Sustainability

This course is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about and become involved in urban sustainability projects and organizations in Portland, OR.  Students will be introduced to basic concepts and practices related to urban sustainability and understand how social, ecological and technological issues are interlinked.  Students will then directly participate in a sustainability project that will provide a base of experience for furthering the learning and appreciation for the challenges and opportunities to making our cities more sustainable.  This Capstone builds on a number of

This class will involve students in monitoring the ecological impacts of backyard habitats that are near Portland parks. Students will work in teams in particular targeted neighborhoods. They will monitor some of the following: native and non-native plants, birds, and insects. They will learn about the ecology behind backyard restoration, the procedure for establishing backyard habitats, and assist as residents implement new habitats.

Grant Writing for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance  Grant writing skills are critical to the survival of non-profit organizations. In this course, we partner with Portland’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) to help them increase their capacity by developing grants for specific projects. The BTA (http://www.bta4bikes.org/) works to promote bicycling and improve bicycling conditions in Oregon and SW Washington.

The Grant Writing for Animals: Wildlife Conservation in Africa class partners with the Kasese Wildlife Conservation Awareness Organization (http://www.kasesewildlife.org) to further its goals of creating wildlife awareness and increasing conservation efforts in Uga

This course is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about and become involved in the development of the Portland Metro EcoDistrict Pilot Program. This class will focus on providing students with the history and present-day state of the work on EcoDistricts in Portland, as well as real and powerful ways to engage with the development of an EcoDistrict. Students will be introduced to basic concepts and practices related to EcoDistrict in general and then specifically work to develop an important initiative within one of the five pilot EcoDistricts in the city.

Rural communities in NW Argentina are among the poorest in the country. Lacking the rich soils of the Pampas, facing more extreme climatic conditions, and subject to a heavily concentrated land tenure system, agricultural production, the mainstay of the region’s economy, has failed to raise the standard of living of the bulk of the population. The northward expansion of soybean production into marginal lands, while providing new economic opportunities for large landowners, threatens small rural communities and the environment in the region.

Encouraging the stewardship of our shared resources

Forests, Narratives and Social Movements

Social movements have shaped the world we live in and are one of the most important sources of social change. They often organize to address issues of inequity, oppression or prejudice in local, regional, national and transnational spheres. They arise to address factual situations: the number of people without health care, levels of air pollution, racial profiling, unemployment, deaths in war or the destruction of the environment. However, facts alone are not sufficient to create social change.

In this Capstone, we will work with several community partners, including collaborating with the “Let's Build It Cully Park!” initiative, Portland Parks & Rec, NAYA (Native American Youth & Family Assn.) and Latino organizations Hacienda and Verde.  Class time will focus on issues of food security, significance of cultural/traditional foods, and community