Steve Mital, Sustainability Director for the University of Oregon, recently sent a call for ideas to help guide a Sustainability Conference tentatively planned for the 23rd and 24th of October, 2008. It is being organized by Sustainability Directors at Portland State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Oregon, and the second day will reportedly be “entirely devoted to students and sustainability.” My suggestions for the conference, written in full on the Oregon Direct Action blog, revolve around these ideas:
- Planning this conference digitally and in the public eye so that students can be a part of the entire process
- Adding an international component to help bridge the local-international sustainability gap
- Networking with local sustainability non-profits
- Drafting a set of sustainability guidelines for campus community to voluntarily adopt (i.e. minimizing paper use, using Tupperware instead of styrofoam, etc.)
They are looking for ideas on “workshops, themes, keynote speakers, etc.” until July 3rd. Let’s make this conference worth attending!
I think I am taking way too many supplies. When your pack has more deodorant than socks, and more paper than shirts, you know something might be quite wrong.
This will be more of a stream of thought than a well-thought, insightful post, so my apologies in advance. Sometimes this happens when you leave everything for the very last possible moment. In all honesty, I should be finishing packing my bag right now; it’s only half full and I’ve got my things strewn all across the living room. GPS, shirts, socks, books and other things I’m not sure I should bring lie in little piles like raked leaves in the fall. My plan of attack, and I know it’s going to lead to this, will be to just dump armfuls of gear into the pack and sort it out later.
I hope that works!
It makes me wonder what I’ve been doing in the past couple of weeks to be so amazingly prepared. On a similar note, I’m not quite sure how much money I have. My bank account is hovering around two thousand American dollars but, with our economy where it is and my credit card payment having not gone through yet, I’m probably going to have a bit less than that. The last lens I bought is definitely going to set me back around twelve hundred.
Oh, and my travel plans are absolutely absurd too. After what I imagine isn’t going to be the best 28 hour flight in the world, I’ve got six hours to catch a night train to Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and then be in the shape to interview and photograph the next day. This type of, let’s say, well-structured planning just might be going on the entire trip. I do plan to see parts of the entire country during my short three month travel period. The map of India looks so small, and might be giving me the delusion I can make the full loop.
All of that negativity aside, I’m stoked! Here goes nothing!
