That "S" Word...Sustainability

Before I moved to Portland, I worked for UC Davis Extension's sustainability and green building program where I learned more about green living than I ever thought I'd know as a recently graduated English major. When I decided Portland would become my new city, my manager looked a little bit jealous, then offered me his map of a biking tour of Portland's sustainable stormwater control system.

I politely declined the map, but it was only a week later Portland was named the greenest city in America. It was then that I began to realize that even though I'd been working in sustainability for over a year, I had more knowledge about what was going on overseas from assisting with my manager's UCD Summer Abroad program in Sustainable Communities of Northern Europe than I did about my soon-to-be new home's growing number of sustainable projects.

Portland's love of everything green and sustainable has been reinforced to me in recent weeks--first, when Portland General Electric came knocking at my door a couple of weeks ago asking me to switch from "traditional" energy sources to renewable, green source energy. Second, when the Portland State University Publishing program's own Ooligan Press, the press at which I'm getting all my hands-on publishing experience, announced that we will begin transitioning into a sustainable publishing company.

Ooligan has received a grant from Portland State to publish our first sustainable book. This will include printing the book in the country to cut down on pollution caused by overseas shipping, as well as printing with vegetable-based inks.

The transition will take time, and money, but how great will it be when PSU can boast that it is not only home to a unique student-run publishing company, but that the same press is also at the forefront of sustainable publishing?

I'm no green living expert, but I'm pretty sure my old manager will be even more jealous of our hip, sustainable city...especially since he's been busy working on his next book.