Our Commitment to Sustainability
Commitment
Portland Community College has a strong institutional commitment to sustainability. PCC's institutional commitments include the PCC Sustainable Use of Resources Policy and the American College & Universities President's Climate Commitment. The PCC Office of Sustainability is focused on building a foundation that will ensure forward movement on our board policy and on the president's climate commitment.
Dr. Preston Pulliams, appointed a group of managers and students to become educated about greenhouse gas mitigation and create a plan that includes reduction goals, a timeline and strategies to significantly reduce the College's emissions. The Climate Energy Leadership Taskforce has been meeting regularly and will soon begin drafting PCC's Action Plan to reach Carbon Neutrality.
At the grassroots, PCC campuses serve as living laboratories where students, staff, and faculty are cutting waste and learning skills to strengthen competative edge in an evolving marketplace. Green Teams have formed to improve recycling systems, build awareness about transportation alternatives, and strengthen the network of people concerned about PCC's ecological footprint. Get involved. The Sylvania Campus Environmental Center provides an active campus hub for outreach and collaboration.
Sustainability in a nutshell
Campus Sustainability uses indicators to guide performance improvement through time in several areas: energy, water, toxics & materials consumption, waste production, food, transportation, and support for environmental literacy. Improved choices in several of these areas could lead to decreased carbon dioxide emissions.
Steps:
1: Assess current consumption/production levels
2: Plan- set goals/timelines
3: Do the actions described in the plan
4: Assess periodically to see if the plan is working; adjust if necessary (#2) and continue doing (#3).
Videos
"The Story of Stuff" with Annie Leonard (20 min)
Sustainability Film Shorts by Arnold Creek Productions