ISS is helping Oregon Country Fair go Carbon Neutral

Oregon's oldest and largest counter-culture festival has a history of environmentalism and now they're working with the Institute for Sustainable Solutions to become carbon neutral by 2025.  The Oregon Country Fair hosts more than 40,000 attendees on their land alongside the Long Time River for a three day festival annually  (2020 excluded due to Covid-19) "offering the finest in entertainment, hand-made crafts, delectable food and information sharing". The fair has been long committed to "treading lightly" on the land; and acting as an educator and change agent for progressive environmental values. 

The partnership between ISS and Oregon Country Fair was forged in early 2019, when the two organizations set to work toward the carbon neutral vision--the goal is to generate no more carbon than they can offset with actions like planting trees and generating renewable energy. The ISS team consisted of two PSU students, Luke Hanst (MS Comunications) and Chlesea Staton (Sustainability Certificate), Economics Professor Sahan Dissanyake and ISS Collaborative Projects Manager Beth Gilden. The team conducted a first of it's kind carbon footprint analysis of the fair; and studied the underlying organizational, social and cultural context of the fair to understand how to approach this major goal.  "When we are going after a big goal like carbon neutrality--no matter what the context--we need to consider the underlying systems that are maintaining the status quo and develop a strategy that addresses those institutional and cultural systems." Says Gilden. "While we need to understand the technical challenge--uncovering the sources of carbon--we also need to create a plan for transformation within the Oregon Country Fair."

As part of this project, ISS worked hand in hand with Oregon Country Fair staff and volunteers; and plans to continue the partnership as they work toward their 2025 goal.  "In Phase I we laid the foundation to understand the major sources of carbon and understand what drives change within their organization", says Gilden. Oregon Country Fair and ISS plan to continue their partnership long-term as their carbon neutrality vision comes to life. In addition to continuing our partnerships with Oregon County Fair; ISS will connect with other fairs and festivals who are interested in making similar changes. Education is an essential component of the Oregon Country Fair Carbon Neutrality project, not only internally for OCF fair-goers, but outside the fair community as well. The shared hope of Oregon Country Fair and ISS is that this project is goes beyond Oregon Country Fair and can transform other fairs and festivals and ultimately the larger community.