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Sustainability History Project

The SHP is an initiative to document sustainable business and cultural practices in the Pacific Northwest.

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Introduction to the Sustainability History Project

My course centers on gathering recorded interviews from professionals, volunteers, and others engaged in some aspect of “sustainability” in the Pacific Northwest. After providing our students with a background in history, research methods, and interviewing techniques, I will pair students with members of the community to gather interviews. These interviews will provide future researchers a valuable perspective on the experiences of community members themselves.

Student work builds upon previous research conducted as part of the Sustainability History Project. Over the past few years, Portland State University students have gathered over 100 recorded interviews with people from a range of Pacific Northwest industries including timber, green building, agriculture, death care, and ranching. These recordings are archived at PSU for use by researchers, and will soon be available through this website. As the Pacific Northwest becomes known for innovative economic and cultural practices focused on sustainability, I am confident that students’ hard work will be a benefit and inspiration to communities throughout the region, nation, and world.

The primary community partner for this ongoing project is the Northwest History Network, a non-profit consortium of regional history, archives, library, and other professionals. As the specific focus of documentation changes each quarter, the SHP also establishes working relationships with businesses, organizations, and individuals to secure interviews and provide service opportunities for students.

The Interview Process

This project provides a unique opportunity for people like you to share your passion for your work, your personal philosophies, the challenges you face, your goals and successes, and other important aspects. The interviews are generally one hour in length and will be conducted at a time and place that works best for you.

The interview process will proceed in the following way:

1. Once you have agreed to participate, you will receive a phone call within a week or two from one of our students.  The student will introduce him/herself and provide a draft of interview questions.  This is your chance to help shape student research and questions by identifying relevant subject material and suggesting other topics.

2. You and the student will schedule a time and place to meet for the interview. Since the recording devices we use are sensitive, preferred interview locations should be as free as possible from distracting background noises.

3. You will meet at the scheduled time for the interview.  Expect two students to arrive: one Interviewer and one Research Assistant who will handle equipment and take notes. The students will bring their own recording equipment and a form for your signature authorizing the transfer of the audio recording to Portland State University for archiving.

4. There will be lag time of a few weeks after the interview during which the recording will be indexed and this academic quarter’s project finalized. You will then receive for review a copy of the recording (in Windows Media Audio (wma) format) and index (in Microsoft Word format).

—
James V. Hillegas, March 30, 2010

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  • Pages

    • About & Contact
      • Etiquette for Posting Comments
    • Contributors to the SHP
      • Interviewees (alphabetical)
      • Interviewees (by course theme)
      • Interviewers
    • Defining Sustainability
    • For Contributors
    • For Students
      • Community Service
      • Course Calendar
      • Extra-credit Guidelines
      • Formulating Interview Questions
      • Oral History Methods & Techniques
      • What is History?
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      • Film & Video
      • Journal & Periodical Articles
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  • Categories

    • About the SHP (4)
    • Architecture & Engineering (1)
    • Community Service (1)
    • Critiques of Sustainability (8)
    • Economics (8)
    • Enigmas of Sustainability (2)
    • Environment (7)
    • Equity (12)
    • Events (12)
    • Food & Agriculture (4)
    • Greenwashing (3)
    • History of Sustainability (9)
    • Implementing Sustainability (13)
    • Media (10)
    • Oral History (4)
    • Organizations (11)
    • Quantifying Sustainability (14)
    • SHP Fall 2010 (9)
    • SHP Spring 2010 (8)
    • SHP Spring 2011 (11)
    • SHP Summer 2010 (9)
    • SHP Summer 2011 (7)
    • SHP Winter 2011 (5)
    • Student work (41)
    • Uncovering & Evaluating Sources (36)
    • Urban Infrastructure (9)
    • What is Sustainability? (49)
  • Archives

  • Links of Interest . . .

  • Agriculture & Food Systems

    • ** Adelante Mujeres (Forest Grove, OR)
    • ** City of Portland Parks & Recreation, Community Gardens
    • ** Civil Eats
    • ** Cooking Up A Story (Pac NW)
    • ** Ecological Farming Association
    • ** Food Not Lawns (Cascadia)
    • ** Friends of Family Farmers (OR/WA)
    • ** Growing Gardens (Portland, OR)
    • ** Planning Prosperity and Harvesting Health (report, 2008) (Portland, OR)
    • ** Portland Chefs Collaborative
    • ** Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council
    • ** Portland Permaculture Guild (OR)
  • Architecture & Engineering

    • ** Design Futures Council (GA)
    • ** Sustainability Now (UK)
    • ** Univ. of OR PhD in Architecture
  • Communications & Media Production

    • ** Community Cinema: Portland (OR)
    • ** EnviroIssues (Pac NW)
    • ** Enviromedia
    • ** Semiosis Communications (Porland, OR)
    • ** Web Collective (Seattle)
  • Construction Materials & the Built Environment

    • ** Cascadia Green Building Council
    • ** City Repair (Portland, OR)
    • ** Depave (Portland, OR)
    • ** Our United Villages (Portland, OR)
    • ** ReBuilding Center (Portland, OR)
  • Death & Dying

    • * The Centre for Natural Burial (UK)
    • ** Create Sacred Space
    • ** Death Reference Desk
    • ** Mark Harris' Grave Matters (NYC)
    • ** Natural Burial Company (Eugene, OR)
    • ** Oregon Mortuary & Cemetery Board
    • ** Portland Natural Caskets
    • ** Undertaken With Love (TX)
  • Documenting Sustainability

    • ** Green Around the Globe
    • ** Native Perspectives on Sustainability (Pac NW)
    • ** Sisters of the Road: Voices of Homelessness (Portland, OR)
    • ** Taylor Street Studio (Portland, OR)
  • Economics & Business

    • ** Greenbiz.com
    • ** Portland Bottom Line (OR)
    • ** Sustainable Industries (Pac NW)
    • ** The Natural Step
  • Educational Programs

    • ** Bainbridge Graduate Institute (WA)
    • ** Global Institute of Sustainability (Arizona State U.)
    • ** Illahee Lecture Series (Portland, OR)
    • ** Institute for Sustainable Solutions (Portland State Univ.)
    • ** Sustainability Studies @ Roosevelt U. (Chicago)
  • Energy

    • ** Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (IA)
    • ** American Carbon Registry
    • ** Climate Solutions (Pac NW)
    • ** Energy News Digest (Pac NW)
    • ** Future of Energy PDX
    • ** New Energy Network
    • ** Renewable Northwest Project
  • Equity

    • ** Coalition for a Livable Future (Portland, OR)
    • ** Onward Oregon (Portland, OR)
    • ** Pangea Project (Portland, OR)
    • ** Regional Equity Atlas (Portland, OR)
  • Events

    • ** Solutions Seminars, PSU (OR)
    • ** Sustainable Development Conferences Worldwide
    • ** Sustainable Industries 2010-2011 Economic Forums
  • Film & Video

    • ** A Passion for Sustainability (Portland, OR)
    • ** Architecture to Zucchini (OR)
    • ** Multnomah County Sustainability Film Series
    • ** Sustainability Channel (YouTube)
    • ** Sustainability Media (CA)
    • ** Sustainable Cascadia Channel (YouTube)
    • ** TED: Ideas Worth Spreading
  • Health & Medicine

    • ** Center for Sustainable Medicine
  • History & Oral History

    • ** Boise Voices Oral History Project (Portland, OR)
    • ** Canadian Oral History Association
  • Household & Individual Sustainability

    • ** EnviroMom
    • ** Low Impact Living (CA)
  • Journals

    • ** Journal of Sustainability Education
  • News & Commentary

    • ** Environmental Health News
    • ** GreenEnvironment News
    • ** Grist
  • Pollution

    • ** Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center
  • Quantifying Sustainability

    • ** B-Sustainable
    • ** Cascadia Scorecard
    • ** Energy Star
    • ** Fair Trade Federation
    • ** Green Globe
    • ** Green Guard
    • ** Green Supply Chain.org
    • ** Greenwashing Index
    • ** Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
    • ** Natural Step
    • ** Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine®
    • ** Oregon Tilth
    • ** Seafood WATCH (Monterey, CA)
    • ** Sustainability Tracking and Rating System (STARS)
    • ** Sustainable Sites Initiative
    • ** SustainLane
    • ** UC Berkeley's "Bright Green" program (CA)
    • ** Union of Concerned Scientists
    • ** USDA National Organic Program
  • Regional News & Networking

    • ** 247 Townhall (Portland, OR)
    • ** Ecotrope
    • ** Onward Oregon
    • ** Oregon Environmental News (Oregonian)
    • ** PDX Green (Oregonian)
    • ** pdxstump
    • ** People & Place (Portland, OR)
    • ** Portland Green Drinks
    • ** Sightline Daily
  • Sustainability (general)

    • ** Institute for Environmental Education and Research (Seattle)
    • ** Sustainable Cascadia (Seattle)
    • ** Sustainable Seattle
  • Sustainability in Government & Academia

    • ** Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
    • ** EcoWiki (Portland State U.)
    • ** Institute for Sustainable Solutions (Portland State U.)
    • ** Local Governments for Sustainability
    • ** Multnomah County Office of Sustainability (OR)
    • ** OR Dept. of Environmental Quality: Sustainability
    • ** Portland State U.: Sustainability
    • ** PSU Social Sustainability Network and Colloquium (OR)
    • ** U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
  • Technology

    • ** National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)
  • Transportation

    • ** Assoc. of OR Rail & Transit Advocates (AORTA)
    • ** Portland Afoot (OR)
    • ** Portland Transport (OR)
  • Urban Infrastructure & Planning

    • ** City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
    • ** City of Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability
    • ** Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies (OR)
    • ** New Urbanism
    • ** Portland Plan (OR)
    • ** Sustainable Cities Collective
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