes, the business case for doing so, and the opportunities and challenges businesses face as they operate in this new paradigm.

400 Cigarettes a Day – The Killer You Didn’t Know Existed

Forest Resener, Communications Director, StoveTeam International

This presentation is an opportunity to learn about the mission and call to action of StoveTeam International. StoveTeam is based in Eugene and Portland, but their mission assists entrepreneurs in Latin America to start factories building safe, affordable, efficient, clean-burning cookstoves that replace open cooking fires. 3 billion people cook over open fires worldwide, smoke from open cooking fires kills 4 million people per year, and it is the leading cause of death of children under age 5. The smoke created by an open fire is equivalent to 400 cigarettes per day, and it affects the women and children who are inside the home cooking all day.

Forest will help raise awareness on these issues and explain StoveTeam’s innovative approach, their accomplishments, and big plans for the future, including providing simple, clean-burning cookstoves like their Ecocina model. Plus, he will include a call to action to join StoveTeam in Latin America to help build and distribute cookstoves on a volunteer trip!

Made in Ghana – How to add value to, create employment from, and develop sustainable industries around natural resources

Tabatha Rood, Executive Director/ Founder, BamCashea

I am planning to discuss the shea tree species, the shea butter process, and some of the global challenges of working in the global industry, with a mind for sustainability. Shea is not only an incredibly rare species in the world, but it is also a public resource – not actively propagated – largely collected and traditionally processed by illiterate and landless women for home, medicinal, and marketable purposes. Some of the talk may be narrative from my experience in dealing with the global buyers of shea and the labor-exhaustive reality of processing the nuts into butter in Ghana; however most would be educational.

A Call to Action, called to me. I have been passionate about global sustainability from a very young age, and have consistently acted to make change whenever possible for the sake of our shared global ecosystem. Due to my experience in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer, I was exposed to many of the sad realities of the international marketplace for natural resources, but also the opportunities to encourage global social equality and environmental consciousness through the development of industries with sustainable modern technology, which I have also acted upon. I would love to share some photos and figures, along with my talk, to unveil the tragedies but also the potential and progress that I have found in this part of the world.

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Arts and Activism – May 29, 2020

Meeting Trauma with Laughter!

David Lichtenstein, Leapin’ Louie and Clowns Without Borders

David will explain what Clowns Without Stories does on the ground in communities hit by war or disaster, giving the break of laughter to those who do it the most, and telling a few stories from the road.

Contemporary Sacred Art and Spiritual Ecology

Amy Livingstone, Sacred Art Studio

This interdisciplinary presentation is based on my research and artistic response to our current ecological crisis that I believe is a spiritual crisis. In the developed West, human beings have become so far removed from their innate interdependence in the web of creation that we are devastating vast eco-systems on which all life is dependent. We have forgotten that we are born of the earth. This way of knowing is what our ancestors once understood and indigenous peoples are now sharing with the world as their prophecies speak of this time for choosing a different path, one of living in reciprocity with the earth. In tandem with what has been defined as the
Great Unraveling, many are participating in the Great Turning, a shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization. As we navigate this threshold between a dying paradigm and a livable world for all beings, can art hold out a mirror to the truth of our oneness and the sacredness of all creation? Can art inspire hope and action on behalf of life on earth? I will answer these questions through the lens of my paintings and ecologically-based art installations.

Undersea Garden: An interwoven collaboration utilizing reclaimed marine rope and ghost netting

Emily Miller, Emily Miller Fine Art, and Shelby Silver, Ecological Artist, Salt of Earth & Sea Studio

Undersea Garden is a collaborative installation by local artists Emily Miller and Shelby Silver. The sculptural installation suggests a thriving colony of undersea life, reminiscent of a larger-than-life coral reef or deep ocean vent. The artwork is created entirely with plastic marine debris and reclaimed fishing gear, including “ghost net” lost at sea as well as responsibly recycled materials from local fisheries. In Undersea Garden, artists Emily Miller and Shelby Silver present their work together in a powerful collaboration where each artist’s individual work enriches and amplifies the other, creating a complex collective environment that sparks the viewer’s imagination. This collective environment reflects their shared belief that collaboration is key to sustainability and stewardship. Shelby and Emily will speak together about the joy of positive transformation in their work, and the importance of hands-on creativity in finding solutions, and hope, to give this material a renewed purpose and life.

Ecological Rehabilitation Through Art

Shelby Silver, Ecological Artist, Salt of Earth & Sea Studio

Remembering our connection is remembering our responsibility to earth, sea, and all living beings. My presentation on ecological rehabilitation through the artistic process will offer a shift in perception, from problem focus to solution focus, in the face of devastating global issues such as plastic marine debris. I will demonstrate how collaboration plays a vital role in our ability to maintain balance, not only in our personal lives, but in life in general. And finally speak to the heart of listening to our intuition when pouring fourth our efforts in preserving the places we love.

Ecological rehabilitation through art falls directly under innovative problem solving, it accentuates the values of connectivity, cooperation, and collaboration necessary for all systems to thrive. A powerful and relevant subject for those seeking new ways of reaching a broader audience. Now more than ever the environmental community needs hope to hold onto and what can be more hopeful than art which utilizes plastic from our ocean and turns it into a direct teaching tool for creating awareness. As a PCC student (soon to be alumna) I feel it important to share with my fellow PCC students that although the future rests in our hands, it does not fall on our shoulders alone. We can accomplish anything through collaboration, all areas my presentation will shed a light on.

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Permaculture and Power – April 17, 2020

Food Forests: A Tool for Climate Stability and Community Resilience

Marisha Auerbach, Permaculture designer & educator, Oregon State University, Portland Community College, Permaculture Rising

In these times of concern for stability and ecological health of our planet, the food forests offer an opportunity to pair the cultivation of food and medicine with environmental stewardship. Here we enhance biodiversity, increase carbon storage in our soils, rehydrate the landscape, and provide for wildlife and pollinators. We can enhance the diversity of our diets while preserving heirloom varieties and decreasing our grocery bills. This workshop will highlight various scales of food forests, from the home scale to public, that demonstrate enhanced ecological function while providing joy and connection for the extended community.

Agrobiodiversity in Context of Food Security

Nicki Youngsma, Artist & Editor, Home Orchard Society; Lewis & Clark College Graduate of ’08

Agrobiodiversity is an under-represented topic in the larger conversation about food security. My presentation would discuss how agrobiodiversity relates to SDGs. It will take the form of a personal story about how I came to this work: I will begin with caring about wild biodiversity, drawing reference to experiences as a home gardener. Through this research I learned that the term ‘agrobiodiversity’ describes the biodiversity within human food systems. It’s estimated that 90% of heirloom varieties of food crops have gone extinct in the last century, and very few people were talking about it.

I will list a few reasons that biodiversity in food is important. They will include: resistance to pests; intensive farming, rise of food allergies; nutrition; climate change. I will briefly mention the Irish Potato Famine of the mid 19rh century. I will compare the trend of high tech farming solutions against the thousands-year-old practice of saving seed and plant breeding. I will mention, briefly, some solutions or ways to preserve agrobiodiversity in our food system.”

Social Justice Through Gardening: The Development of a College Learning Garden

Jolie Donohue, Cascade Learning Garden Coordinator, Portland Community College

In this workshop, Learning Garden Coordinator Jolie Donohue will outline the history and development of the newest learning garden at Portland Community College. Workshop participants will learn how a student’s dream of a learning garden to grow food for the student population was championed by the community and the steps that made it a reality. At the heart of our cascade learning garden is food justice and the alleviation of student hunger. Through the lens of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion our learning garden programming engages students, promotes student leadership opportunities, and community based learning in a variety of classes and disciplines. Workshop participants will tour the garden and get a hands-on look at our urban small space learning garden. PCC students will be in attendance to share their experiences and answer questions.

The Cascade Learning Garden will celebrate its one-year anniversary the week of the GPSEN Sustainability Symposium. Since the learning garden is located on the campus of the symposium, participants will be able to visit the garden and join in this informative workshop to learn firsthand how our students, staff, faculty, and community collaborated to make this garden a reality. Driven largely by student leadership the implementation of this garden was a call to action for our college community. Food justice is at the heart of our garden and there are many practical ways we implement diversity, equity, and inclusion into our learning garden program.

Community Solar and Equity

Sherrie Villmark, Program Director, Community Energy Project

CEP’s journey from advising into advocacy and eventually to be the Low-income Facilitator for Oregon’s new state-wide Community Solar program. Why equity is crucial to take seriously in the environmental movement, common misconceptions (some taught in college!) countered with facts, and how including equity experts during program designs has different outcomes than presenting a program without that feedback.

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Broadening engagement at a critical time: A virtual bridge to COP25

Frank Granshaw, Instructor, PSU Geology and University Studies, and Senior Adviser, GPSEN

A key challenge of the UN climate process are the constraints on public involvement. Disruptive climate change is something that involves all of us. However, logistical issues, funding, and minimizing carbon footprints severely limits the number of people who can attend these critical events. In 2019 a virtual bridge was established here in Portland, Oregon to COP25 (the UN climate conference in Madrid, Spain) to link groups of local people with events at the conference. Designed as an on-line dialog, the bridge also gave locals a chance to hear from area activists, researchers and policy makers about how their work connects with the international process.

In addition to showcasing this effort, this presentation will look at plans for broadening the bridge to include the upcoming conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Business as a Force for Good: Connecting purpose with profit in a meaningful way

Moderator: Jami Haaning, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Lam Research

Panel participants: Conscious Capitalism, Corporate Sustainability Collaborative (CSC), B Local

CARBON FOOTPRINT 101 – Hands On!

Mike Mercer Principal, B Corp community, Climate policy community

Heather Schrock, Environmental Products Representative

Learn the basics of calculating the carbon footprint of your business and walk away with a simple tool to manage what you learn.

One of the first steps to becoming a better business for the planet is to understand your own footprint. We will break down the terminology and industry standards for carbon and water impacts from a personal and business perspective into easily digestible and applicable bytes! This is a broad overview of carbon footprinting, covering the key concepts, industry standards, reporting frameworks, and the nuances of telling your footprinting story. Businesses are being asked to do more to track and manage their emissions, particularly given inaction at the federal level. This session not only helps attendees understand how they can track their emissions, but also helps them manage their emissions to reduce their corporate footprint. This workshop will also demonstrate how you can calculate and manage your own basic business carbon footprint.

This is an introduction. It is suitable for those with no previous knowledge of carbon footprinting as well as those with just a basic background knowledge. This workshop is suitable for all sectors.

Community Solar and Equity

Sherrie Villmark, Program Director, Community Energy Project

Earth Charter 2020: Turning Conscience into Action

Serena Dressel, Community Engagement Manager, Axiom Event Productions & Vice President, Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network

Tahira Abbas, Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN) Research & Curriculum Committee and Fellow, SAGE

In line with the 2020 GPSEN Sustainability Symposium’s Theme: Call for Action, we will facilitate a conversation to shed light on the Earth Charter as a tool designed by the people to address the loss of moral vision, explore the values underlying sustainable development such as “universal responsibility”, and the importance of clarifying our moral values to identify ourselves with the larger community of life and shape our lives by these ethical commitments.

The Earth Charter Initiative was launched 20 years ago. 2020 is a key year for the initiative in their plans to reassert the importance of the Earth Charter as a tool for sustainability collaboration and commitments. As part of their 20th anniversary, the Earth Charter Initiative has rebranded and included the new slogan “Turning Conscience into Action”, which they assert “seeks to link the Earth Charter with a vision that generates positive and concrete action”. We will look at the powerful tools that are used as sustainability frameworks internationally and the ways in which values-driven action can align with and collaborate with these international efforts. We view the Earth Charter as a critical tool for collective impact, emphasizing the same values of the Sustainable Development Goals through values-based language that may help a larger audience to understand sustainability concepts, realities and futures.

Ecological Economics, Renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Greg Cermak, Science Communications and Data Analytics, NASA Solar System Ambassador and software engineer/technical trainer

The renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada using the the modernized scenario, also known as 3ea, adds ecosystem integration that offers improvements to the Columbia River Basin biosphere supporting UN SDG goals 6, 13, 14 and 15. Join us as we provide an overview of the 3ea scenario developed by the Upper Columbia United Tribes.

Under a modernized Treaty called for by the Regional Recommendation, ecosystem integration provides adaptation to current flood risk management under projected climate change conditions such that key reservoirs could remain fuller and promote partial restoration of the spring freshet while still providing adequate flood risk protection. Similarly, under ecosystem integration, future reshaping of regional power operations for peak power generation and less to support base energy needs could also contribute to fuller, more stable reservoir habitats and greater restoration of freshet flows. Increasing the system capacity to store more water in the winter and early spring promotes adaptation to climate change where water demands in the late spring and summer for ecosystem function, hydropower, agriculture, and municipal use are projected to increase as the Columbia Basin likely becomes warmer and drier.

Ecological Rehabilitation Through Art

Shelby Silver, Artist & PCC student, Salt of Earth & Sea Studio

Energy Saving Action: Strategic Energy Management on Campus

Elaine Cole, Sustainability Coordinator, Portland Community College-Rock Creek

Stephania Fergosi, Sustainability Analyst, Portland Community College

Farid Kayali, Strategic Energy Associate, Portland Community College

Strategic Energy Management or SEM is a program created by the Energy Trust of Oregon to increase building efficiency, occupant engagement, and overall sustainability at the organizational level.

Since 2015, Portland Community College has gained the support, tools, and expertise to increase operational and mechanical efficiencies in buildings by enrolling in the Energy Trust of Oregon’s Commercial Strategic Energy Management. SEM takes a long-term approach towards ultimate energy efficiency which includes setting goals, tracking progress, and reporting results. These efforts, in turn, help the college to reduce energy consumption and save money while also receiving valuable incentives.

This session will highlight a variety of energy conservation projects that have been implemented with the help of our Strategic Energy Associate and Analyst. We hope this will inspire others’ to join a SEM cohort, start similar projects or hire an energy intern.” This session will highlight some of the operational, mechanical and occupant behaviors used to save energy on PCC’s campuses.

Food Forests: A Tool for Climate Stability and Community Resilience

Marisha Auerbach, Permaculture designer & educator, Oregon State University, Portland Community College, Permaculture Rising

400 Cigarettes a Day – The Killer You Didn’t Know Existed

Forest Resener, Communications Director, StoveTeam International

This presentation is an opportunity to learn about the mission and call to action of StoveTeam International. StoveTeam is based in Eugene and Portland, but our mission is assisting entrepreneurs in Latin America to start factories building safe, affordable, efficient, clean-burning cookstoves that replace open cooking fires. 3 billion people cook over open fires worldwide, smoke from open cooking fires kills 4 million people per year, and it is the leading cause of death of children under age 5! The smoke created by an open fire is equivalent to 400 cigarettes per day, affecting most families in Latin America, especially woman and children who are inside the home cooking all day.

Forest will help raise awareness on the issue and explain StoveTeam’s innovative approach, their accomplishments, and big plans for the future, including providing simple, clean-burning cookstoves like the Ecocina stove. Plus, he will include a call to action to join us in Latin America to help build and distribute these cookstoves on one of our volunteer trips!

Green transportation to provide access and stability to low-income individuals

Sean Brosnihan, Community Engagement Specialist, Forth/Americorps

During the last year of the ongoing rental scooter program in Portland, there have been over 700K individual rides, while the mandatory low-income discounts were only taken up by 48 people last year. These options are available to anyone on SNAP, TANF, OHS, discounted utilities or working in an education work-study program. I have personally signed up for every one of these as part of my americorps service period and can personal talk towards not just the cheaper rates vs public transportation, but increased speed and availability which are essential to people on low income services. I have been working hard to develop relationships with local underserved community leaders, service based non-profits as well as intra-government and school organizations to bring this personally powerful mobility option into the hands of those who can most use it to build stability in their lives to be better members of our community.

Holding the Candle High – Business is Driving toward Conscious Capitalism

Kymm Nelsen, Co-Founder & Co-Chair CCPortland; Executive Coach & Consultant at Being First, Inc.

The future of sustainability hinges on businesses understanding the importance and urgency to make and enact decisions based on the well-being of all its stakeholders – people, supply chain, communities, shareholders, and the planet. As much as business has caused harm, it has a greater power and capacity to address humanity’s most pressing problems. In other words, business can be a force for tremendous good. This is the vision, purpose, and aim of Conscious Capitalism.

The trend toward conscious capitalism has gained significant momentum over the last five years, culminating with the August 2019 Business Roundtable’s official proclamation that the purpose of business is to bring value to its stakeholders. This marks a major milestone in the evolution of business and calls to action a significant shift toward stakeholder capitalism (aka conscious capitalism) with expanded attention to sustainability. The changes will be significant across every level of business. This presentation provides a look at fulfilling the SDGs through the eyes of conscious capitalism and how we, as change makers and consumers, can support this effort.

It Takes an Ocean

Makerusa “Mak” Porotesano, M.Ed, Multicultural Center Coordinator, Portland Community College – Sylvania Campus

The fight to save our planet is in desperate times and with certain climate thresholds already passed, we are in need of collective leadership and participation in this climate battle. Using Pacific Islander ways of understanding and navigation, we can learn and capture what the Pacific front lines are doing to organize themselves to save this planet.

Made in Ghana – How to add value to, create employment from, and develop sustainable industries around, natural resources

Tabatha Rood, Executive Director/ Founder, BamCashea

Recycling 101 Online Course

Gregg Hayward, Education Chair / Green Business Coordinator, Association of Oregon Recyclers / City of Gresham

Recycling 101 is an in-depth online course that helps citizens, professionals and sustainability educators gain a deep understanding of how waste reduction and recycling works, and how to use this information to create positive change in their communities. The 8 module course was put together by the Association of Oregon Recyclers and is hosted by OSU. We are excited to spread the word about this resource to this audience to help deepen their understanding about these topics, and how to work on them in their communities.

Recycling 101 is a sustainability solution that can help spread knowledge on how we can all be more responsible about the products we buy and dispose of every day. Materials make up the largest share of global green house gas emissions, and their production, use and disposal play a role in all of the 17 UN SDGs.

Social Justice Through Gardening: The Development of a College Learning Garden

Jolie Donohue, Cascade Learning Garden Coordinator, Portland Community College

Student Sustainability Leadership Development at PSU – Cultivating Holistic Leaders

Megan Schneider, Adjunct Faculty, Leadership for Sustainability Education, Portland State University

Laihha Moss-Novak, PSU Student Sustainability Center Coordinator

This presentation is on my master’s thesis research. My project sought to explore how students develop sustainability leadership through their college experience. Nine students, who had been identified as sustainability leaders through their participation in the Student Sustainability Center (SSC), a co-curricular sustainability program at Portland State University, were selected to be a part of this grounded theory research project. The results showed that student sustainability leadership was supported by developing a sustainability-oriented community, a holistic understanding of sustainability, and a holistic self. The holistic understanding of sustainability, one of the most salient themes, was primarily supported by learning about issues related to social sustainability, social justice, environmental justice, as well as by engaging in experiential learning that allowed the students to act out the sustainability values they were learning to hold. The results of the study, which align with the literature on sustainability leadership, suggest that the SSC offers effective sustainability leadership development opportunities for students by providing programming that reflects the sustainability leadership values the SSC holds. While these results are not meant to be generalizable, they can offer insight into aspects of program design that reflect sustainability leadership values. Heather Spalding, the SSC Coordinator, will present on aspects of the SSC program design that support and contribute to student sustainability leadership development.

While there is much known about why we need to promote sustainability leadership, this study and presentation will be on how that can be done. The research provides empirical evidence on how we can foster students who are prepared and motivated to become sustainability changemakers. This evidence will be presented alongside details about the program design that helped to foster sustainability leadership development. This will provide people who want to be a part of developing sustainability leaders the tools to answer the call to action. This presentation also relates to the “A Call to Action” theme because experiential, action-based learning, as well as learning about collaboration, social justice, and diversity, were crucial to the students learning and application of sustainability leadership principles.”

Sustainability Action at Reed College

Billy Fish, Student Body Senator, Reed College, and GPSEN College Network Member

Having seen the commitment to sustainability displayed by colleges around Portland, it is pretty apparent to me that Reed is behind the curve. Nonetheless, much has changed on campus in recent years. In the time that I have been at Reed, I have seen a surge in interest in divestment, the creation of a Reed Climate Action Plan, increased success of composting and recycling initiatives, and organized protest – all led by students. This presentation explores recent student led sustainability efforts on campus and looks for suggestions on where to go next. It will touch on divestment efforts on campus, freshly started programs in composing and recycling, and discuss the new Reed climate action plan.

It aligns with the focus of the symposium by highlighting action taken by students to make Reed a more sustainable place – both in protest and through the creation of new programs/organizations.

Tackling Wicked Problems to Become an Agent for Change

Monica Bourgeau, Author and Strategist, Author of The Change Code

Wicked Problems can be just as sinister as they sound. These problems are part of a complex system and can’t be “solved, only continually navigated“ a mindset shift for most of us. Examples of Wicked Problems include climate change, immigration, obesity, and more. They are the kinds of problems we see everywhere today and they are causing conflict and feelings of chaos. One “solution” creates new problems because of the interconnectedness of the complex system. Addressing Wicked Problems requires tough choices, mutual understanding, genuine interactions across multiple perspectives, and innovative approaches that also address the tensions between the different value systems.

During this interactive workshop, author Monica Bourgeau will discuss the nature of Wicked Problems. She will also share the powerful tool of Polarity Mapping that you can apply and can take with you to begin addressing Wicked Problems in your own line of work. My topic will give individuals a new perspective on our biggest challenges and how we can work together to bring about positive change. We will focus specifically on creating solutions for sustainability in the discussion and exercises.

The Ecosystem Services of Connectivity

Eric Butler, Freelance ecologist, Portland State University

Connectivity is critical to maintaining ecological functions and benefits in human-modified landscapes, including urban areas. However, the literature on this topic has been limited by inconsistent terminology and methods, and largely omits human access to nature and its benefits as a form of connectivity. In this presentation, we build upon previous theory to present four distinct but interrelated categories of connectivity (habitat, geophysical, eco-social, and landscape) and use the Ecosystem Services framework to review the socio-ecological benefits which depend on them. There are also many overlaps, conflicts, and synergies among connectivity categories and their associated services and disservices. Identifying the services which arise from these four categories of connectivity, and how they interact, can help to maximize the benefits of connectivity, improve understanding of complex socio-ecological systems across disciplines, and develop more holistic decision-making processes.

Landscape ecology is a discipline increasingly engaged with the Sustainable Development Goals, and this presentation aims to further that connection. The geographical fragmentation of socio-ecological processes is a fundamental challenge to the sustainability of the landscapes we inhabit, and our research aims to help decision-makers and stakeholders of all kinds maintain those processes and the benefits they provide in a rapidly developing world.

The Power of Community Organizing

Dave Weaver, Founder, Webaissance.com

This panel of grassroots activists will explore the strategies they have used to achieve success in their organizations. From OPAL and Verde to the Sunrise Movement and Neighborhood Associations, the power to mobilize is key to social change.

The Power of Divestment

Michelle Bates, PSU Environmental Club- Co Chair Environmental Club

Billy Fish, Reed College Senator

The workshop will highlight the Divestment movement, including the definition of divestment, why this should happen in organizations, and how to craft campaign goals, objectives and scenarios. This will include tone, tact, messaging, and strategies to take on a campaign. We will explore why and how Reed and PSU are striving to divest, and why many other institutions have done so. Our call for action seeks collaboration from students in public and private Universities to demand that their colleges divest their endowments from fossil fuel organizations and to scale-up green, renewable energy and energy efficiency investments.

Unpacking the Clean Energy Fund

Sam Baraso, City of Portland, Clean Energy Fund

Wasteshed 2050: Envisioning Pathways to Zero Waste in Oregon

Kelsey Hill, Assistant Solid Waste Planner, Metro

Kelsey will highlight our regional wasteshed and the manner in which it operates, plus scenarios that can lead our state to a goal of zero waste by 2050, identifying where we are now, state/local benchmarks, and emergent policies and issues. The presentation will tie this process to the SDGs, and provide ‘next steps’ and actionable takeaways for participants related to materials management, product stewardship, and zero waste.

We’re all in this together – Sustainability at PCC

Briar Schoon, Sustainability Manager, Portland Community College

Stephania Fregosi, Sustainability Analyst, PCC

At Portland Community College, “We’re all in this together” to promote a sustainable college experience, with emphasis on the quadruple-bottom line (environment, equity, economy and education). From supporting hands-on learning opportunities like learning gardens, leading in sustainable operations including renewable energy, and fostering student leadership programs centering social justice and sustainability, PCC applies a holistic approach to its programming. This presentation will include perspectives from sustainability staff, educators and student leaders to highlight how we take an all hands on deck approach to streamline sustainability across the curriculum, operations and student experience.

Outcomes:

Learn potential strategies that can be utilized to green facilitiesâ€™ operations and practices.
Identify ways to create hands-on learning opportunities in sustainability
Discover how student leaders are leading in sustainability efforts that prioritize equity” Now is the time for all hands on deck for sustainability and climate action. This presentation will highlight the action PCC is taking to promote sustainability within its operations and academics as well as foster tomorrow’s leaders in sustainability.