Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon has considered itself on on the cutting edge of environmental protection for years now. But  sustainability advocates  are worried that the state could be losing its edge. 

One of the places they're most concerned about is higher educaton.

In the first of two stories, Rob Manning reports on what Oregon's public universities are doing to put sustainability front and center.

Oregon has been in the sustainability game for years. Its reputation is solid enough, in fact, that Oregon leaders managed to throw together a four-day sustainability summit on short notice. Not only that,  people from thousands of miles away showed up to participate.

In a promotional video  participants spoke in glowing terms of Oregon’s “green” efforts.

Voice from video: “I’ve come from Europe, so it was worth coming. I wish I could stay longer...."

But Oregon leaders don’t want to sit on their laurels.

David Yaden: “It’s not enough to do well on the things we’ve been doing well on, and sit around the room and congratulate us.”

That’s Board of Higher Education member, David Yaden. He’s launching a new board committee on sustainability.

David Yaden: “The test is do we have a comparative advantage and a competitive advantage that’s recognized throughout the world?”

But even if the answer is “yes,” the bigger question may be, how does Oregon keep that advantage? That’s the question bothering Brook Muller and his colleagues at the architecture school at the University of Oregon.

Brook Muller: “You know, if you’re an architecture school in the United States, and you do not claim that you’re pushing a sustainability agenda, it’s suicidal. So, we see competition, let’s say.”

Advocates like Muller say that for years, the sustainability ethic on campus has advanced largely thanks to individual professors and students. But sustainability is almost by definition a cross-disciplinary effort in need of cooperation. Jennifer Allen at Portland State gives an example.

Jennifer Allen: “We have faculty who are working on a variety of energy simulation models to use in green buildings. Again, what’s interesting about some of these projects is that they involve the biology department, the economics department, the engineering department.”

But coordinating departments, or even different colleges as university officials want, isn’t easy.

Brook Muller at U of O, says there are barriers. Faculty advancement doesn’t reward collaboration. Campuses are far apart. And the state doesn’t keep an inventory of sustainability efforts - so professors don’t always know who’s doing what.

But Muller says some things are improving.

Brook Muller: “ I think a lot of the motivation for that is coming from below. Our students come to our university - they’re aggressive.”

Some of the impetus is also coming from off-campus. Portland State got a $25 million gift for sustainability efforts from the Miller Foundation in September. And last year state lawmakers created a multi-college sustainable technology center.

University system advisor, Susan Bragdon, says the sustainability market is growing.

Susan Bragdon: “There doesn’t seem to be any doubt about the demand and the need for sustainability education, for this kind of programming, curricula, and outreach.”

But if you sell sustainability, you better deliver. Administrators say students are clamoring for improvements not just in the classroom, but also for  facilities and investments.

Add to that pressure, state mandates to dramatically decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Five universities have committed to zeroing out emissions by 2050.

So, how are they going to do that? One administrator suggested that as long as universities are gaining “sustainability” students, maybe they should know how to sustain their own campuses.