The Environmental Center

Decluttering with the KonMari Method: COCC Continuing Education
2020-10-22, 2020-10-15 | Deschutes Brewery Public House, 1044 NW Bond St, Bend, OR, 97701, United States
COCC’s Continuing Education Program is running a 5-class series with Marie Kondo’s trademarked method of decluttering expanded from her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. One method of reducing waste and being environmentally friendly can be to minimize the amount of stuff that surrounds you. It can help your mind, your wallet, and your life.
What sparks joy for you?
Tidy Your Space. Spark Joy. Transform Your Life. The KonMari Method™ is the art of simplifying and organizing your home by choosing to keep the physical items that bring you joy and letting go of the rest with gratitude. Join Melissa Jean, a Certified Platinum KonMari Consultant, as she leads you through the philosophy, practice and practical application of tidying up your life and space using this method. This session will focus on books and students will spend time during class tidying up their own bookcases. Registration includes a 15-minute one-on-one session with Melissa after the class is over.
Focus areas with dates listed below. Classes taught online via Zoom, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm

Clothing – Oct 8
Books – Oct 15
Papers – Oct 22
Komono (Miscellaneous Items) – Oct 29
Sentimental Items & Mementos – Nov 5

Learn more about Melissa here.

Cascadia: The Next Big Earthquake and Tsunami
2020-10-20
A major earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone will have far-reaching impacts throughout the Pacific Northwest, including Central Oregon. Are we prepared for an event like this? Join Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory in conversation with Dr. Daniele McKay to discuss how an event like this could affect us in Central Oregon and review the history of earthquakes in Oregon.

Environmental Justice Shared Learning Space
2020-10-20
Central Oregon Womxn in Conservation is offering a focused space to help people hold themselves accountable in what is intended to be a primarily self-led learning experience around justice and equity within conservation. COWC will be convening monthly, from 6:00-7:30pm on:
Call 1: Tuesday, October 20
Call 2: Tuesday, November 17
Call 3: Tuesday, December 15
Call 4: Tuesday, January 19
Call 5: Tuesday, February 16

Community Tree Planting
2020-10-20
Help reforest our community! Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory will be planting Ponderosa seedlings throughout Sunriver and would love your help.
For more details or to volunteer for this event, email: programs@snco.org.

Virtual Farmer Chats: Food and Racial Justice.
2020-10-19
Explore some of the emergent themes from previous talks including land access, equitable treatment in government programs and services to help farmers, building your local community, and the possibility of a statewide farmer-ally directory. This is also a space for the agricultural community to discuss current events as they relate to this topic, and how folks can get involved. FOFF welcome farmers, farm workers and agricultural producers of all kinds to this conversation.

Transplanting Forest Seedlings
2020-10-18
Join Lee Stevenson, founder of Project Ponderosa, for a hands-on workshop to learn how to identify and transplant a variety of native forest seedlings, including Grand Fir, White Fir, Mountain Hemlock, Snowbush, Manzanita, Mahala Mat, Kinnikinnnick, Paintbrush and more. You’ll learn where to find these native species locally and how to successfully collect and incorporate them into your own landscape.
The first half of the program will take place outdoors in the amphitheater and then the group will travel to one or more locations near Sunriver (within 10 miles) for plant collection. Please bring your own pots/containers, work gloves, and shovel if you have. Participants should also obtain a free Forest Products Free Use Permit from the U.S. Forest Service (if possible) if they wish to collect transplants during the field trip.
This program is limited to 10 participants and early registration is recommended. Masks are required throughout the program. Review COVID-19 safety protocols HERE.

Sakari Farms Potato Harvest
2020-10-17
Offer Sakari Farms a few helping hands this Saturday as they wrap up their 2020 growing season with a Potato Harvest! These healthy/organic Potatoes will be heading up to Warm Springs!

2020 Planet Forward Virtual Summit
2020-10-16
Climate change is the story of our generation, and what defines that story is how we tell it — and the action we take because of it. All around the world, new voices — emerging as powerful changemakers — are running against the clock to prevent irreversible shifts to our global climate.
These are the new activists, innovators, policymakers and others who inspire audiences to take action in their local communities. But, how do they drive their audiences to this critical point?
​At the 2020 Planet Forward Virtual Summit, the focus is on environmental equity, inclusion, institutional change — and the narratives around them. Learn how the best environmental change agents use storytelling to transform their audiences from passive listeners to engaged doers.

Defending Democracy: Interrupting Voter Intimidation and Misinformation
2020-10-15
As rumors fly about who can and can’t vote by mail, and threats to a safe and fair election escalate, rural Oregonians are taking action to defend democracy, build community, and ensure that everyone who can vote does indeed vote!
Join us to strategize about:
-How we can counter disinformation with accurate details on who can vote and how.
-What we can do to make sure ballot drop boxes and post offices remain accessible and safe for our neighbors to drop off their ballots.
-How we can effectively de-escalate and respond to threats and intimidation tactics.

Bend COTA Work Events
2020-10-15
When: Thursday Aug 11, Tuesday Aug 16, Tuesday Aug 23 and Tuesday Aug 30, 5:15 to Dusk
Where: Meet at the old Ray’s parking lot, NE corner of Simpson Ave and Century Drive in Bend
Worksite: Varies
There’s only one thing better than mountain biking in Bend, OR and that’s riding in Bend, knowing that you helped build and maintain the trails you love.
Please bring a hydration pack with water and a snack.
Be sure to bring appropriate layers to accommodate whatever the weather may be.
Questions? contact@cotamtb.com
All COTA trail work events require the following safety measures:
All participants are required to have the following protective clothing and equipment:

Sturdy shoes or boots
Gloves
Eye protection with clear or light colored lens
Long pants

Due to COTA’s insurance requirements and the inherent dangers of trail work, we must implement the following policy regarding children at work events:

For anyone 14 years of age or younger, we require one parent, guardian, or responsible adult for supervision of every four kids attending any COTA trail work events.
All minors under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian available to sign our waiver.

Anyone who arrives for a work event may be turned away if he/she cannot meet the above requirements.

Salmon in Central Oregon
2020-10-15

The Great Tide of Humanity: Race & Gender Reform in 19th Century
2020-10-15
Join The Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program (VSP) of the Central Oregon Community College for a lively evening where Concord, Massachusetts historians and social rights activists come together to talk about the 19th century revolution that was fought with a pen and continues to capture the hearts and minds of social reformers today.

Indigenous Perspectives on Earth and Sky, Featuring Chad Kālepa Baybayan
2020-10-15
Born and raised on Maui, Chad Kālepa Baybayan first sailed on Hōkūleʻa in 1975, a traditionally designed reconstruction of a double-hulled deep-sea oceanic voyaging canoe. He has since sailed on major voyages throughout the Pacific and in 2014 participated as captain and navigator on the Mālama Honua Worldwide voyage, a 47,000 nautical mile journey around the world that visited 26 countries and stopped at 85 ports. He currently serves as the Navigator in Residence at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i developing wayfinding activities, curriculum materials, and conducting outreach. In 2007, his teacher, Master Navigator Mau Piailug, on the tiny Micronesian atoll of Satawal, initiated Kālepa into the order of Pwo, a three thousand year old society of deep-sea navigators.

Ponderosa Pine Seedling Sale
2020-10-15, 2020-10-14, 2020-10-11, 2020-10-10, 2020-10-09
Fall is the perfect time to plant a Ponderosa Pine tree. Seedlings will be available in various sizes and range from one to four years old. Seedlings are cared for by local students and have been acclimated to a Central Oregon environment. Proceeds of the seedling sale benefit Project Ponderosa’s environmental education and habitat restoration programs. Detailed planting instructions with special tips to optimize success are included with all purchases. Nature Center admission is not required to purchase trees.
Learn more about Project Ponderosa and how to get involved here.

Building Resilient Food Systems for Global Food Security and Nutrition
2020-10-15
Join for a World Food Prize side event co-hosted by the FAO North America and the Alliance to End Hunger to learn about the actions needed to promote more resilient and sustainable food systems.

Smithsonian Food History Weekend | Food Futures: Striving For Justice
2020-10-15 - 2020-10-17
The 2020 Smithsonian Food History Weekend and Gala from Home program will feature the voices of leaders involved in the myriad aspects of the food system—from agriculture, to restaurant kitchens and food banks across the country. Virtual gatherings will encourage people to share their stories of resilience in the wake of unprecedented economic, cultural, and public health pandemics. Explore models for food production and learn about grassroots efforts across the country that have responded to these crises.

Webcast: Western Oregon Mushrooms
2020-10-14
Is it raining yet? In this presentation, mushroom expert Bruce Newhouse will guide us in looking over, under, around and through western Oregon for fungi, and get to know a few and what roles they have – especially in our forests. We’ll get familiar with the words “mycorrhizal, saprobic and parasitic” and have some fun along the way. There will be some focus at the end on hunting, cooking and preserving edible fungi, since that is of such great interest to a lot of people.

Oregon Climate Action Plan Town Hall
2020-10-14
Make Your Voice Heard!
We need your help protecting the Oregon Climate Action Plan (OCAP) from the fossil fuel industry! In two weeks, join Oregon League of Conservation Voters for a virtual town hall hosted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and speak up in support of a strong climate action plan! Sign up here!
After Governor Brown signed the Oregon Climate Action Plan last March, state agencies have begun making plans to implement it and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This is great—except, some of these plans are not strong enough, and polluting industries are trying to weaken them even further. The fossil fuel industry will stop at nothing to save themselves, even if it means destroying our planet and putting our communities at risk.
That’s where we come in. This is a climate crisis—a climate emergency, and we’re seeing the effects firsthand during this intense wildfire season. We have no time to waste! We need to make sure that the Oregon Climate Action Plan is as strong as possible for future generations. Please join one of the Department of Environmental Quality’s virtual town halls and drown out the voices of big polluters!

2020 World Food Day Commemorative Ceremony﻿
2020-10-14
Join FAO North America for the inaugural World Food Day Lecture by Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the announcement 2020 World Food Day Poetry Contest winners.

Oh Deer! Harmonious Living with Our Four-legged Neighbors
2020-10-13
Explore the historical and ecological context of Central Oregon’s deer populations. Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory will discuss the conflicts that arise when deer and humans overlap in their habitat and solutions to help mitigate common issues.

Solving Bend’s Transportation Needs
2020-10-13
Measure 9-135 is focused on improving traffic flow, strengthening east/west connections, increasing safety and creating jobs.
Join us for an inside look on which projects are included, what to expect and how it will be funded. This webinar is free to attend.
Panelists:
· Katy Brooks – Bend Chamber CEO (moderator)
· Mike Riley – The Environmental Center Executive Director
· Ruth Williamson – Consultant
· Eric King – City of Bend City Manager

Recipes from Turtle Island
2020-10-13
Join a special celebration of World Food Day and Indigenous People’s Day as FAU launches “Recipes from Turtle Island,” a collaboration project between Slow Food Turtle Island Association, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Slow Food USA, and the film “Gather.” Chefs will talk about the stories and foods behind their recipes.

International Indigenous Peoples Day
2020-10-12

Nuclear Conflict–The Growing Threat and a Call to Action
2020-10-12
Hear a live talk from Dr. Ira Helfand, a two-time Nobel Peace Laureate (in 1985 on behalf of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and in 2017 on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons).
Former Defense Secretary William Perry says that we are closer to nuclear war than we were during the Cold War. The scientific and medical community predict that even a very limited nuclear war that involves less than 1% of the world’s nuclear arsenals would cause enough climate disruption to trigger a global famine, putting 2 billion people at risk of starvation. There is growing international movement to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons through the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. “Back from the Brink,” a US organization, works to bring about fundamental change in U.S. nuclear policy and encourage the effort for a verifiable, enforceable, timebound agreement to dismantle the remaining 14,000 nuclear weapons around the world.

Mushroom Marketplace
2020-10-10
Stock up on all your mushroom essentials at the one-day outdoor Mushroom Marketplace. A wide variety of fresh and dried mushrooms will be available for sale along with mushroom growing kits, other mushroom food products, artwork, jewelry, books and native plants and seeds.
Entry to the marketplace is by timed ticket only and includes admission to the nature center. Reserve your tickets online today!
