— May 28, 03:05 PM — Comments

Is Portland Really Sustainable?

All photos in this slideshow by Emily Wolfer.
In the panel, from left: Scott Lewis, Greg Baldwin, Mark Edlen, Susan Anderson, Randy Gragg, Tom Manley, Susan Szenasy.

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This morning PNCA was thrilled to host a PNCA+FIVE Idea Studio entitled, Green with Envy: How Innovative is PDX in its Quest for a Sustainable City?, at the Armory’s Gerding Theatre. Susan Szenasy, who has been Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis magazine since 1986 and is widely regarded as an expert on sustainability, led panelists Susan Anderson, Director, Portland Office of Sustainable Development, Greg Baldwin, Partner at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, Mark Edlen, Managing Principal of Gerding Edlen, Randy Gragg, Editor of Portland Spaces and Scott Lewis, Founder and Principal of Brightworks, through a challenging and thought-provoking discussion of Portland’s present and future as it seeks sustainability.

Long considered a leader in this arena, Portland has achieved media-darling status as other US cities look to mimic our bike-friendly roads, energy efficiency standards and green building practices.

And yet the underlying question of the session seemed to be, “Are we doing enough?” Each panelist touched on the dangers, as Scott Lewis put it, of “resting on our laurels and becoming complacent.” Susan Anderson remarked that Portland was unique in having a global warming plan that’s been in place since 1993, but also spoke of the challenges ahead, stating that we need to decrease our green house gas emissions by 80% over the next twenty years, making the 16% decrease we’ve seen since the mid-90s seem paltry by comparison.

So we have a long way to go, but what is it about Portland that has given us this reputation of sustainability? The panelists seemed to concur that much of this can be attributed to the city’s history, including the planning of the Columbia Gorge that began in the 1930s, the Bottle Bill of the 1970s and the urban growth boundary that helps keep our commutes shorter. Panelists also converged on the uniqueness of the public-private intersection that has occurred in Portland, allowing business and government sectors to work towards shared goals using methods like tax credits for the use of renewable energy sources.

Towards the close of the discussion, Szenasy was asked to give the final words, choosing to end on a hopeful note she said, “Our can-do attitude can work for us. We can fix this.”

What do you think? Is Portland on its way to being sustainable, or do you think we have a long way to go? How do we achieve sustainability? What local and national issues threaten our progress? What can we do as a group, or as individuals to create change? Weigh in now.

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