Professor creating sustainability resource guide for homeowners

Dr. Deborah Tolman, a professor of environmental sciences at Portland State, is compiling what she calls an annotated bibliography–a resource guide for homeowners in the Pacific Northwest who are interested in sustainability.

Dr. Deborah Tolman, a professor of environmental sciences at Portland State, is compiling what she calls an annotated bibliography–a resource guide for homeowners in the Pacific Northwest who are interested in sustainability.

Tolman, who holds a Ph. D in geography and environmental systems, received a grant in February for $1,200 from the PSU Faculty Association to produce a guide that aims to increase accessibility to sustainable resources for homeowners. Tolman, along with students Michelle Debelak, Joe Parker and Linda Parrish, got the idea for the guide during a natural resource management class held last spring.

The group began working on the guide last month.

“Basically, it’s a how-to guide that will change the way individuals live and consider their natural and social resources,” Tolman said.

Titled “A Homeowner’s Resource Guide to Green Living in the Pacific Northwest,” the guide will be a compilation of data concerning sustainable practices that individuals can conduct at home. To find information, the group is researching books, peer-reviewed journals and websites to determine the resources available in the Pacific Northwest.

The group is also filtering out inaccurate data as they put their findings into layman terms. With the information, the guide will cover a variety of categories such as air and water quality, recycling, biodiversity and pest control.

At roughly 200 pages long, Tolman said the group expects that the guide will be ready to publish by June 1. Tolman said the guide will be written in a format that is both informative and easy to read for homeowners unfamiliar with environmentalist concerns.

Tolman said that the grant calls for 75 copies to be given out for free once the guide is published. She said that the grant funds are meant to cover the costs of binding and printing, and that any extra funds following publication will be returned to the Faculty Association.

“This isn’t about us making money,” Tolman said. “It’s about making it easier for residents to access their local means of building a more sustainable community.”

Tolman said that once the guide is published, she intends to continue working to keep future editions current. With the guide in its early stages, she did not have a definite figure for how many copies will be available by the June 1 deadline.

Tolman said she expects to expand the area covered by the guide once it has been established.

“The long-term goal is to go out into the community and get everyone involved,” Tolman said.