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Pamplin Media Group
Thursday, August 15, 2013
SUSTAINABLE LIFE
C5
Sustainable
Life
Stand up for
transit riders
OPAL Environmental Jus-
tice Oregon and Bus Riders
Unite are seeking volunteers
to fan out into the community
on the first Saturday of each
month to talk with transit rid-
ers about their concerns, and
help build a stronger base to
advocate for equitable transit
investments.
To hop on board, meet at the
OPAL office at 2407 S.E 49th
Ave., near Division Street in
Portland, at 11 a.m. Saturday,
Sept. 7. Food and orientation
are provided.
For more information, con-
tact info@opalpdx.org or 503-
342-8910.
Casting call for
tree huggers
Friends of Trees is recruit-
ing more Call Stars, volunteers
who contact homeowners who
have expressed interest in hav-
ing trees planted in their
neighborhood.
The job is part community
organizing, part customer ser-
vice. It’s a great way to help
increase the tree canopy in the
region for those who don’t
want to risk getting dirt under
their fingernails.
Call Stars work from the of-
fice at 3117 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd. in Portland, from
5:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. Wednes-
days. Because there’s training
involved, Call Stars must com-
mit to at least four sessions.
Contact Andy or Jenny in
the volunteer and outreach
program, at 503-595-0213.
Getting wet in
Johnson Creek
Volunteers are invited to
help clean up trash in and
along Johnson Creek, and get a
free barbeque lunch, from 9
a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 24.
Bring shoes and clothes that
you don’t mind getting soggy.
Meet at Mill Park in Mil-
waukie, at Southeast Linwood
Avenue and Overland Street,
just south of Johnson Creek
Boulevard. Barbeque will be
from noon to 2 p.m.
Sponsored by Johnson Creek
Watershed Council, Green
Lents and other groups.
RSVP to Amy at amy@jcwc.
org, or call 503-652-7477.
Weed warriors
unite
Want to bring more TLC to
venerable Mount Tabor Park in
Southeast Portland? Become a
Weed Warrior.
The Friends of Mount Tabor
Park and SOLVE invite volun-
teers to help remove invasive
plants such as Himalayan
blackberry and English ivy.
The next event takes place 9
a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 31.
Meet at the visitors center by
the main parking lot on the
north side of the park. Don’t
forget to wear sturdy pants and
long sleeves, with supportive
closed-toe shoes or boots. If you
have them, bring work gloves, a
trowel and hand clippers.
For more information: www.
taborfriends.org.
friends made a recycling bin
for the coffee shop out of old,
clear-plastic Starbucks drink
cups.
It was a seed that grew into a
new Portland nonprofit, Trash
for Peace, which formally in-
corporated last August.
Trash for Peace’s core group
of 14 volunteers has made
about 50 recycling bins out of
reused plastics, wood, comput-
er wires and bicycle compo-
nents, boosting recycling rates
wherever they are placed.
Trevin Miller, owner of Mr.
Green Beans coffee in North
Portland, displays his Trash for
Peace bin at the Mississippi Av-
enue Street Fair each year. It’s
easy to spot and encourages
more recycling, Miller says. “A
lot of people ask where it came
from.”
Many people have advised
Trash for Peace to copyright its
bin design, Kutner says. “But
we don’t want to do that. We
want people to take our bins
and make them their own.”
So Trash for Peace put up
the plans on its website, for all
to share.
Working with schools
For now, Trash for Peace
works primarily with local
schools, using a curriculum
that teaches children about
plastic waste through a hands-
on bin project and other fun
activities.
Parkrose High School teach-
er Ally Packer led a two-week
unit on plastics for her English
language development classes,
culminating in collecting bot-
tles and building recycle bins.
“We had a lot of really good
conversations about what plas-
tic is and how to recycle it,”
Packer says. “It’s such a neat
opportunity for the kids to
learn about plastic and sustain-
ability, and to be able to teach
their peers.”
At the end of the year, al-
most all of her students men-
tioned building the bins as one
of their favorite lessons.
In addition to its free bin de-
signs and curriculum for teach-
ers, Trash for Peace has pre-
pared recycle bin kits from 100
percent reused materials to get
teachers started right away. As
the nonprofit works steadily on
fundraising and finding bin
sponsors, each bin kit is of-
fered free to schools. Teachers
need only direct their students
to find plastic bottles, which
shows them how ubiquitous
the bottles are.
Businesses pay a suggested
donation of $200 to sponsor a
bin at a school and then receive
either a bin for themselves or a
consultation from Trash for
Peace experts on reducing
waste.
Trash for Peace also is work-
ing with Portland State Univer-
sity students. Last fall, the
group brought to campus all
the materials to build two cof-
fee tables and two recycling
bins out of plastic bottles.
“It was a very exciting
event,” says Heather Spalding,
PSU sustainability leadership
and outreach coordinator.
The new, more-visible recy-
cling bins at the Student Re-
source Center led to a big de-
crease in the number of water
bottles thrown in the trash,
Spalding says.
“Recognizing that you can
make something new out of re-
used materials just opens your
eyes,” she says. “Creating
something of value from some-
thing that would be thrown
away, it’s a whole different per-
spective.”
Issue coming of age
Cheryl Lohrmann, founder of
the local nonprofit Create Plen-
ty, says she’s glad a strong group
like Trash for Peace is emerging
in Portland to talk about the re-
usability of plastics. Her group
makes quilt squares fromplastic
waste, to create awareness and
advocate solutions to the plastic
waste problem.
“I’m really excited because I
think it means the issue is
coming of age,” Lohrmann
says.
When she started Create
Plenty in 2007, she had to work
hard to educate people about
what a bad thing plastic trash
was. “But now when you talk to
people, they’re like: ‘Oh, the
plastic garbage patch in the
ocean.’ You don’t have to tell
them about it.”
Both groups hope to focus
more on reducing the amount
of plastics consumed in the
first place. Kutner tries to be
vigilant about buying things
that contain plastic, but finds
that isn’t so easy. “If you buy
anything from the store, you
always have some kind of plas-
tic in there.”
So, Kutner says, just keep
your empty plastic bottles by
the sink, stuff clean plastics in
and reseal them.
In no time at all, you could be
making your own long-lasting
furniture out of stuff you used
to consider trash.
Shasta Kearns Moore, online at
ShastaKearnsMoore.com, is a writ-
er, blogger and author living in
Canby.
SHOPPING
TRIPS.
DI D YOU KNOW?
TriMet is more than a ride to work. Nearly
1 in 4
transit trips are for shopping and recreation.
437743.060413
427083.081413 SL
environ
mental
Thinking of ways you can protect the environment?
Growing your own veggies? Upgrading your water
heater? Riding your bike to work? We recognize that
Oregonians are eager for information about living more
Earth-friendly lives.
Sustainable Life
, a monthly special section appearing
in the Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers, will
inform and inspire readers to make a difference.
WATCH FOR SUSTAINABLE LIFE, THE SECOND
WEEK OF EVERY MONTH, IN ALL
OUR NEWSPAPERS!
SUSTAINABLE LIFE : An informative guide to green living in your community
427165.081513 SL
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■
From page 1
Kids play
“Trashy
Bowling” at a
Trash For Peace
booth.
PAMPLIN MEDIA
GROUP: NICK
FOCHTMAN
Pitching in
for the Environment
Down
&
Dirty
COURTESY OF BRUCE MACGREGOR PHOTOGRAPHY
Volunteers get their feet wet to remove trash from Johnson Creek
during the annual cleanup day in 2010.
■
For more information, to
donate or get plans to make
your own recycle bins: www.
trashforpeace.org
Trash:
Plastics a focus of school lessons
This is the first install-
ment of what we hope will
be a regular feature in Sus-
tainable Life on ways Port-
land-area residents can vol-
unteer for environmental
restorations or other stew-
ardship activities, or help
organizations dedicated to
promoting sustainability.
If your organization has
an activity to promote,
email the information to
stevelaw@portlandtribune.
com, and use a subject line
of Down and Dirty.
Want to
contribute?