Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Earth Week 2017 Recap

Posted by briar.schoon

The PCC community demonstrated its enthusiasm for sustainability with a wide range of events during our extended Earth Week, and if you visited one of our campuses or centers between April 17th and the 26th, you prob
ably came across one of those events! Students, staff, faculty, and members of the community all came together to volunteer, to learn, to share, and to celebrate the positive actions we can take for a sustainable world.

There were plenty of educational events at all of our campuses: Movie screenings, tabling fairs, and workshops covered topics ranging from climate change to waste reduction, recycling, energy conservation, food choices, biking programs, and other sustainable practices. Environmental organizations from around the region came to meet with students, staff, and faculty face-to-face and to share resources. Some PCC classes incorporated such events into their curricula, helping students see how the lessons of the classroom are being enacted right now to address our pressing environmental and social issues.

Of course, no Earth Week at PCC would be complete without lots of opportunities to get our hands (and clothes, and shoes) dirty! All four of our campuses as well as the Newberg Center hosted work parties and how-to demos at their learning gardens. The Newberg Center also hosted work sessions to continue the construction of its cob shed. Volunteers gathered for habitat restoration both on- and off-campus to help remove invasive plant species, plant natives, and remove litter, helping some of the natural settings we treasure so much to become healthier and more vibrant places for other species.

Guest speakers joined us as well to discuss sustainability and social justice. At Sylvania, Martha Elena Llano Serna spoke about her work in resilience-building in our communities and our ecosystems, sharing personal experiences from over twenty years of activism in causes for endangered species and indigenous peoples. Dr. Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University braved the PNW rain for lectures at all four campuses, pointing to both current events and historical contexts to re-examine the interconnections between social, environmental, and racial justice movements. Dr. Chatelain spoke to students and staff alike about the challenges and opportunities for connecting these movements that ultimately must involve one another in order to succeed in the long-term.

The college also welcomed a variety of community partners for special events. At Sylvania, the Earth and Spirit Council held a drum circle in honor of the energies of the Earth to both open and close the week’s celebrations. At Cascade, students sponsored an environmental justice panel featuring faculty experts, a community organizer, and an employee with the EPA. Trash for Peace hosted a fun reuse workshop featuring plastic yarn and seed balls. These events were in collaboration with college and community stakeholders, including the Sylvania Multicultural Center, Associated Students of PCC, faculty, students and 10+ community organizations.

A huge thank you is due to everyone who volunteered their time for a more sustainable PCC community! Whether you helped host an event, or showed up to lend a hand, or even just came to learn something new, you contributed to a fantastic Earth Week at PCC and, more importantly, to a healthier and more equitable future for our one and only world. We hope the events of Earth Week have inspired you to stay involved. If you’d like to stay up to date on sustainability at PCC, check out our sustainability department or the Student Sustainability Hub, both of which link to programs at all of our locations.