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Sustainability is on many of our minds as we begin to rethink the way that our society operates in the face of a climate crisis, an economic crisis and widening social inequities. Our society is starting to anticipate a culture shift towards new ways of organizing, engaging in active ecological stewardship and social justice efforts. Let us not forget that in times of crisis, there are also opportunities to be seized.
We have seized an opportunity to put our education, experience and expertise at the center of Portland State University’s vision for sustainability by creating the Student Sustainability Council. The SSC was born out of the need to create a collective vision for sustainability and to build a bridge of collaboration between students and administrators. We would like to invite you to join this process.
The Council will function as a think-tank for sustainability at PSU. It is a gathering for idea generation, networking and resource sharing. Forums will be held in the Food for Thought Café for all students interested in bringing sustainability to life. These meetings will be held three weeks of the month. The fourth week will be a more official forum where students can present ideas to administrators and take the vision for sustainability to the next level (quite literally). If students are organized and have developed a collective vision for sustainability, administrators will listen and act on what has been said.
We invite you to review the “nested systems model” that we have compiled and then fill in the blank model for your own organization. How does your mission relate to sustainability? Contemplate the resources your organization already has, then move into the resources you can tap into at the university and then broaden your vision by considering how you can tap into the resources of the city/region [remember, resources are not only material or monetary, but they include knowledge, skills, and opportunities].
The organizational questionnaire lists the mission and goals of the Student Sustainability Council. Your responses will guide the conversation at the first open forum (Wednesday November 12th, 12-1pm at Food for Thought Café). We will discuss the nested systems model and identify ways that your student group fits with other organizations. This will help us all see the bigger picture of sustainability at PSU and allow us to move forward constructively.
We look forward to seeing you at our next forum, hearing your ideas and sharing the enthusiasm and passion that we see around sustainability at PSU.
Questions, comments or concerns will be heard with open ears and addressed promptly. If you need to, please feel free to contact Sion Zivetz [
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].
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Campus Infrastructure, Grounds & Planning 
