Digital Commons Network^™

The View From The Table: An Analysis Of Participant Reactions To Community-Based Dialogues On Food And Justice, Jennifer Turner

Dissertations and Theses

While Portland, Oregon's sustainable food movement wins accolades for explicitly situating itself in opposition to the industrialized global food system, it often fails to address systems of oppression that are reproduced within the alternative agri-food movement itself. This demonstrated aversion towards the messy, complex, contingent nature of the social world reflects larger processes of "de-politicization" of the overall sustainability agenda, which leads to the favoring of technological and/or spatial solutions that may undermine the social equity and justice dimensions of the "triple bottom line." This thesis focuses on an action research project involving a series of community dialogues that provided …

Growing A Sustainable Portland Metropolitan Foodshed, Sheila Martin, Kathryn Doherty-Chapman, Robert Wise, Steve Foust, Kirsten Greene, Ellie Fiore, Ellen Wyoming, Clark Seavert, Rebecca Sullivan, Beth Emshoff, Anita Yap, Elise Scolnik, Bob Short

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Project Description and Objectives: Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) provided funding for this study to examine key agricultural trends, identify producer needs and define strategies to strengthen the local food production system. The goals of the study are to: Define the Portland Metropolitan Foodshed; identify related agricultural and economic trends and develop a needs assessment based on input from producers and other stakeholders; assemble a regional toolkit of strategies to support evolution of a sustainable Portland Metropolitan Foodshed; work with the City of Damascus, Oregon to test the toolkit on a local level; Develop a research and educational …

Engaging Community Food Systems Through Learning Garden Programs: Oregon Food Bank's Seed To Supper Program, Denissia Elizabeth Withers

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to discover whether learning garden programs increase access to locally grown foods and successfully empower and include food insecure populations. This study examined the Oregon Food Bank's Seed to Supper program which situates garden-based learning in food insecure communities. Through a mixed-methods community-based research process, this study found that community building, learner empowerment and sustainability leadership in place-based learning garden programs increased access to locally grown foods for food insecure populations. When food insecure populations participated in these learning garden programs they often engaged in practices described in the literature as the "web of …

Living Soil And Sustainability Education: Linking Pedagogy And Pedology, Dilafruz R. Williams, Jonathan D. Brown

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainability is now permeating educational institutions. Yet the emerging discourse on sustainability education is in many ways caught in a modern web of theoretical, ontological, and epistemological assumptions that are incongruent with sustainability. We introduce an ecologically grounded metaphoric language rooted in living soil as an alternative regenerative framework for linking sustainability pedagogy with pedology (the study of soil). Five principles that guide this relationship are presented: valuing biocultural diversity, sensitizing our senses, recognizing place, cultivating interconnection, and embracing practical experience. Nurtured within an environment of curiosity, wonder, and questioning, and set to the rhythm and scale of localized ecologies, …

Making Ecodistricts Concepts And Methods For Advancing Sustainability In Neighborhoods, Ethan Seltzer, Timothy W. Smith, Joseph Cortright, Ellen M. Bassett, Vivek Shandas

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This report is about how developing "EcoDistricts" in Portland can result in more sustainable neighborhoods and a more sustainable city. With generous funding from the Bullitt Foundation in Seattle, we have been able to take a deeper look into core concepts underlying the notion of pursuing citywide sustainability through neighborhood-scale action. The question becomes: What needs to be done to enable communities to self-manage their resource using behavior by creating community-inspired interventions that change relationships between people and between people and place? To answer these questions and to contribute to the emerging practice of EcoDistrict formation and development, what follows …

Interview With Ryan Temple, Hfhc, 2006 (Audio), Ryan Temple

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Ryan Temple by Amber Kinter at Portland, Oregon on August 4th, 2006.

The interview index is available for download.