Creating Sustainable Change
The Student Sustainability Center (SSC) is a collaborative space for student-led initiatives that foster equity, environmental vitality, and economic well-being in the present and future. Through our efforts, we help students develop the skills, strategies, and networks necessary to work towards their vision of society.
Contact Us
Office and venue hours may vary.
Monday–Friday: 9:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
541-346-8321
uossc@uoregon.edu
1395 University of Oregon 005 EMU
Eugene OR 97403
More Than Just Recycling
Sustainability encompasses a lot of topics beyond what you might automatically think about. We work on solutions to issues like food security, social justice, and yes, waste reduction. Our goal at the Student Sustainability Center is to connect you to all the ways you can help create a more sustainable UO, Eugene, and world. So how do you want to get involved?
Grove Community Garden
In partnership with the Urban Farm, the Grove Garden offers 24 plots, a free seed library, and volunteer opportunities. It helps address food insecurity and educates about the importance of pollinators.
Waste Reduction
The waste reduction and reusables effort aims to reduce waste on campus. Our programs provide reusable water bottles, mugs, and silverware. We also host educational opportunities to fix broken objects.
Food Security
Studies suggest as many as half of U.S. college students experience food insecurity while in school. In an effort to reduce this educational barrier, the SSC provides free produce markets, help with SNAP enrollment, and more.
Social and Cultural Equity
Sustainability goes beyond just being green. Social and cultural equity is a vital part of a holistically sustainable society. The Student Sustainability Center advances this cause by focusing on social justice and equity.
Student Organizations
Pursue passion projects with the help of leaders in sustainability, get funding, spread the word through journalism, involve your fraternity or sorority, and more with these student organizations.
Events
The Student Sustainability Center hosts events to connect students with resources and opportunities. From the Sustainability Fair to Earth Week and Transportation Day, join us here.
Upcoming Events
The Student Sustainability Center, in partnership with the University Career Center, is planning a Professional Clothing Drive for weeks 3 and 4 of Winter Term. We are seeking gently used clothing donations from faculty and staff that will be made available to students through the SSC free store before the Internship and Career Fair week in mid-February (February 17-21). The goal is to collect professional clothing and shoes in a range of sizes, colors and styles that are inclusive to students and give them more access to career related events on campus.
Donation bins can be found in these locations:
-Student Sustainability Center (005 EMU)
-University Career Center (50 Tykeson Hall)
-Office of the Dean of Students (185 Oregon Hall)
-SOJC Student Services (134 Allen Hall)
-HEDCO Lobby
-Ford Alumni Center (available for donations weeks 1-3)
-more locations TBD
Stop by the Duck Nest to learn more about SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) and get help with the application. Find out more about food security programs at UO too!
Come get some free fresh fruits and vegetables in the EMU Amphitheater! This event is part of the Feed the Flock Initiative and is open to all UO students who self identify as meeting the need. Bring a bag and get some produce!
Focusing on root causes and positive solutions, WOHESC 2020 brings sustainability leaders from around the Pacific Northwest to the University of Oregon.
See more at WOHESC.org.
What might we learn from the people living on climate change’s front lines about the future that we share? In this talk, Elizabeth Rush will speak about a small community on the eastern shore of Staten Island—a place that Hurricane Sandy both undid and remade from the ground up—investigating the storm's aftermath and the radical decisions residents made about how to overcome their shared vulnerability. She will give voice to those who have been traditionally left out of environmental discourse and how we might make the conversation more whole moving forward.
Elizabeth Rush is the author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore and Still Lifes from a Vanishing City: Essays and Photographs from Yangon, Myanmar. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Gaurdian, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and the New Republic, among others. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants including the Howard Foundation Fellowship, awarded by Brown University; the Society for Environmental Journalism Grant; the Metcalf Institute Climate Change Adaptation Fellowship; and the Science in Society Award from the National Association of Science Writers. She received her MFA in nonfiction from Southern New Hampshire University, and teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University.