About Us
Our Mission
To facilitate the integration of economically, socially and environmentally sustainable concepts and practices into all educational and operational activities of our K-12 school system, so that all children are prepared to create and succeed in a sustainable future.
Organization
The Sustainable Schools Collaborative (SSC) is the sustainable schools program of the Zero Waste Alliance (ZWA). The SSC collaborates with schools staff and stakeholders to help K-12 schools and districts educate for and practice economic, social and environmental sustainability. We are based in Portland, Oregon and happy to work on projects anywhere.
The Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative (SOSI) is a major SSC focus.
The Zero Waste Alliance supports organizations in the creation of a more sustainable future by following nature’s zero-waste model. ZWA has a proven track record of working with broad stakeholder groups to accomplish innovative and far reaching goals. This is exemplified by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) project, a multi-year EPA-funded, national project to develop and implement an electronics assessment tool. EPEAT benefited from ZWA’s management of the collaborative process, ensuring a successful product outcome that all parties support.
The Zero Waste Alliance is a program of the International Sustainable Development Foundation] (ISDF), a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1997. ISDF accelerates sustainable development locally and internationally based on nature’s design principles. It achieves results through a new form of cooperation among governments, businesses, universities, research institutions and non-governmental organizations.
Staff
Larry Chalfan, Senior Advisor
Mr. Chalfan was the founding Executive Director of the Zero Waste Alliance and is now a senior advisor. He is a 30-year veteran of the semiconductor industry and previously was President and CEO of Oki Semiconductor Manufacturing, the first company in Oregon to achieve ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system. In 1997, to work toward sustainability, Oki added the System Conditions of the Natural Step to its ISO 14001 structure and Mr. Chalfan personally provided training for all staff.
Mr. Chalfan received MS and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Oregon State University. Current and past board service includes the Oregon State University College of Engineering and Bioengineering Advisory boards, the Resource Innovation Group board and the Advisory Committee of the Oregon Natural Step Network. He has been a recipient of the Sustainable Oregon Award and was inducted into the OSU Engineering Hall of Fame. Mr. Chalfan is a frequent speaker on sustainability topics.
Lori Porter Stole, Sustainable Schools Manager
Lori has been involved with sustainability and related issues since 1995. Her school sustainability journey began with Oregon's third largest district, Beaverton, where she's a parent. With a sustainability task force she designed a district sustainability program, with which she continues to be involved. In 2005 she began ZWA’s sustainable schools program, including the Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative (SOSI). Prior to her involvement with schools, she worked for several years with product stewardship solutions to the electronic waste problem, serving as staff to the Western Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI).
Lori has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and worked for over a decade in the semiconductor and plastics industries, in the US and in Germany. She's also a freelance musician and plays violin in several orchestras in Oregon. After working, climbing, kayaking and biking in various places around the world she came to Oregon in 1986. Her twins are in high school.
Lynne Mutrie, Safe Routes to School (SRTS)
Lynne’s passion lies with creating places where walking and biking are encouraged, convenient and safe. She has been working towards this for over 20 years starting in Vancouver, Canada and most recently as the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s (BTA) Statewide Safe Routes to School manager. While at the BTA, Lynne was part of the team that developed the City of Portland’s SRTS program that started with eight schools and now serves the majority of the city’s schools. Lynne is presently a board member for the Alliance for Community Traffic Safety, where she coordinated their Community Traffic Safety program and worked to help communities statewide to develop plans and programs for safe and efficient transportation.
Lynne has a BA in Physical Education from the University of Western Ontario. Lynne loves being either in or on the water and has been a competitive rower, cyclist and triathlete, but now prefers finding new views, either locally or abroad, from the seat of her bicycle.
Our address, phone and e-mail information can be found on the Contact Us page.
