Sustainability conference held last week

Representatives from all seven public universities of the Oregon University System met last week at the University of Oregon to discuss cooperation on future sustainability initiatives at the inaugural Campus Sustainability Conference.

Representatives from Portland State and the other six OUS schools met for the two-day conference in order to educate administrators on ideas, upcoming plans and initiatives pertaining to sustainability, according to Noelle Studer-Spevack, sustainability coordinator at PSU.

It’s important that every organization is working in the same direction as a team, because no one should be working on moving a project forward alone, Studer-Spevack said.

“It’s great to have a conference like this since,” said PSU President Wim Wiewel, one of 37 PSU students and faculty who attended the conference. “Sustainability is a key area of focus for Portland State University, and important to the entire Oregon University System and the state.”

The conference was broken up into several discussions, which examined various aspects of a university’s commitment to sustainability, with focuses such as how schools can meet President Bush’s Climate Change Commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and unique ways to finance new sustainability projects.

However, Studer-Spevack stressed that the most important reason to hold the conference was to prepare students to live sustainably on-campus and off.

Studer-Spevack said one thing PSU can do right away is establish a “green room,” a central location on campus where students and student groups could gather to talk about sustainability projects.

“Bringing your own bag to the grocery store is a good start,” Studer-Spevack said. “But you also need to be involved in the structural aspects of it.”

Studer-Spevack also said that Oregon State University has paid student positions related to sustainability, something that PSU could work toward.

Heather Spalding, a sustainability assistant at PSU, said another thing that PSU students can do is get organized.

“We need to teach freshmen what they can do from when they first step on campus,” Spalding said. “At the very beginning they should have resources, ideas and people to talk to.”

Spalding said a speech from Leith Sharp, a member of Harvard’s Green Campus initiative that spoke at the conference, also highlighted ways to help students feel that they can make a difference, such as keeping the goals within reach.

“If they feel it’s something they can do, they get motivated,” Spalding said. “If it’s too overwhelming, then they become disenfranchised.”

Of all the OUS schools, PSU had the largest turnout at the conference, with 37 students and staff in attendance, said Jackie Balzer, PSU vice provost for Student Affairs.

“Portland State had the largest, most enthusiastic and most professional group of students at the conference by far,” said Balzer, who attended the conference with Wiewel and other PSU administrators. “We also had the most administrators out of any group in attendance.”

David Nokovic, a PSU freshman and member of Environmental Club, was moved by the sheer number of students networking at the event.

Nokovic pointed out important ideas he took from the conference, such as the sustainability living program currently in place at Berkeley University. Nokovic hopes to be a part of implementing a similar program here at Portland State, he said.

Aside from being the most enthusiastic, Portland State is backing up its words with equivalent action.

“It was gratifying to see that the Oregon University System already has a much lower energy usage per student and per square foot than the nationwide average, and that among OUS institutions Portland State is the lowest,” Wiewel said at the conference. “It shows that paying attention to these issues really makes a difference.”