Greenboard Direct Action
Editor’s Note: Mathilde Mouw is a member of Greenboard
Greenboard, Reed’s environmental group, has traditionally concerned itself with organizing green-promoting events like Power Struggle and celebrating the success of continuing environmental efforts through Canyon Day. However, last year the group made an effort to reach out into the world of environmental activism in greater Portland and bring some of what they learned back to campus. This semester, Greenboard is looking forward to expanding upon both last year’s focus of direct action and their continuing goal of sustainability within Reed.
Last semester, Greenboard hosted on-campus opportunities to learn about the current wave of the environmental movement and non-violent direct action. Beginning with a talk about tar sands by guests from Portland Rising Tide, the local branch of a direct action environmental activist group, discussion continued throughout the semester with workshops on non-violent direct action planning and training. These talks and workshops led the group to organize some direct action of their own, targeting the Portland branches of banks that were funding a large coal export project that was planning to extract and send millions of tons of coal in open train cars through Longview, WA.
This year, they want to continue their efforts to create a more publicly known and used composting system on-campus, a sustainability coordinator staff position, and other goals for a more environmentally sustainable Reed, along with furthering their participation in direct action. Many members agree that direct action has helped them feel like they are capable of making a substantial effort to resist extraction and other unsustainable practices that threaten the health and beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and, in many ways, the whole world.
With a new focus on empowering students to help make change for sustainability in the city and within the college, Greenboard is looking ahead to a semester that promises more exploration of activism, efforts toward a more environmentally friendly college, and a chance to celebrate the green spaces Reed already enjoys. Join Greenboard for one of their potluck dinner meetings on any Friday at 5:30 in the Farm House.
Printed: 9/8/2011
Related posts:
- From Controversy to Constructive Action
- Response to Last Issue’s Article on Sustainability at Reed
- Honor Council Reevaluates, Looks to Take Action