Week of Thanksgiving
Environmental Club members& supporters,
Amidst the rain & cold & piles of homework,Environmental Club members gathered last week for some good times. Wehammered out plans for Water Awareness Week next term andthen gorged potluck-style while discussing food systems. Don't worry,there's one more meeting this term, and a bunch of other events oncampus, so push that homework aside and come join us next Thursday inthe GreenSpace!
Environmental Club events:
EnvironmentalClub's final meeting of Fall term
Thursday, Dec 3rd
4:30 - 6:00 pm
GreenSpace, SMSU 28
For our last meeting of the term, we will be doing something fun &amazing, but we can't tell you yet because it's a secret (even to us).After the meeting, those who are interested will stay to talk about theSeasonal Portland Cookbook (see next)!
Environmental Club's Seasonal PortlandCookbook
At our meeting last week, some folks had a bright idea - let's make acookbook geared towards local & organic foodstuffs in Portland!
At the next meeting on Dec 3rd, bring yer recipes! For those that areinterested, we'll sit down immediately after our next meeting and dosome delegatin' and some outlinin' and some all around good plannin'.If you can't make it but have some recipes burning a hole in yourbrain, email them to me!
Ban the Bag with Surfrider
At our last meeting, Mason talked about the Ban the Bag campaign.Here's more info:
Single-use plastic bags represent one of the greatest environmentalcatastrophes of our generation. It is estimated that 60-80% of alldebris in the ocean is plastic. Plastics take hundreds of years tobreak down at sea and most types never truly biodegrade. As a result,marine animals often get entangled in the debris or mistake it forfood. In Oregon (and the world!) the very first volunteer beach cleanupwas held in 1984 under the title "Plague of Plastics", callinghistorical attention to the rise of plastics in our oceans and on ourbeaches.
The Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation supports a 20 cent fee(or ban) on single-use plastic bags within the City of Portland. Manyother cities have taken similar action recently, including SanFrancisco and Oakland, which both recently passed ordinance bans onplastic bags.
What you can do:
Become a fan of Banthe Bag facebook page
Check out the Chapter Page for more info http://www.surfrider.org/portland/
Sign the online petition too http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/portlandriseaboveplastics
Want a re-usable bag or a t-shirt?
Mason will be bringing some re-usable bags and t-shirts to our nextmeeting on Dec 3rd. Bags are free, and t-shirts are $15. All proceedsgo toward the campaign. People can email Mason their sizes ifinterested: mason.brock@yahoo.com
Plugging in for Sustainability
Interested in...
Campusevents:
PSUBAC (Bicycle Advocacy Collective) Saturday coffeerides
Sat, Nov 28
11 am - 1 pm-ish
meet in front of Millar Library
Ride Bikes! Socialize and Drink Coffee!
Join friends for the weekly Saturday coffee ride. Leaves from PSUMillar Library at 11am, ride to two coffee shops within 5 miles andhang out. Always good company and lots of fun. Rain or shine.
If coffee isn't your cup of tea, try checking out PSU Cycling's longerrides: http://psucycling.com/events
VolunteerOpportunities with the Sustainability Leadership Center
Research for Leadership Credit Syllabus
We have compiled a list of about 15 sustainability books for ourupcoming independent study class. I need a student to spend a fewhours looking these up online. We need to find the author names and areview/synopsis so people can easily choose the book they would like tochoose.
Fixing up posters from the EcoDistrict Breakfast
We recently had a civic engagement breakfast where groups receivedtable-sized maps of PSU. We then placed tracing paper over the maps. People received sticker icons and placed them on the maps to show wherethey thought various services should go on our campus in the future.There are about 10 of these maps, and the stickers need to be glued sothey last longer and can be displayed/used in the future. Some of thestickers are coming off.
If you would like to work on one of these project, let me know byDecember 4th, 2009. Work can be completed during working hours (8-5). Happy Thanksgiving!
Contact Heather Spalding, hspaldin@pdx.edu
PSU's Climate Action Plan DraftReview
Friday, Dec 4
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Cascade Room, SMSU 236
Come learn about PSU's Climate Action Plan and give your input!Students, faculty, & staff are invited to participate in breakoutsessions on the first draft of the Climate Action Plan. The draft willbe released for public viewing Dec 1 via the EcoWiki and PSU Sustainability.
Community events:
FoodSystems in the Portland Plan
Portlandersare growing increasingly aware of their food system — that is, all thepaths that our food can travel from soil to soil (compost or landfill).This path includes everything from production and processing todistribution, consumption, and disposal, as well as the inputs andoutputs of each of the steps, including natural and human resources.
We have the opportunity to be more direct about the positive impact ourchoices and plans can have on our local food system, and to considerfurther impacts as we plan for the next several decades. The FoodSystems Existing Conditions Report is intended to contribute to publicconversation around food as a planning issue to allow fullerconsideration of policy choices and investment priorities.
Cover ofreport
Overview ofreport
New York Times video "ToxicWaters: Polluted Harbors"
Aging sewer systems and urban storm runoff are two of the worst sourcesof water pollution in the United States. In Newport, R.I., residentslive with regular beach closings and sewage overflows.
NYTimesvideo link
The Breathing Earthsimulation
Breathing Earth is a real-time simulation displaying the CO2emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth anddeath rates.
http://www.breathingearth.net/
Withlove and some cold fingers & toes,
PJ Houser
Portland State University
Environmental Club coordinator
Campus Sustainability Office Assistant
Amidst the rain & cold & piles of homework,Environmental Club members gathered last week for some good times. Wehammered out plans for Water Awareness Week next term andthen gorged potluck-style while discussing food systems. Don't worry,there's one more meeting this term, and a bunch of other events oncampus, so push that homework aside and come join us next Thursday inthe GreenSpace!
Environmental Club events:
EnvironmentalClub's final meeting of Fall term
Thursday, Dec 3rd
4:30 - 6:00 pm
GreenSpace, SMSU 28
For our last meeting of the term, we will be doing something fun &amazing, but we can't tell you yet because it's a secret (even to us).After the meeting, those who are interested will stay to talk about theSeasonal Portland Cookbook (see next)!
Environmental Club's Seasonal PortlandCookbook
At our meeting last week, some folks had a bright idea - let's make acookbook geared towards local & organic foodstuffs in Portland!
At the next meeting on Dec 3rd, bring yer recipes! For those that areinterested, we'll sit down immediately after our next meeting and dosome delegatin' and some outlinin' and some all around good plannin'.If you can't make it but have some recipes burning a hole in yourbrain, email them to me!
Ban the Bag with Surfrider
At our last meeting, Mason talked about the Ban the Bag campaign.Here's more info:
Single-use plastic bags represent one of the greatest environmentalcatastrophes of our generation. It is estimated that 60-80% of alldebris in the ocean is plastic. Plastics take hundreds of years tobreak down at sea and most types never truly biodegrade. As a result,marine animals often get entangled in the debris or mistake it forfood. In Oregon (and the world!) the very first volunteer beach cleanupwas held in 1984 under the title "Plague of Plastics", callinghistorical attention to the rise of plastics in our oceans and on ourbeaches.
The Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation supports a 20 cent fee(or ban) on single-use plastic bags within the City of Portland. Manyother cities have taken similar action recently, including SanFrancisco and Oakland, which both recently passed ordinance bans onplastic bags.
What you can do:
Become a fan of Banthe Bag facebook page
Check out the Chapter Page for more info http://www.surfrider.org/portland/
Sign the online petition too http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/portlandriseaboveplastics
Want a re-usable bag or a t-shirt?
Mason will be bringing some re-usable bags and t-shirts to our nextmeeting on Dec 3rd. Bags are free, and t-shirts are $15. All proceedsgo toward the campaign. People can email Mason their sizes ifinterested: mason.brock@yahoo.com
Plugging in for Sustainability
Interested in...
- Take Back the Tap? ContactLisa Meersman at ecpsu.redwood@gmail.com ORjust come to our nextmeeting!
- Recycling andcomposting on campus? Contact Honore Depew at honoredepew@gmail.com.Thereare plenty of opportunities to make surecomposting and recycling are fully utilized at events and throughoutcampus.
- Gardening activities,indoors and outdoors? Environmental Club workshops will be startingin November.
- Energy efficiency?Contact David Nokovic in Sustainability Leadership Center at dnokovic@gmail.com
- Stopping climatechange? Contact Jesse Boudart in Cascade Climate Network at boudartj@pdx.eduOR contact Jenny Bedell-Stiles at Sierra StudentCoalition at jenny@ssc.org
- Environmental law? Staytuned for future workshops in collaboration with the Pre-Law Society!
- Community service? Staytuned or contact Hanna Davis at ecpsu.cedar@gmail.com for SOLV events.
- Local food?Contact PJ Houser at ecpsu.maple@gmail.comto help compile a seasonal, local, & sustainable Portland cookbook.
- Bikes? Sign upfor the [bikes]email list and keep up-to-date on all bike-related events
Campusevents:
PSUBAC (Bicycle Advocacy Collective) Saturday coffeerides
Sat, Nov 28
11 am - 1 pm-ish
meet in front of Millar Library
Ride Bikes! Socialize and Drink Coffee!
Join friends for the weekly Saturday coffee ride. Leaves from PSUMillar Library at 11am, ride to two coffee shops within 5 miles andhang out. Always good company and lots of fun. Rain or shine.
If coffee isn't your cup of tea, try checking out PSU Cycling's longerrides: http://psucycling.com/events
VolunteerOpportunities with the Sustainability Leadership Center
Research for Leadership Credit Syllabus
We have compiled a list of about 15 sustainability books for ourupcoming independent study class. I need a student to spend a fewhours looking these up online. We need to find the author names and areview/synopsis so people can easily choose the book they would like tochoose.
Fixing up posters from the EcoDistrict Breakfast
We recently had a civic engagement breakfast where groups receivedtable-sized maps of PSU. We then placed tracing paper over the maps. People received sticker icons and placed them on the maps to show wherethey thought various services should go on our campus in the future.There are about 10 of these maps, and the stickers need to be glued sothey last longer and can be displayed/used in the future. Some of thestickers are coming off.
If you would like to work on one of these project, let me know byDecember 4th, 2009. Work can be completed during working hours (8-5). Happy Thanksgiving!
Contact Heather Spalding, hspaldin@pdx.edu
PSU's Climate Action Plan DraftReview
Friday, Dec 4
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Cascade Room, SMSU 236
Come learn about PSU's Climate Action Plan and give your input!Students, faculty, & staff are invited to participate in breakoutsessions on the first draft of the Climate Action Plan. The draft willbe released for public viewing Dec 1 via the EcoWiki and PSU Sustainability.
Community events:
FoodSystems in the Portland Plan
Portlandersare growing increasingly aware of their food system — that is, all thepaths that our food can travel from soil to soil (compost or landfill).This path includes everything from production and processing todistribution, consumption, and disposal, as well as the inputs andoutputs of each of the steps, including natural and human resources.
We have the opportunity to be more direct about the positive impact ourchoices and plans can have on our local food system, and to considerfurther impacts as we plan for the next several decades. The FoodSystems Existing Conditions Report is intended to contribute to publicconversation around food as a planning issue to allow fullerconsideration of policy choices and investment priorities.
Cover ofreport
Overview ofreport
New York Times video "ToxicWaters: Polluted Harbors"
Aging sewer systems and urban storm runoff are two of the worst sourcesof water pollution in the United States. In Newport, R.I., residentslive with regular beach closings and sewage overflows.
NYTimesvideo link
The Breathing Earthsimulation
Breathing Earth is a real-time simulation displaying the CO2emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth anddeath rates.
http://www.breathingearth.net/
Withlove and some cold fingers & toes,
PJ Houser
Portland State University
Environmental Club coordinator
Campus Sustainability Office Assistant
posted by PJ at
6:30 PM
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