Check out the amazing site below and pass it on!

When we donate our unwanted plastic materials to TREX, not only are we helping to keep thousands of pounds of waste out of landfills, we are also helping them continue to create beautiful and environmentally responsible outdoor products. TREX provided PCC with collection containers to set up our program, in exchange for us sending our material to them and reporting weight estimates of all our collected materials. And as an additional incentive for being enrolled in their , PCC is eligible for high-performance, low-maintenance awards and prizes, like a bench made from plastic film.

Plastic film material that is allowed in the program includes any type of stretchy plastic film, such as plastic bags, bread bags, shrink wrap, case wrap, air pillows, newspaper bags, ice melt bags, product overwrap and bubble wrap. All materials must be clean, dry and free of food residue. Material can be any color. If you think that your work area may be a large generator of plastic film and would like to join the program, please reach out to sustainability@pcc.edu.

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 Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ. 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!

(April Ann Fong, Instructor & Founder of the PCC Sylvania Habitat Restoration Team)

This past Saturday the PCC Sylvania Habitat Restoration Team, under the leadership of Instructor April Ann Fong partnered with the Tryon Creek Watershed Council and planted nearly 300 native shrubs and groundcover. These native plants all help support local wildlife and especially our amazing pollinator friends, including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Besides attracting all these wonderful pollinators, the stormwater quality in the area will be improved by these plantings as they help to capture water before it lands, and then filtering the water when it enters the soil around them.

(Terri Preeg Riggsby & April Ann Fong)

The event had a great turnout that including several students, a few youth, and elders as well. The native plants themselves were financed through the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services’ Community Watershed Stewardship Program grant that Terri Preeg Riggsby, the Tryon Creek Watershed Council Executive Director wrote for the project. Also in attendance was Weiwei Wang and her son, Weiwei was our guest Urban Planner and Stormwater Specialist from Beijing, China and was kind enough to lend some assistance and also came to learn from April and Terri on how they were addressing urban stormwater challenges and habitat restoration.

(PCC student proudly takes a breather in the ‘rainy woods’ of Sylvania)

This truly was a wonderful and rewarding event. We are so fortunate to have April Ann Fong here at PCC. Her 25 years as an instructor along with her 22 years of improving the land on our campus (and so many other places here in Oregon) since founding the Sylvania Habitat Restoration Team have been a blessing. Besides helping to plant these native species that help the local natural areas, invasive species removal has also been an integral part of the Team’s efforts. Because this event had so many good people ready to be of service we were able to finish the planting early and get into removing a great deal of unwelcome invasive plants like Herb Robert, Garlic Mustard, Nipplewort, and English Ivy so that our new friends in the forest could have a better chance to thrive.

(One of the nearly 300 native plants ready to be a part of this land)

It was a quite extensive list of natives species planted, some of the more familiar in the group were Oregon Grape, Sword Fern, Licorice Fern, Sorrel, Wild Ginger, Star-Flowered False Solomon’s Seal, Western Trillium, Red Flowering Currant, Vine Maples, Salal, Nootka Rose, and Baldhip Rose.

It truly is wonderful to see what can be accomplished when a group of people come together to take on a stewardship project like this. These are great reminders of ways we can create opportunities to find a sense of purpose and strengthen our communities while being of service to the larger world we are connected to. This is one of the key fundamental parts of creating a more sustainable future. And what perhaps was the most memorable part of this planting party, that is good advice for any activity we take on, was April’s reminder throughout the day to “Make sure you are planting with love in your heart”.

The showing is Friday 11/20/15 from 2 pm to 3:30 pm at Sylvania in ST 100.

Earth Week events will take place at all campuses. Learn sustainable practices, participate in a variety of fun events, and make a difference in your community!

2015 Feature Event: The Yes Men

Armed with parody websites, press releases on fake letterhead, and thrift store business suits, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno of The Yes Men rely on satire and unique activist methods to raise environmental and human rights awareness. Join PCC during Earth Week at a special presentation and lecture by The Yes Men.

• Date: Thursday, April 23
• Time: 11am to 12 noon
• Location: MAHB 104, PCC Cascade Campus
• Streaming: The lecture will also be streamed district wide. Links will be posted here when available!

Oh no, folks! Sylvania’s coffee mug board is nearly empty and needs more mugs to share. If you have any mugs that can be retired, contribute them to the community reusable mug board. You will help someone to not use a paper cup! If you know of faculty members with one of the many missing mugs please gently remind them to bring them back.

Great job Sylvania Facilities Management Services office for becoming a certified Green Office at the Gold level!

They are the fourth off to become a certified PCC Green Office. PCC is proud to have offices dedicated to promoting sustainability and working towards helping lower the campuses carbon footprint.

If you would like to learn more or see if your office qualifies check out Green Office Certification for more information.

Great job again, Sylvania Facilities Management Services office! Keep up the good work.

Cob Oven Update

Friday, March 13, 9:00am-1:00pm
Cutting timbers and posts for the roof
Sylvania’s Learning Garden

The team did some nice planning last Friday sourcing reusable materials for the oven project.

This Friday they will cut and notch posts and have them ready for concrete after the inspector visits.

They hope to have our permit by next week, and then there will be some big work parties to get the roof finished so they can start on the oven next term.

Walk-ins are very welcome too.

Portland has a neat secret alternative to Craigslist’s free section: Freecycle. Well, it may not exactly be a secret, but it is sure a handy tool to clean your house of things you don’t want anymore. Or a great resource to find free things from your local Portland neighbors. Join or learn more about .

There is also an informal freecycle table at Sylvania. If you have good quality items that need a new home, bring them to the table in the lower CC mall near the cafeteria.