Learning about environmental, social, and economic sustainability issues can be daunting and overwhelming, especially when considering how to create solutions to pressing problems.  With the motto “Educate, Empower, Engage,” this sustainability education project addresses the need for greater student capacity and leadership development related to overcoming psychological barriers that can inhibit student empowerment and engagement.  This train-the-trainer model transcends campus and discipline-specific sustainability issues and provides the knowledge, tools, and strategies necessary for participants to be able to engage proactively, empathetically, and heroically with campus and community needs, through innovative problem-solving.

PCC, as a member of RCE Greater Portland, aka the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN), has partnered with an eco-psychologist to develop a pilot project workshop which integrates sustainability lessons into a social psychological train-the-trainer model. This training will provide PCC students and college students across the greater Portland region with an opportunity to gain the confidence and skills necessary to examine sustainability issues, engage in their communities, and quickly scale up their impact. Based on the premise that ordinary people are capable of taking extraordinary actions, the training will provide participants with new ways of seeing the world and new skillsets, all derived from scientific research, that provide the “how” for creating positive social change.