The Environmental Movement in the Rose City (Portland, Oregon)
Welcome to the Blog of the DukeEngage Portland, Oregon program! We are a team of eight rising juniors and seniors who have partnered with six different environmental non-profit organizations in the Portland area. We are officially at the halfway mark of completing our projects. We have a wide array of backgrounds and experiences that prepared us for our work here: a few of us are in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke, others have backgrounds in psychology, some have worked in law firms and even one student has experience in the marketing department at a major publishing company. The goal of the program is twofold: we seek to fulfill a community need by providing services as interns to member organizations of the environmental community and simultaneously learn about how the organizations are managed, operate on a day to day basis, and contribute to the environmental movement. The following is a list of the partnerships we have formed:
- Christina Carlson and Sarah Frush – The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)
- Katie Barzee and Suedi Walker – Oregon Conservation Network (a project of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters) (http://www.olcveducationfund.org/ocn)
- Rachel Seidman – Oregon Environmental Council (http://www.oeconline.org/)
- Amanda Pade – Crag Law Center (http://crag.org/)
- Susan Carter – River Network (http://www.rivernetwork.org/)
- Stephanie Tepperberg – Bicycle Transportation Alliance (http://www.bta4bikes.org/)
An essential component of any service project is getting to know the community in which you work. Our group has been exploring Portland constantly since we arrived. The city is incredibly pedestrian friendly. We are staying in the LEED-certified Broadway dorms at Portland State University. Most of our offices are only a mile or two away from our dorm, which gives us a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of Portland’s mild summer weather for a refreshing commute walking to and from work. For rainy days or longer commutes there are also numerous forms of public transportation including buses, streetcars, and the TriMet.
The renowned Portland Farmer’s Market takes place every Saturday on PSU’s campus two minutes away from Broadway. Portland definitely has a thriving local food economy. There are crowds for hours on Saturday to take advantage of all the locally grown produce and other products – particularly the berries and famous cherries.
On the weekends, we venture to other parts of Oregon to investigate some of the many diverse ecosystems and other Oregon-defining locales. Our weekend excursions have so far included trips to:
- The Columbia River Gorge (http://www.crgva.org/)
- The Nature Conservancy’s Cascade Head Preserve(http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/oregon/preserves/art6796.html)
- Sokol Blosser organic winery (and also the first winery nationwide to receive LEED certification) (http://www.sokolblosser.com/)
- Bonneville hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River (http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/b/home.asp)
- Beaches at Lincoln City and Newport
Please check out our group Blog (http://dukeengageportland.wordpress.com/) for more details about the projects we’ve been working on at our organizations, our reflections about our weekend trips, our opinions about the environmental movement, and other updates about the Portland program. The Blog contains reflection prompts that our on-the-ground coordinator Cassie Hoffman - recent graduate of the Masters in Environmental Management program of the Nicholas School - posts weekly as well as each of our responses. Enjoy! We’d also really appreciate comments about our entries!
~Katie Barzee
Class of 2011
Nicholas School of the Environment & Earth Sciences