Southern Oregon University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

For two weeks during the month of April, the Transportation Options program hosted the 5,000 Mile Challenge, challenging students, staff and faculty to explore alternative transportation options. During the challenge, the SOU community was asked to log all trips taken, with a goal of logging 5,000 miles of walking, biking, transit, carpooling, and skateboarding. During the campaign there were several events to promote the campaign, provide information about transportation options, and introduce the campus to transportation modes. For instance, SOU partnered with the local transportation district to bring a bus on campus for people to see what it is like on the bus and to learn how to use the bike racks mounted on the front of the bus. Prizes were available for students who participated in the challenge. While the campaign was most heavily targeting students, it was also open to employees.

More than 100 SOU students logged non-drive-alone trips, totaling 3,851 non-drive-alone miles during the two-week challenge. This was a significant increase in trips logged into the Drive Less Connect system compared to prior weeks.

SOU's Recycling Program hosts the annual residence hall move-out waste diversion event. Each year during residence hall move-outs tons of recyclable and reusable items are dumped in the trash and trucked to the landfill. During SOU's annual move out collection event, collection stations are staged in campus residence halls to collect move-out waste from students before they reach the dumpster. These items are then donated to Southern Oregon Goodwill, contributing to the creation of jobs and career development opportunities for underprivileged individuals in our community. The campaign seeks to educate students on how to divert their waste from the landfill by recycling and donating reusable items to organizations such as Goodwill, while reducing overall move out waste.

SOU launched the annual move out waste diversion event in 2013, collecting more than 8,400 pounds of reusable and recyclable items. Since its launch, the program has continued to grow, diverting an average of 8,436 pounds of materials each year, with peak collections of 10,973 pounds in 2016 and 10,441 pounds in 2018.

For two consecutive years Southern Oregon University's sustainability office has hosted Zero Waste Week, engaging students and employees in challenges and events the raise awareness about waste. Zero Waste Week is a week full of events that focus on waste prevention, reduction, reuse, and diversion. The week also includes the Zero Waste Challenge, where students and employees are encouraged to carry around all of the waste they generate for the entire week to gain awareness of how much waste they generate in one week. The challenge is focused on raising personal awareness and does not support any shame or judgement. One of the most popular events during the week is the Tea Talk, where we bring people together to discuss a topic using equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability as a lens. The week also includes events that inform participants about creating zero waste meals, zero waste feminine hygiene, film screenings, a repair fair, and more. At the end of Zero Waste Week, participants in the Zero Waste Challenge are invited to measure their waste and reflect on what they learned and experienced throughout the week. Participants indicated an increased awareness of the waste generated by their daily activities and intentions to begin implementing zero waste strategies in their lives.