ÐÓ°ÉÊÓƵ

Sustainability at Reed

Sustainability events - Spring 2024

There are so many ways to get involved with sustainability initiatives on campus. Join us for events or volunteer opportunities to learn, meet new people, and help our campus move towards sustainability.  

Visible mending workshop: Friday, February 9th from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. in the Aspen Multipurpose Room. The fashion industry produces billions of tons of waste each year, and the average garment is only worn 7-10 times before being donated or thrown away. In this world of fast fashion and textile waste, it’s easy to take our clothes for granted. In this workshop, students will learn to darn and mend an item of clothing, and appreciate the beauty of creative and sustainable fashion!

Reed Community Garden work party: Friday, February 16th from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the garden (near Garden House on SE 28th). Join friends at the garden to prune grapevine, raspberry bushes, and add new sheet mulching to paths. 

Winter fruit tree pruning: Friday, February 23rd from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the orchard (northwest side of the canyon). Learn to care for your fruit trees - when to make certain cuts, what to be looking for, and rules of thumb for keeping healthy trees. The first part will be active instruction, followed by guided practice time. 

Transforming climate anxiety to action: Friday, March 1st from 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. in the Aspen Multipurpose Room. We know what climate anxiety feels like – but where does it come from? Participants will dig into understanding the values and principles of climate change narratives that result in climate anxiety, and learn to channel that anxiety into specific and actionable goals within the Reed community. 

Talking trash about recycling: Friday, March 22nd from 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the Aspen Multipurpose Room. It’s easy to forget about your candy wrappers and pizza boxes once the trash has been taken out, but they don't forget (they never forget). Come learn about Portland’s waste management systems, and how we are trying to reduce waste here at Reed! This presentation will cover: brief history of recycling, Terracycle and recycling markets, policy change in China, and will cover the journey of one item in the Portland metro recycling system.

Canyon Day: Saturday, March 30th from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Canyon Day is an annual event where members of the Reed community join together for a day of work to help protect and restore the canyon. Visit the Canyon Day history page to learn about this long standing tradition.

Earth Day: Friday, April 19th from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in the quad. Join us to celebrate Earth Day! This is an all-campus event and we are lining up live music, vegan and local food trucks, local environmental orgs, student groups, and other businesses that connect to sustainability and love of the earth.

Email Rachel Willis: willisr@reed.edu if you have any questions or would like to schedule a volunteer work party for your team.