The Sustainability Network of Washington County
Interested in sustainability issues in Washington County? The PSWCC convenes the Sustainability Network of Washington County. This public forum for sustainability information-sharing and support serves professionals in business, government, and nonprofit in the county. Quarterly meetings are open to all; agendas are planned and organized by Network members. What to learn more? Contact the PSWCC coordinator to get on the mailing list.
Recent meetings:
October 2011 Sustainability Communications at the Edge of the Known Universe. How do we talk about and frame sustainability issues without frightening or alienating the very people we need to reach? How do we move people from belief and opinion to action? Governments, non-profits and businesses--even individuals--are having trouble communicating about climate and sustainability. Twenty years of science-based communications hasn't worked, and fewer and fewer Americans rank climate as an important issue that needs addressing. Leslie Carlson of Carlson Communications (http://www.carlson-communications.com/) presented the latest research in what works (and what doesn't) when talking about climate and sustainable behavior. Her firm works with public agencies and sustainable businesses to help advocate behavior change for climate, thoughtful consumption, sustainable products and other sustainability-related areas. Some of her clients include the Northwest Earth Institute, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, the Oregon Department of Health Services, the Oregon Global Warming Commission, the City of Portland, and Practice Greenhealth (a national sustainable health care member organization).
July 2011 Sustainability Network member Scott Olsen led us on a tour of his Washington County farm and started a discussion about community supported agriculture (CSA), local farming, and composting techniques. Listening to Scott just talk about the Bokashi fermentation method of composting and "the living soil" was worth the visit but the good weather and beautiful surroundings made it a perfect day out.
April 2011 Bob Wise, senior associate at Cogan Owens Cogan LLC and Director of Team Oregon, LLC, facilitated a dialogue around the following questions:
1. What caused your organization embark on sustainability? How does your management define it? How serious is your organization about it?
2. Is there a connect or a disconnect between your organization’s internal sustainability efforts (e.g., energy conservation and recycling) and your organization’s products’ (e.g. transportation infrastructure, computer chips, health care services) social and environmental impacts?
3. How can you change your sustainability planning to address both the internal and external challenges?
January 2011 At our previous meeting, there was a lot of enthusiasm for collecting the sustainability expertise we have here in Washington County. By the request of attendees, we conducted an “asset mapping” of the Network: documenting the sustainability activities, skills, and experience among the participants and seeing if there are avenues for partnership or collaboration.
October 2010 Marsha Willard, principal at Axis Performance Advisors, author of books like Business Guide to Sustainability, and founder of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, spoke at the October Sustainability Network meeting. In response to a growing need to move the world towards sustainable development and sustainable practices within government and industry, a whole new profession is emerging: the sustainability professional. The International Society of Sustainability Professionals recently conducted a research study to bring clarity, cohesion and credibility to this new area. The study, conducted over a 9 month period, sought to answer the question, “What should a sustainability professional know how to do?”
July 2010 Dr. Thomas Joseph Doherty talked about ecopsychology, which reveals how emotional and mental health is dependent on sustainability and one's relationship with nature. Dr. Doherty, featured recently in the NYTimes, described the benefits of green spaces for stress reduction and productivity, diverse ways people understand their connections to the natural world, and how to cope with issues like climate change and the recent Gulf Oil Disaster. Find a copy of his presentation here.
April 2010 David Williams, President of ShoreBank Pacific, and Carsten Henningsen, founder of Portfolio 21 Investments, talked about socially responsible investing, living economy models, microfinance, and mission-driven businesses. These two businessmen made the case for keeping money local by banking, investing, manufacturing/distributing and buying regionally and for having one's money make social, as well as financial, returns.
January 2010 - Reuben Plantico from Portland General Electric's environmental and sustainability policy director, and Jason Eisdorfer, Bonneville Power Administration's greenhouse gas policy strategist, talked about "Oregon's Energy Future: What does Sustainability Mean?" The two discussed Oregon's energy generation portfolio (coal, wind, solar etc) and how large-scale energy planning for the next 30-50 years involved balancing all of the triple bottom line: society, economy, and environment.
April and October 2009 - David Allaway from Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality came in April, and by popular demand, returned in October to talk about waste reduction and sustainability. His insights into waste reduction's relationship to consumption, waste generation, material production and energy use were surprising and enlightening. In addition, he offered suggestions on how we can reduce the environmental impact of our personal and organizational use of material goods.
July 2009 - Waste Management’s hosted a tour of its new recycling center in Hillsboro. The tour included visits to the recycling center (with LEED features), the wetlands, and the landfill.