2011 Sustainability Festival a Huge Success

This year’s OSU Sustainability Festival saw around 300 students, faculty, staff, and community members inundate the Student Sustainability Center grounds during the three hour event on Wednesday, September 21st. Attendees enjoyed live music, local food, a sustainability info fair with eighteen local groups and organizations, and a fun assortment of sustainability related games and activities. The Festival went from 4:00 […]

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September 30, 2011


Keir Thomas, the SSI Landscape Projects Coordinator, prepping salsa with produce from the garden.
Keir Thomas, the SSI Landscape Projects Coordinator, prepping salsa with produce from the garden.
This year’s OSU Sustainability Festival saw around 300 students, faculty, staff, and community members inundate the Student Sustainability Center grounds during the three hour event on Wednesday, September 21st. Attendees enjoyed live music, local food, a sustainability info fair with eighteen local groups and organizations, and a fun assortment of sustainability related games and activities. The Festival went from 4:00 to 7:00 PM, and was held on the Student Sustainability Center grounds and adjacent green space.

Currently in its fourth year, the Festival is a collaborative effort between the Student Sustainability Initiative, Campus Recycling, and the Sustainability Office. This year, the sponsoring organizations were also joined by a large number of campus and community groups, who provided food, activities, services, and a lot of information on issues, campaigns, and opportunities to get involved. While attendance this year surpassed original expectations, it was the excitement and enthusiasm of everyone there that made the turn-out so amazing. The Festival is intended to provide an opportunity for new and returning students to learn more about sustainability issues and connect with the wide range of groups in a fun, festive, and welcoming atmosphere. Making our own salsa with veggies fresh from the SSC garden was delightful. Lawn bowling with recyclables was surprisingly addictive. But the conversations, relationships, and inspirations were the real prizes.

  • For a more on that salsa and the OSU Sustainability Festival, check out the article written by the Gazette-Times. (It ran on the front page of their daily paper on September 22nd, 2011.)
  • For more pictures, check out the SSI’s photo album of the Festival.

Special thanks for the event go out to the campus groups involved (Alternative Transportation Advisory Committee, CBEE Student Group, Campus Recycling, Community Service Center, Engineers Without Borders (EWB), Hydrogen Club, Organic Growers Club (ORGS), Solar Vehicle Team, Student Sustainability Initiative (SSI), Sustainability Office, Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI), The Spring Creek Project, and Vegans & Vegetarians @ OSU), the community groups involved (The Corvallis Bike Collective, Corvallis Environmental Center, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, First Alternative Co-op, and Mary’s Peak Sierra Club), and this year’s organizers (Andrea Norris, Bo Bestvina, Brian Laird, Maria Weber, and Morgan Dumitru).

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CATEGORIES: Student Sustainability Initiative