News and Events
Get Involved!
Sustainability Committee Meetings
We have no more meetings planned for Fall term 2023-24. Will post when Winter term meetings are scheduled.
- Contact Noelle Bell Copley, Sustainability Coordinator, for more information.
Sustainability Trainings and Events
Past events
Commute Options Get There Challenge is October 1-15, join a team to log trips and earn prizes.
350Deschutes Go Clean Energy Conference is open to all COCC staff, faculty and students for free! Wednesday, October 4th, 8:30-4:30 in Wille Hall. Register at GoCleanEnergy.org.
Join Commute Options Walk + Roll Challenge May 8-19 to log trips and earn prizes.
Join COCC and Commute Options when you walk, bus or roll to school and work on May 11th, come to the tent in front of Campus Center 11am-1pm for giveaways and prizes!
Worldwide Climate Action Teach-In April 19th 1:30-5:30pm on Bend campus, Wille Hall in Coats Campus Center. Free
The biggest threat to our future is thinking that someone else will solve the climate crisis. Learn about local actions and get involved. Climate action is the theme, featuring a lineup of climate-focused talks and breakout sessions from the college and the community, including the city of Bend, the Environmental Center and Oregon State University-Cascades, The Nature Conservancy and more. Info booths will provide resources for engagement.
April 21, 2023 The Clothing Connection Fashion Show celebrating reuse in honor of Earth Day. Shows at 3pm and 7pm!
April 26, 2023 ~ Saving local trees from the American Hornet Moth ~Coats Campus Center room 116, 12:30-2pm
American Hornet Moth pest control; specific to aspen, poplars and willow tree health. We have this issue in aspens next to Coats campus center. 1 hour event with a Lecture by Bret Michalski in the conference room and a workshop to look at aspens right outside on the lower south side of the building. Campus walk by Forestry club optional following lecture and workshop. A Tree Campus USA Arbor Day Foundation event.
April 26, 2023 Spring Repair Café at OSU-Cascades 5:30-7:30pm free
Connecting people with broken stuff to people who like to fix stuff! This event will also include a free second-hand clothing exchange! Remaining items will be donated to The Clothing Connection.
Central Oregon Residence Hall Energy Challenge February 2023-2nd annual
Who can conserve more energy — Beavers or Bobcats? For the month of February energy use at Wickiup residence hall was compared to OSU-Cascades residence hall. Winner was OSU-C who got a pizza party! But the real winner is the earth, of course. By creating more energy efficient habits, everybody wins!
WOHESC Conference March 6-8, 2023
Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference was in Corvallis this year. ASCOCC sponsored 8 students to attend!
Waste Watch at COCC as part of the
Community Education Tuesdays at 2pm lecture series.
What better way to spend Valentine's Day :)
November 18, Friday: Greening your Holidays (or HoliDAZE!?!) Sustainability in sips cookie and coffee hour. Coats Campus Center 116 10-11:30am. There are so many reasons to celebrate and give gifts in the upcoming season with many gatherings from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. Come hear from students on everything from how to talk to climate skeptics (relatives and friends), hosting zero waste events and tips on environmentally-friendly gift-giving.
September 22, Thursday: Come chat at the Sustainability table at the COCC club and resource fair
September 30, Friday: Waste Watch training. Join other interested COCC sustainability leaders in building a coalition of environmentally conscious ambassadors. Coats Campus Center room 116, 10am-noon. Space is limited, please RSVP: ncopley@cocc.edu or 541-383-7779.
October 1, Saturday noon-2pm: Pollinator Garden planting! Come out to help plant the COCC community
garden path! 
Go Clean Energy Conference Thursday, October 6, 2022 Wille Hall, Free for staff and students! Join individuals, businesses and government discover opportunties in clean energy, efficiency, sustainability, electric mobility and green jobs.
Sign up for the Get There Challenge (October 3-16). Challenge participants can take actions to unlock a variety of experience, knowledge, and skill-building achievements in Get There Connect to earn points toward weekly and grand prizes. You can learn more about the Get There Challenge here.
October 11, Tuesday: Bike the Butte, partnering with Commute Options for alternatives to driving and bike promoting. Join us on the Health Careers Center patio from 11am-1pm for treats, coffee, e-bike demos, ride the love bike and more!
Local Events
Check out local event calendars from these amazing organizations:
Oregon Natural Desert Association
OSU Extension Gardening resources
Past Events
COCC Bike MAYhem!
Thursday, May 11, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Coats Campus Center
Earth Day Plant Sale and Seed Swap
April 22, 2022 1-4pm.
Earth Day Fashion Show
April 22, 2022 at 2pm. Celebrating Reuse & The Clothing Connection
“Braiding Sweetgrass” book groups
Join the Sustainability Committee book group on Fridays at 12:30-1:30pm. There are multiple book group options throughout Central Oregon that will be meeting January to March through the Season of Nonviolence.
WOHESC Conference March 3 & 4, 2022
Washington Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference is all virtual this year. Check out the program schedule and if you would like to view with other attendees, please contact Noelle.
Thursday, March 3rd 3:30-5:30pm will be a special screening of YOUTH v GOV, which is the story of America's youth taking on the world's most powerful government. Since 2015, twenty-one plaintiffs, now ages 13 to 24, have been suing the U.S. government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, personal safety, and property through their willful actions in creating the climate crisis they will inherit. But YOUTH v GOV is about more than just a lawsuit. It is the story of empowered youth finding their voices and fighting to protect their rights and our collective future. This is a revolution designed to hold those in power accountable for the past and responsible for a sustainable future. And many of the movement's leaders aren't even old enough to vote. Yet!
All 2022 Programming
Climate Justice as Freedom
Julie Sze, Ph.D. - Professor of American Studies, UC Davis and Founding Director, Environmental Justice Project for UC Davis’ John Muir Institute for the Environment
Thursday, March 10, 6:00-7:30 p.m. PST - Virtual presentation
FREE and OPEN to the public. Register here.
Live captioning will be available. One registration per viewing device please.
Julie Sze, Ph.D. believes that climate justice is a freedom struggle: one involving both negative and positive freedoms. Climate justice activists use the term “frontline” to make issues of race, class, indigeneity, citizenship, and gender more prominent and to highlight the disparities of who is most impacted and most responsible. Sze will discuss how frontline climate justice movements focus on well-informed radical hope and visions that help bring us into an emancipatory future.
Climate Teach-In March 30, 2022
Watch the recording. Modeled after the Worldwide event by Bard University.
The New Climate War:
The fight to take back our planet by Michael Mann Pennsylvania State University March 31 6:30pm Riverhouse.
Central Oregon Residence Hall Energy Challenge February 2022
It's on! Who will conserve more energy — Beavers or Bobcats? We'll find out in Central Oregon's first-ever residence hall energy challenge.