Living The Green E-News

The Environmental Center team welcomes Jess Ludmer to our youth education team! Jess joined us in September as a Sustainability Educator and the lead on our Water Education program. Jess jumped right in, and has already started teaching outdoor school days this fall! Jess joined TEC with over 10 years of classroom and field experience, […]

Meet Mark, our BEC policy intern! Mark has been interning at the Environmental Center since January, primarily with the Bend Energy Challenge team. For his first project, he worked with government officials and local solar contractors to examine and further streamline the solar PV permitting process for residential customers. Currently, Mark is looking into energy efficiency for homes here […]

The Bend Energy Challenge Free LED Program has officially installed 25,000 LED bulbs and 2,250 water-saving fixtures in homes across Bend! This program will collectively save residents $185,000 in energy costs each year. The energy saved is the equivalent of taking 259 cars off the road! You can still sign up for 16 free LEDs […]

Kirin Stryker has moved on from our organization after accepting a position at Powell Butte Community Charter School as their Placed-Based Coordinator. Kirin served as a Sustainability Educator at The Environmental Center for three years, teaching many different classroom lessons from the Great Garbage Game to the Hidden World. She was also the lead on […]

The Environmental Center is excited to announce this year’s Bend Energy Challenge Week and the 16th Annual Green Tour – a week of energy education and inspiration for everyone – businesses, residents, and the building community. The schedule of events includes sixteen educational workshops, an Electric Vehicle Ride & Drive event, and a diverse tour […]

We did it!  Our goal was to raise $7,000 in order to double our outdoor programming during the 2016-2017 school year. And your response was incredible! Thank you to everyone who donated to this campaign and demonstrated support for outdoor days. We have some great news to share: We received an unexpected grant from the Gray Family Foundation […]

Last night, the Bend City Council adopted a climate action resolution by a vote of 5 to 2. Councilors Victor Chudowsky and Casey Roats voted against the resolution. The adopted resolution is more aspirational than the ordinance we proposed last May. But it also lays out a clear pathway for Bend to move forward on […]

We wanted to share a good opportunity to get involved in supporting Outdoor School as we near the election! RSVP to Becca if you can join. Outdoor School For All cordially invites you to join them for a campaign update and speaker’s bureau training. Hear about where the campaign is at, and learn how to speak about Measure 99 to […]

Tomorrow, September, 7, at 7 pm, the Bend City Council will vote on a Bend Climate Action Resolution that will commit Bend to do its part to cut greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve been working on this for over a year.  Now that the vote is upon us, we need your help one more time to […]

The Environmental Center’s Happy Hour in the Garden Series, in which volunteers enjoy beverages from local beer and kombucha sponsors while helping with garden projects, is wrapping up Tuesday, August 30th. “It’s been a really valuable event. Over the course of the summer, many volunteers contributed over 280 hours, helping me with everything from projects […]

At The Environmental Center, we believe it’s important for kids to spend time learning and growing in the great outdoors. Research shows that kids who build strong connections to nature are more likely to make pro-environment choices as adults. That’s why, since 2009, we’ve been helping local teachers get their students outside. Our programs give […]