Sustainability Field School Blog

Below you'll find the location-based blogs compiled by students from the 2012-2016 Sustainability Field Schools. Use the drop-down menu below to filter the blogs by year. You can also explore the each blog post on the Cascadia Sustainability Experience Map.

Rural Oregon's Focus on Sustainable Food

After exploring the city of Portland we were ready to head out East to conquer the mountains and the coasts that Oregon has to offer. A re-occurring theme this week was sustainable food processes and access. In earlier blogs you may have noticed we have been dealing with social and infrastructural sustainability. Once we left the city our knowledge began to expand towards farming, food, food culture and the importance of accessible healthy food choices.

Mark Lakeman Keeping Portland Weird

The Cascadia Field School students met with Mark Lakeman (City Repair) exploring radical place-making in Portland. The students reflected on their experience volunteering in Village Building Convergence projects and how it encompassed Portland's community culture. 

Video by Evan Dudzik with help from Keltie Shantz and Melissa Coates

 

Innovative Sustainability in Seattle: Keeping the City the Emerald

Seattle is known for being a cutting edge city as it always seems as though there is a new idea coming from it. This innovative way of thinking has spread throughout the city and can be seen almost everywhere. During our time in Seattle, it became clear that innovative thinking has intertwined with environmentalism and has created new ways of sustainability. There are multiple examples of innovation throughout Seattle that vary but all have a common goal of making in city more sustainable.

Portland's Culture in Action

One of Oregon’s most influential governors, Tom McCall, has had an impact that goes far beyond any of the policies he passed during his two terms in office from 1967 to 1975. The essence of Portland has been internalized through the proposal of Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs). The former governor noticed how California’s ecological land was being compromised in favour of the growing economic needs of the state. Tom McCall wanted to ensure Oregon did not suffer the same fate.

Portlandia: A Tale of Two Cities

The Cascadia Field School from the University of Victoria met with Nathan McClintock, a Professor at Portland State University. He described the dual nature of the city in terms of the popular culture of Portlandia compared to the gentrified suburbs of the city.

Video by Melissa Coates.

Bullitt Center: Meeting the Living Building Challenge

We had the opportunity to tour the Bullitt Center with Deborah Sigler of the University of Washington. She informs us about this living building that has shaped a new age of sustainable development. The Bullitt Center sought after the living building challenge which is a rigorous and detailed examination of what a living building should look like. 

This video was produced and edited by Joshua Ceraldi, Alison Martin, and Mackenzie Sayer of the University of Victoria.

 

 

Portland's Urban Growth Boundaries: Problem or Solution?

John Williams Deputy Director of Metro Portland met with (UVIC) Cascadia Sustainability Field School students at the beginning of their trip to Portland. He spoke about Urban Growth Boundaries in Oregon, the 2040 Growth Concept for the region and the issue of housing affordability in Portland.

Video by Keltie Shantz with help from Evan Dudzik and Melissa Coates.

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