Portland Community College
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

The EcoChallenge gives you the tools and inspiration to reduce your impact on the planet and contribute to a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable future — while engaging the people in your life and having fun in the process. You choose a Challenge that stretches your comfort zone, stick with it for two weeks, and make a difference for you, your community and the planet.

Our EcoChallenge teams comprised of 155 participants who racked up 21,027 total points, making an impressive impact together. Some of us focused on reducing waste for the EcoChallenge, while others tried out healthier meals, or better utilized alternative transportation, or simply took the time to unplug and get outdoors.

Collectively the PCC teams’ 2020 impact included:
121 participants, 33,982 points earned.

9 advocacy actions
74 miles traveled by bike
2 miles traveled by bus
246 miles not traveled by car
4,057 pounds of CO2 saved
1 community events hosted or attended
6 disposable cups saved from landfill
27 documentaries watched
1 Donations made
2 energy audits conducted
19,991 minutes exercising
49 pounds of food waste prevented
58 conversations with people
6,424 minutes learning
14 light bulbs replaced
29 locally sourced meals
555 meatless or vegan meals
4,320 mindful minutes
72 organic meals
21,638 minutes spent outdoors
27 pounds of paper saved
1 people helped
250 saved plastic bottles from landfill
192 saved plastic containers from landfill
151 saved plastic straws from landfill
75 servings of fruit and veggies
6 public officials/leaders contacted
8,406 minutes not spent in front of a screen
3,832 more minutes slept
22 hours volunteers
1 tree planted
57 miles traveled by foot
4 waste audit conducted
105 pounds of waste composted
5,848 gallons of water saved
1 water collection system installed
100 zero-waste meals consumed
43 whole food meals consumer

The Rock Creek Sustainability Office was a part of AASHE's The Turning the Page grant supported research cohort to come up with strategies for paper reduction in higher education. A campaign to reduce personal printers among staff and faculty was chosen as the focus. The campaign included a survey, personal printer audit at the Rock Creek campus, educational display demonstrating the amount of paper used in the student center, creation of web and paper informational materials and in person training. As a part of this effort, Elaine Cole, Sustainability Coordinator, presented her campaign case study results at numerous state and national conferences as well as co-authoring a book, Turning the Page: A Behavior Change Toolkit for Reducing Paper Use. Root Solutions and Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Van Leuvan, N., Highleyman, L., Kibe, A., & Cole, E. (2019)

This campaign then tied into the Panther Print Program which is a mandatory printing-management program adopted by PCC in September, 2018. This was done in an effort to streamline service, use less resources in terms of labor and storage space for supplies, improve digital security, free up the IT Department for other tasks, improve budgeting capabilities for departments, and ultimately, save PCC money. By streamlining service and supplies through one vendor, the college has been able to negotiate the lowest printing and copying prices possible, with an expected savings to PCC of over $900,000 per year! Panther Print expanded to support the implementation of district-wide networked multifunction printers and will phase out personal printers in the next few years. The sustainability team has formed a “team of champions” to support this effort, and the Rock Creek president and dean who gave up their personal printers became allies in this effort. As a result of the paper reduction effort the number of printers across the district was down 12%. In total, 56 printers were given up between September 2018 and March 2019.