The Environmental Center

Social Justice Book Club: "So You Want To Talk About Race"
2020-08-28, 2020-09-04 | Deschutes Brewery Public House, 1044 NW Bond St, Bend, OR, 97701, United States
Each quarter OSU-Cascades Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is hosting a 12-week book discussion group. These weekly conversations are designed to be drop-in and are open to OSU-Cascades students, staff and faculty as well as community members.
This summer, we’re reading Ijeoma Oluo’s “So You Want to Talk About Race.” Meeting and reading schedule is below. Please register and join at any time, and contact Erin Rook with questions or requests for accommodations.
Summer Social Justice Book Club (Most) Fridays at noon
Remaining Schedule:
July 10: Ch. 4 and 5 – “Why am I always being told to ‘check my privilege’?” and “What is intersectionality and why do I need it?”
July 24: Ch. 6 – “Is police brutality really about race?”
July 31: Ch. 7 and 8 – “How can I talk about affirmative action?” and “What is the school-to-prison pipeline?”
Aug. 7: Ch. 9 and 10 – “Why can’t I say the ‘N’ word?” and “What is cultural appropriation?”
Aug. 14: Ch. 11 and 12 – “Why can’t I touch your hair?” and “What are microaggressions?”
Aug. 21: Ch. 13 and 14 – “Why are our students so angry?” “What is the model minority myth?”
Aug. 28: Ch. 15 and 16 – “But what if I hate Al Sharpton?” and “I just got called a racist, what do I do now?”
Sept. 4: Ch. 17 – “Talking is great, but what else can I do?”

City Club of Central Oregon-On the Margins in Our Towns: An Interactive Discussion on Local Houselessness in Central Oregon
2022-12-15 | Deschutes Brewery Public House, 1044 NW Bond St, Bend, OR, 97701, United States
Join City Club for an interactive forum on houselessness across Central Oregon. This will be an engaging dialogue amongst participants supporting an understanding of the causes and conditions that are keeping so many unsheltered. This forum will emphasize Q&A time and table conversation. This is a chance to gather as a community and ask deep questions concerning this complex issue.

Food Justice at the Intersection of Food, Politics, Art, and Culture
2023-05-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | COCC, 2600 NW Collge Way, Bend, OR, 97701, United States
How can we create a world in which all Americans, regardless of income, geography, or race have access to healthful, fresh, affordable, and culturally appropriate food? In this interactive talk, Bryant Terry will take us on a journey of his more than two-decade career as a chef, author, publisher, and community builder committed to creating a healthful, just, and sustainable food system. From grassroots organizing to book publishing, Terry has employed cultural strategy, a field of practice that centers art, storytelling, media, and cooking (in Bryant’s case) to bring about social change. Through a dynamic presentation that includes singing and rapping, and fusing personal narrative with food politics, Terry will show us how to improve access to fresh food in our communities — whether that community is your campus, workplace, neighborhood, or your group of friends.
Register here!

On the Ground in Greater Bend: Moving Together from Vision to Action
2023-10-26 11:30 - 13:00 | Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 61980 Skyline Ranch Road, Bend, OR, United States
On the Ground in Greater Bend: Moving Together from Vision to Action
Working with thousands of community members, Envision Bend has created the 2023 Bend Vision Plan (will be released next week!). Now, we want to build on our momentum and catalyze our community’s vision into being. Moderated by former state senator Neil Bryant, this forum will provide an overview of the four key plan focus areas – Building an Economy for Everyone, Guiding Our Growth & Development, Cultivating an Inclusive Community, and Ensuring a Safe, Healthy Environment – and then put YOU in the driver’s seat. In small groups at your tables, you will drill down on the Building a Better Economy focus area to consider how best to advance the strategies, activate the stakeholders, and achieve the vision for us all. Please join this highly interactive City Club and learn more about the future we can accomplish, together.
Speakers:
Neil Bryant, Retired Attorney and Past State Senator
Matt Muchna, Executive Director at Envision Bend
Emily Tompkins, Vice Chair at Envision Bend and CEO at Forest Futures
NEW for this month! You have the option of registering with or without lunch included.
For more information or to register: https://members.cityclubco.org/ap/Events/Register/YmHa1OwuWtzCK?sourceTypeId=EmailInvitation

Winter Community Care
2023-11-09 17:30 - 19:30 | Council on Aging of Central Oregon, 1036 NE 5th St., Bend, OR, 97701, United States
Join Embrace Bend for a heartwarming event at the Council On Aging of Central Oregon, located at Northeast 5th Street in Bend, OR, USA.
Winter Community Care is all about coming together as a community to spread warmth. We will be learning how to support people and groups during cold weather and holiday months. As you know, all sorts of groups and individuals struggle during winter whether it is due to isolation, cold weather, depression, access, or lack of financial resources. We will be learning about what the problem is for key underserved groups in our community and what the opportunities are to help with wallets, time, amplifying to networks, or other resources. There will be in opportunity to sign up to help, information about donations, and ways to keep in touch with these key organizations in the future.
This will also be in opportunity for people to come and find out what resources are available to them, so our partners will stand ready to assist. Please attend if you are seeking out assistance and we will make sure to find you the help that you need.
We are pleased to be partnering for this event with the Council on Aging. As you know, seniors are the largest growing demographic in our area and are often underserved and severely impacted by the holidays and cold weather.
Snacks and drinks will be served.
Our partners confirmed to attend:
Family Kitchen
Council on Aging
Deschutes County
Warm Springs
Neighbor Impact Energy Assistance
Thrive
RSVP is not mandatory but helps us with planning!

Our Knowledge is Power - Climate Change and Indigenous Communities
2023-11-12 17:00 - 19:00 | OSU Cascades – Edward J. Ray Hall, Atrium, 1500 SW Chandler Ave, Bend, OR, 97702, United States
Artist Talk and Film Screening:
OUR KNOWLEDGE IS POWER: THE CULTURES OF BEAUTY AND SURVIVAL IN ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, LA AND SHISHMAREF, AK
NOTE DATE CHANGE: Sunday, November 12, 2023 | 5 to 7 p.m.

Edward J. Ray Hall, Charles McGrath Family Atrium, OSU-Cascades
FREE.

REGISTRATION REQUESTED (REGISTER HERE)

Cultivating Partnerships: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Science in Land Stewardship
2024-03-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend, OR, 97701, United States
Experience an enlightening evening with Dr. Cristina Eisenberg as she delves into ecocultural restoration and the fusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science in land stewardship. ONDA Stewardship Director Gena Goodman-Campbell will explore current ONDA initiatives to restore Oregon’s high desert and foster partnerships with the region’s tribes. Buy tickets in Bend.
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We are pleased to announce Oregon Natural Desert Association’s 2024 High Desert Speaker Series! The Speaker Series fosters a deeper understanding of ecology, encourages well-informed exploration of the high desert and promotes collaborative cross-cultural practices that conserve southeastern Oregon. These events will take you into the world of high desert bees, on a journey through the Owyhee Canyonlands, deeper into ecocultural indigenous restoration efforts and toward discovering the geologic treasures of Oregon’s desert.

Join us at these engaging events online, in Bend and in Portland and dive into the wonders of the high desert. Registration is open for all events, so mark your calendar, tell a friend and view the full lineup.

March Green Drinks: DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair
2024-03-22 17:00 - 19:00 | Wille Hall, Coats Campus Center, Central Oregon Community College, Bend, 2600 Northwest College Way, Bend, OR, 97703, United States
If you truly want to see how the all-terrain wheelchair AdvenChair holds up under the rigorous environment of four days down and back up the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon, then come see the premiere showing of DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair, the new 48-minute documentary of Geoff Babb and his expedition team currently in review by film festivals from coast-to-coast, and even Cannes, France. Then, stick around for a moderated panel discussion featuring Geoff Babb, members of his team, and Marcia Volk, the filmmaker, as well as the opportunity to ask questions you may have.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!
Learn about Geoff’s arduous journey to realize his dream as a survivor of two strokes, taking years to perfect an all-terrain human-powered wheelchair, culminating in a rigorous 4-day expedition down and back out of the Grand Canyon, with a ripple effect on others from its creation—access to nature previously out of reach. Sometimes one bold dream can change the world for many.
In partnership with Outback Film, The Onward Project, and COCC, we’re honored to present a debut showing of DREAM BOLDLY The Grand AdvenChair.
REGISTER HERE!
In advance of College events, persons needing accommodation or transportation because of a physical or mobility disability should contact Caitlyn Gardner at 541-383-7237. For accommodation because of other disability such as hearing impairment, contact Disability Services at 541-383-7583.

Line 3 Documentary: Stop New Gas Infrastructure in Central Oregon
2024-06-05 18:00 - 20:15 | 375 SW Powerhouse Dr Suite 100, Bend, OR, 97701, United States
Join 350 Deschutes – We’re organizing to Stop the GTN Pipeline Gas Expansion. RSVP Now!
Speakers:
Riccardo Waites: Executive, Central Oregon Black Leaders Assembly will discuss the effects of gas expansion on vulnerable communities. Will your neighborhood be affected?
Nora Harren, 350 Deschutes, will discuss the health and environmental impacts of the compressor stations in SunRiver, and elsewhere. How can you protect yourself and your family?
Watch the award winning documentary: “LN3: Seven Teachings of the Ashinaabe Resistance,” a powerful documentary that delves into the resilience and teachings of the Ashinaabe people in the face of pipeline development in their region.
Following the screening, we will engage in a panel discussion focusing on the impacts of the GTN Xpress pipeline project on Central Oregon communities and the environment. Our panelists will explore the environmental, social, and economic implications of the project and discuss Steps we can take to stop the pipeline in our backyard.
This is more than just an event—it’s a call to action. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this vital conversation!
RSVP Now: https://actionnetwork.org/events/line-3-documentary-stop-new-gas-infrastructure-in-central-oregon
$5 donation per family appreciated, but not required.

SheJumps | Get the Girls Out! | Mt. Bachelor, OR
2025-03-09 09:00 - 14:00 | Mt Bachelor Ski Resort, 13000 Century Dr, Bend, OR, 97702, United States
Join SheJumps as they celebrate Get the Girls Out! – a nationwide campaign uniting women and girls- transgender and cisgender- as well as non-binary individuals to embrace the great outdoors while fostering a sense of adventure and camaraderie. At the start of each session they will have participants group up depending on terrain they want to ski/ride for each session. The prize drawing will include prizes from awesome sponsors and more! Each registered participant will receive one free prize drawing ticket, with the option to purchase more tickets at the event via cash or card. They need volunteers for this event! Please let Liz Sequeria (lsequeira@shejumps.org) know if you are available to volunteer. Sign-ups coming soon!
