Linfield hoping to reap sustainability

The News-Register staff

Linfield College volunteers sowed a new roof on the campus bike shelter earlier this month - sowed it with vegetation, that is, as part of the school's sustainabiility efforts.

As the living roof sprouts roots and shoots, it will minimize stormwater runoff, provide habitat for birds and small mammals, and serve as an attractive addition to campus landscaping, organizers said.

"It's a physical representation of our commitment to the environment," said Jessica Wade, Linfield's director of community engagement and service.

Linfield is one of two private colleges in the Northwest to receive a Learn and Serve America grant from the Corporation for National Community Service Fund.

The grant is aimed at helping students and faculty with sustainability programs. In Linfield's case, it will fund green energy initiatives such as the bike shelter's living roof project.

Juniors David Kellner-Rode and Sarah Valentine, joined by eco-roof specialist Dan Manning of Portland's Ecoroofs Everywhere, led a workshop on green roofs prior to the Nov. 5 installation. Members of the staff, faculty and student body supplied the labor.

Students have also come up with other creative ways to support the campus' Climate Action Plan. They opened a campus bike shop to promote alternative transportation, planted a campus garden and implemented a community-wide energy drive, going door to door to swap out inefficient light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs.

Linfield is one of 15 Oregon, Washington and Idaho colleges taking part in a Northwest Sustainability Initiative. It is designed to support service learning in the science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, and help students take their educational experience into the community.

"Our goal is to create more robust campus-community partnerships around sustainability," Wade said.

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