The 2024 Washington & Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) was hosted from March 4-6 at Western Washington University in Bellingham! WOHESC is organized by Pacific Northwest higher education institutions and travels to a different host school each year to inspire change, facilitate action, and promote collaboration around sustainability within the region. 35 students and staff from Oregon State University attended the conference this year!
The 2024 theme was “Learning From Place: Solutions Beyond Boundaries”. Attendees heard from keynote speakers such as Jessica Hernandez focusing on Indigenous Science, Running Grass speaking on Sustainability Justice and numerous other speakers representing diverse sustainability initiatives. Throughout the conference, attendees chose from a variety of break-out sessions such as ‘Addressing Air Travel Emissions’, ‘Addressing Climate Anxiety’, and ‘Single Use Plastics on Campus’. The OSU group particularly enjoyed a few sessions, including ‘Protecting Vāsā: The Importance of Pacific Climate Justice,’ which aimed to highlight the ocean as a sacred space that connects people, rather than a body of water that separates them, and ‘Supporting Students in Climate Action,’ where speakers shared the process and outcomes of a community-engaged workshop designed to assist students in undertaking climate justice initiatives relevant to their respective communities.
A highlight of this years conference was the ‘Student Action Challenge’ that takes place annually at WOHESC. Students form teams, attend workshops with guest expert speakers, and collaborate to develop sustainable solutions for presentation at the ‘Pitch Fest’. This year, two teams comprised of mostly OSU students placed top 2 at the ‘Pitch Fest’. Congratulations to first place winners Ava Wright, Abby Thomas, and Sydney Hundelt from ‘CupCycle’ and second place winners Wesley Armendarez, Hannah Grainger, and Ariana Villa from ‘Planting Seeds in Community Gardens’!
Thank you to Western Washington University for hosting this years WOHESC. We look forward to seeing you at Portland Community College next year!
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