PowerShift is an educational campaign targeted at faculty and staff to conserve energy in offices and buildings. Email sustainability@pcc.edu to request Power Shift materials for placement around PCC.

About Strategic Energy Management

These tips are brought to you from PCC’s Strategic Energy Management Program. PCC is enrolled in as part of our approach to sustainable and responsible energy management.

Strategic Energy Management (SEM) focuses on continuous energy improvement by optimizing the performance of existing building systems and equipment, influencing employee and occupant behavior and investing in economically beneficial capital improvements.

PCC receives financial incentives by participating in planning energy savings projects, engaging in operations calls with Energy Coaches, workshop participation, tracking projects and energy use and by demonstrating annual energy savings in our enrolled buildings. The program is supported though the Energy Trust of Oregon and financed through rate payers utility bills.

The is a ��21-day environmental and social engagement program. From October 7 – October 28, 2020, you select or create actions that align with your individual values and make a 21-day commitment to complete those actions, all the while practicing and reinforcing good habits. For every completed action, you earn points and create impact. Your points contribute to the PCC EcoPanther team’s total points, and your impact contributes to our collective impact.

The People’s Eco Challenge is a great way to make a difference in your community and together with your fellow Panthers! To sign up, please follow to join our team or visit peoples.ecochallenge.org/teams/pcc-ecopanthers and register by clicking the “Join This Team” blue button.

New to the People’s EcoChallenge? Check out .

We have three awesome prizes to raffle off! See the details below:

1. We will hold a raffle with anyone who engages in the EcoChallenge during the first week for some sweet sustainable swag. Engaging includes doing a daily or one-time action or posting to your dashboard.��
2. People who engage in the second week by doing an action or posting to the dashboard will be entered into the second raffle for swag. Engaging includes doing a daily or one-time action or posting to your dashboard.��
3. Finally, the grand prize PCC sustainable swag cooler bag (see example photo for reference) goes to the top point earner at the end of the challenge (don’t worry the PCC Sustainability team is not eligible).

In 2019, we ranked 8th out of 12,477 organizations globally! Here are a few highlights:

• We traveled 4,242 miles using a sustainable source of transportation (by bus, bike, foot, or other),
• We kept 4,206 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere,
• We kept a total of 1,054 plastic bottles, straws, containers, or disposable cups out of landfills,
• We saved 2,052 gallons of water.
• We�� spent 7,035 minutes exercising,
• We spent 1,140�� less minutes in front of screens,
• and we consumed 294 meatless or vegan meals and 194 whole food meals (both of which significantly reduce the environmental impact of your meal).

We did great last year, but can we do even better this year?!��

If you have any questions about the challenge, please reach out to the PCC EcoPanthers’ co-captains: Jade at jade.menchaca@pcc.edu or Raquel at raquel.salazar@pcc.edu

We look forward to a great EcoChallenge and can’t wait to have you participate!

Go EcoPanthers!!

To listen to the episode, follow this link:

Can you feel it? The Autumn Equinox is just around the bend. The sun is setting earlier each day, encouraging us to rest up and get a good nights sleep. There’s that brisk and invigorating chill in the air, requiring that extra layer of clothes that’s been tucked away all summer. All those colorful leaves crunching beneath your feet as our fellow trees and plant friends prepare to go within for the winter. And for a lot of folks, this is that time n’ space to hunker down and get ready to exercise those creativity muscles as the new school year gets in motion. One great way to set some new intentions and perhaps get some beneficial habits in our lives at this time of year is to join the Eco Challenge! The , brought to you by the (NWEI), is entering its 10th year and it has certainly improved over the years like a fine wine (especially in these past two years with the updated platform). And there’s also another great improvement that has come to fruition this summer as we enter the fall, the (GPSEN) has officially brought online it’s brand-spanking-new website and I must say it is looking sharp as can be.

��

While both the Eco Challenge and the new GPSEN website were brought into existence through the collaborative efforts of many people, there was one person in particular who was a key player involved with both of these great things. That person is David Macek from NWEI.��I was delighted to sit down with the him just the other day and talk about both of these upcoming exciting things. David Macek is the Executive Director of NWEI and also has been a board member of GPSEN for many years as well. He lead the charge on bringing the new GPSEN website to life and of course is intimately involved with the Eco Challenge through his role at NWEI. It was a pleasure to sit down with him for a spell and talk about these great developments and I am delighted to share our talk with you. So, without further ado, I encourage you to go ahead and have a listen to this episode of PCC, Sustain Me!

Thanks for tuning in, folks. It is so greatly appreciated.

And one more thing! If you’re a part of PCC and you haven’t yet done so, !!!

You may be wondering what this Sustainable Campus Index is and what it is all about. We can ease your mind with this succinct definition and explanation from AASHE itself:

The 2018 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI) recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall by institution type and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The SCI also highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the most recent reporting year.

About STARS
STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. It was developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) with broad participation from the higher education community. STARS participants submit data to earn a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum rating, or recognition as a STARS Reporter. The credits are organized into four categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations and Planning & Administration. As of July 1, 2018, 906 STARS reports were submitted by 477 institutions in 11 countries, and there were 902 STARS Participants in 37 countries. All reports are publicly accessible at the .

It is good to reflect on the fact that we live in a world and reality where competition has gotten in the way of collaboration in so many ways. While it is true that a healthy camaraderie can be established by friendly competition and a sense of pride for ones team or school can lead to a stronger dedication to learning, what AASHE and this Sustainable Campus Index is helping create beyond competition is benchmarks for all higher education institutions to examine and consider. We at PCC are pleased that these statistics and this ranking provides a great recognition of the sustainability work that is being done here at ˿����Ƶ. And of course, it is also important for us to always remember, we are all in this together.

To download the episode follow the link here:

Well, here we go! It’s the first episode of PCC, Sustain Me! A Higher Education Sustainability & Environmental Justice Podcast from ˿����Ƶ. This edition focuses on and highlights the (WOHESC) that was held at Portland State University from February 6-8. This years conference really worked on addressing equity and diversity in higher education sustainability so it was a prime launching off point for this program.

The show is hosted by Joe Culhane and features interviews from Joe Abraham from Willamette University, Steph Fregosi from Chemeketa Community College, Brandon Trelstad from Oregon State University, and Jesse Nichols from Portland State University (and co-owner of Stone Boat Farms!) There’s also information shared from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission about Celilo Falls, a shout out to , and of course ˿����Ƶ and their Sustainability Department as well. Also of note, the intro and outro music are by the very talented Rachel Robinson.

Be on the lookout for a follow up episode for WOHESC 2019 which will be held February 25-27 at the University of Washington in Seattle. But before that happens, there will also be episodes focusing on the work being done at PCC and also the upcoming conference in Pittsburg from October 2-5. We’re excited this show has officially launched!

Thanks for listening!

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Keynote at NCORE 2018

In June a handful of PCC students, staff, and faculty attended the 2018 National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Personally speaking, it was an honor to be a first time attendee to this incredibly impactful (and humbling) conference. As both a student focusing on environmental justice while also being a member of the sustainability department here at PCC, it has become ever more abundantly clear that the issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion are deeply connected with those of the sustainability movement. Indeed, the two are inseparable and it is a true injustice to even try and create a sustainable future without incorporating the important and ever increasingly hot button topics surrounding social justice issues and the voices of those most effected and negatively impacted by them in today’s world.

The 5 days attending this conference proved to be personally transformative in more ways than one. I am looking forward to the conference making its way to the Pacific Northwest next year and landing right here in Portland. NCORE 2019 is going to be something this city is certainly in need of right now. In what is presently considered to be one of the whitest and least diverse bigger cities in the country, Portland could use a bit more of let us say, color. NCORE 2018 had over 4,000 attendees and as one of the small percentage of white males in attendance, I cannot speak highly enough of how empowering and encouraging it was to be among such a diverse population at a conference that is working towards a better future for all through higher education.

Interestingly, this is precisely what the conference and are working towards except they are coming specifically from the environmental sustainability angle while NCORE is coming from the social justice and diversity point of view. It’s true though that the intersection of these movements is already underway and I see a great deal of very rewarding (and likely sometimes challenging) collaborations occurring between these two fields. It would be incredible to see a national summit come about between AASHE and NCORE, I believe that would be a really great step in the right direction. Consider that seed planted…

‘The web between the worlds: sustainability & diversity’

Speaking of the intersections between these worlds, the very last conference workshop I attended was actually based on this idea of collaboration between sustainability departments and the offices of equity and inclusion. It was called “Turbulent Winds: Addressing “Climate” at the intersections of Diversity and Sustainability”. It was presented by three different California State Universities (East Bay, Monterey Bay, & San Marcos) and it was precisely the kind of session that I was looking for to help bring back some good ideas for our school to work on. We here at PCC are doing a great many things when it comes to initiatives, programs, and sustainability focus in our curriculum though I know there is a good deal of room for improvement when it comes to developing our best practices between departments in our social justice and sustainable pursuits.

Matika Wilbur “What is the land based identity of the place you occupy?”

One of the other big areas that we at PCC are addressing is land acknowledgments and embracing the past and present stories of the Native Nations who lived here long before USA was even a twinkle in the eye of some colonial European conquerors. This question of land, identity, and occupation was a part of the focus of Matika Wilbur’s workshop session. It was both inspiring and humbling, and her passion and laughter are infectious to be sure. Wilbur is on a mission through to document through photography the 562 federally recognized tribal nations and the people and culture that make up each of these groups, it’s a beautiful way to help everyone in America remember that these native people are still here celebrating their rich and diverse cultures and are not just a part of a past history. She has been at it for over a year now and already has collected many great stories (and pictures) to share. This journey that Wilbur is on swings between many realms of story telling and certainly weaves in supporting and encouraging more first nations curricula being taught across all levels of the educational spectrum.

Heather Hackman at NCORE 2018

Dr. Heather W. Hackman from is doing some really incredible work when it comes to bridging together the two worlds of sustainability and social justice. In fact, I was fortunate enough to see her at the 2017 AASHE Conference and was deeply inspired by her sessions and keynote there. She was a personal inspiration for me, as a returning student trying to figure out what to do with my life professionally speaking, she inspired me to work towards becoming more of a public speaker and presenter myself. Needless to say, I was pleased as pie that she was at NCORE. I find Hackman’s brand of presenting to be so engaging and accessible. It’s a mixed bag of nitty-gritty real talk delivered through quirky, fast paced, and raw humor that works especially well given the way she incorporates her own often awkward journey navigating the complex worlds of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a white, and therefore privileged, female presenting person in modern society. It is clear that when it comes to sustainability, she understands there is a lot of healing, reckoning, and shifting of personal perspectives needed before we are really prepared to move forward in any meaningful ways as a truly collaborative and socially just society here in America. I’m glad to see she’ll be attending AASHE 2018 coming up in the fall once again. This kind of crossover work is what we need more and more of today.

Symone Sanders powerful keynote at NCORE 2018

It’s no understatement to say that Symone Sanders keynote got the audience pretty fired up. Symone Sanders is a ‘spokesperson for culture’ and can be seen holding her own on CNN and other cable news programs as well as at College’s and conferences across the nation. Sanders really made her mark on the world when in 2016 she became Bernie Sanders national press secretary for his presidential campaign. Nowadays it appears one of Sanders biggest agendas is bringing an intelligent and very welcome grace back into political commentating and public discourse. Her passion and confidence radiated from the stage and inspired me to become a better listener, speaker, and debater after hearing her talk.

Tim Wise at NCORE 2018

Ah, Tim Wise. What can I say? First and foremost, as a person who knew very little about him before this conference, I can now say that I’m a pretty big fan. Tim Wise is an antiracist essayist, author, and speaker who has been sharing his perspectives and wisdom on social justice for more than 20 years now. He’s recently started a podcast called “Speak Out With Tim Wise – Podcasting for Resistance and Justice in the Age of Trump”, you can imagine from the title what this program is all about and he actually recorded a couple episodes during the conference. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to sit in on one of these interviews for his program. I actually recorded the audio of Tim’s presentation and will likely make it available on our website soon. I really appreciated his talk for it’s honesty and passion, while he didn’t really directly connect it to sustainability, the fact of the matter is he addressed a lot of issues around white privilege and elements of social justice that are intrinsically connected to the environmental sustainability movement. I strongly encourage you to have a listen to one of his podcast episodes or pick up one of his many books.

Not only was this my first time attending NCORE, it was also my first time visiting New Orleans. It’s somewhere I had always hoped to one day visit. The place is truly unlike any other place I’ve been in the US. The amount of live music (especially jazz) was really cool to experience and I managed to have some good times with fellow students and staff out there while we swam through the near 100% humidity. And while I’m not in the habit of regularly giving out grades in sustainability for a city, this place gets between an F and a C minus (if I’m being nice). Let’s just say it is certainly not the most sustainable of places I’ve ever been. I believe one could make an entire second French Quarter’s out of the Styrofoam used in one day alone out there on Bourbon Street.�� In spite of that it really is such a magical place I’m glad to have seen at least once in my life. It’s bizarre having a strong feeling I’ll potentially one day be describing this place to my kids as a mythical, magical, musical, voodoo wonderland that now lives under the Gulf of Mexico. It appears the climate change and sea level rise that is already baked in makes this a likely scenario in a not too distant future.

Intersection of Orleans and Bourbon, the calm before the storm

This three piece band had me hooked. I even bought a bottle of the bass players home made hot sauce!

And then there are signs like these on the streets…

In all, NCORE 2018 was a humbling and incredible conference to be a part of. I hardly touched on the vast programming that took place over the 5 days of the conference, my days were packed with so many great sessions and I have a notebook stuffed with notes, I’m still trying to process it all! It was encouraging to see the great work that is being done across the country through higher education surrounding these important issues. I am also really glad to have learned that NCORE is coming to Portland next year. This gives me goals of making sure our sustainability department does more and more inclusive and equitable work between sustainability and social justice moving forward so that we can help continue to bring these two movements closer together in both higher education institutions and across American society as well. It is among the most sustainable and important work we humans can do in these often challenging times.

Hot off the presses! PCC is getting ready to kick off it’s new eco-to-go containers in the Sylvania cafeteria and Dining Services will be providing 100% recycled serviceware in all catering to further improve our sustainable pursuits at the college.

The eco-to-go program is pretty straight forward, when you get to the cafeteria you:

1. Ask for an eco-to-go container,
2. Get your food
3. Pay the $3 refundable deposit when you check out
4. Return the container when you are finished and receive a token to use next time or get your deposit refunded.

Pretty simple, huh?!? We’re really excited about these new programs, they are made possible because of grants awarded this past year through the student funded Eco Social Justice Grant (ESJ Grant).

It is really incredible to consider that over these past ten years, over one million dollars in sustainability and social justice initiatives have been funded and supported by the students of ˿����Ƶ. There has been a lot of work here to be more and more environmentally sustainable and we have our students to thank for a great deal of what has been accomplished. With the Spring Term and academic year winding down this week, let us give a big shout out to all the students of PCC for they have all contributed to making this institution a national and globally recognized for its sustainability efforts!

While the eco-to-go pilot is something we’re super pumped about, there is the other exciting sustainable program we’re stoked to launch as well. The recycled durable serviceware for all future catering at the college! These products are all produced by , this company is right here the US and their mission is to “help reduce the harm caused by the industrial age by demonstrating that consumer products can be both fabulous and lighter on the earth.” We’re glad to be working with them!

These programs are being rolled out through a partnership between PCC Dining Services and our Sustainability Department. Check out Dining Services sustainable serviceware options to learn more about what other great ways we at PCC are continuing to go green! This shift away from compostable serviceware has been an intentional action here at PCC as we see the importance of doing all we can to remove everything we can from going into the waste stream. Compostable products in theory are a great alternative to using fossil fuel created plastic serviceware though there just isn’t a good enough infrastructure in place to currently send those to our municipal composting facilities. And while they do breakdown faster than their plastic counterparts, we continue to learn that this process still takes a good long while as the lack of oxygenation available in landfills significantly slows down the composting process. Enough about the technicalities though, we are just pleased as punch to be diverting more waste from going to that mythical “away” place!

Well, it’s official. ˿����Ƶ has completed another year of engaging, entertaining, educational, and even challenging events for this year’s . If you happened to be on the grounds of our four major campuses or out at Newberg Center between April 16th – 27th, there’s a good chance you got a small (or large) dose of Earth Week vibes!

This year, like last, was filled with sustainability, climate action and environmental justice-focused events. It was great to once again see students, staff, and faculty engaged in these activities across the district. There was also a decent turnout from the surrounding community members as well (which is always nice to see)! Throughout the nearly two weeks of programming based around Earth Day there were also a number of volunteer opportunities and service learning projects. PCC loves to help create ways to come together and explore what collaboration, celebration, and community can look like as we help work towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and diverse reality here at our college and beyond.

As has been our tradition here at PCC, we again offered free educational events including documentary screenings, tabling fairs, workshops and talks on #ecosocialjustice, gardening, seed and start sharing, climate change discussions, civic engagement, and your usual suspects of sustainability education awareness: tips on waste reduction, recycling, composting, and energy conservation as well. This year we broadened the dialogue by bringing artists and other leaders who play great contributing roles in environmental and social activism or “artivism” as it has been referred to. There were also a number of classes who incorporated this year’s events into their curricula and came out to make their lessons be a part of some of these great events.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Earth Week here at PCC without getting our hands in some soil! There were a number of opportunities for the PCC community to get those healing effects from playing in the dirt with plenty of action at our learning gardens! The Sylvania QRC hosted a “trans”-plant event at the learning garden and welcomed our new honey bee friends to the apiary. Rock Creek kicked off Portlandia Farmstandia and their annual garden work party was a huge success! Out at Newberg, they had some more cob construction action going on as they look to finish their cob shed which is a whole other way to get good and messy working with the earth! There were also ways to bring this goodness home with free plant starts and Pacific Northwest native seeds for our friends the pollinators.

Off campus we also had some great events this year. There was a huge turnout for the beach cleanup that Rock Creek ASPCC organized. Volunteers learned about the harm plastic is doing to marine ecosystems and human health. Then, the lovely areas around Cannon Beach got some good care and loving from over 100 “trash warrior” volunteers! The 3rd Annual Kelley Point Park Clean Up was also a great event that was coordinated out of Cascade campus. This year it was a collaborative event between the Environmental Justice Club at PCC Cascade and the Environmental club at PSU. The cleanup ended up having volunteers from PCC, PSU, OHSU, and our good friends at Portland Parks & Recreations and the support of SOLVE. There was an English Ivy invasive species removal session that went down which became a glorious stress relieving exercise for those folks who hadn’t been too pleased with this particular unwelcome guest taking over their yards and landscapes.

This year we were very fortunate to have some really great guest speakers come join us to once again explore the relationship between environmental sustainability and social justice. At Sylvania Dr. Breeze Harper provided a thought provoking lecture and workshop sharing her work exploring food justice, racism, and the intersectionality of these systems of oppression in “ethical” foodscapes such as veganism. She spoke truth to a packed house and curated insightful discussions about necessary action for food and racial justice. This event was a collaborative effort between the Sylvania Multicultural Center, Sylvania and Environmental Center and District Sustainability.

At Cascade Campus, the student leadership across the district had the opportunity to both listen to and create a lively discussion with Tara Houska, a native Indigenous tribal rights lawyer who has worked within the White House under Barack Obama and was a special council for Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Tara shared her wisdom and stories with us and we left this experience motivated and ready to take more actions to support divestment and using our money to support local businesses and enterprises that truly care about our earth. Tara also encouraged us to make it a priority to collaborate and bring diverse groups together to create meaningful and lasting change as we work towards reducing our excessive use of fossil fuels. This event was funded by a student grant co-written by the Native Nations Coordinator, Black Student Union Coordinator, and Environmental Justice Coordinator through the Eco Social Justice Grant. The district wide gathering was a zero waste event and was aptly called #ecosocialjustice.

Tara Houska receiving gifts of gratitude for being the keynote speaker at our #ecosocialjustice event from PCC alumni Rachel Black Elk (right) and current ASPCC Native Nations Coordinator Renea Perry

The three student leaders (Teri Fane, Renea perry, and Joe Culhane) who co-wrote the grant for this #ecosocialjustice event with the keynote speaker Tara Houska.

Tara Houska brought such wisdom and inspiration to her keynote while maintaining so much grace and humor sharing stories about her journey through very challenging (and often frustrating) issues that she and the environmental movement face.

It’s honestly hard to describe just how much we appreciated all the effort that has gone into making all these activities and events possible across the district. Students, staff, and faculty all played integral roles to make this all happen. We only highlighted a handful of the goodness here and honestly, so many more events and moments deserve some time in the spotlight as well! Below we’ll add one more gallery from many of the events that happened during our extended Earth Week. It’s great to be a part of a school that devotes time, focus, and energy to these sustainable pursuits and it is also encouraging to know that they happen all year round at PCC and not just around this one day a year we’ve come to call Earth Day.