SARE Announcement from Portland State University

In case you haven’t heard, we are very excited to share some news with you from “The Catalyst,” the newsletter of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies in the Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning at Portland State University.

“The Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, in partnership with OSU Extension, Cogan Owens Cogan, and the City of Damascus, has been awarded a $223,000 three-year grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program of the USDA to create an assessment of the Portland region’s sustainable agriculture system, develop a needs assessment, and provide tools and strategies for growers and local governments, with a case study of small urban influenced farms near Damascus.”

Multnomah Food Summit

What a great day for food planning sponsored by the Multnomah Food Initiative. Two hundred people gathered on Saturday, May 1, 2010 for the Multnomah Food Summit to develop a framework of action and suggest multiple actions to engage the entire community. Cogan Owens Cogan facilitated the summit planning steering committee and the event. The summit focused on four interrelated goals:  healthy eating, food access and equity, the food economy and localizing the entire food system. The next steps will be to summarize and analyze the results of the summit and consider how all the partners can work together to achieve the goals for the community. Photos from this event are available on Flickr.

OPJ Article on SB 1059

(As written for the upcoming issue of the Oregon Planners Journal, the newsletter of the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association)

SB 1059 Passed to Begin to Implement MPO Recommendations on Greenhouse Gas Reductions

“SB 1059 lays the groundwork for communities to plan for future population and employment growth while reducing greenhouse gases….” – Senator Jackie Dingfelder

Responding to the State of Oregon’s policy on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions passed in 2007, and House Bill 2186 of the 2009 session, legislators passed Senate Bill 1059 during the final days of the 2010 legislative session. Introduced by Senator Courtney at the request of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Greenhouse Gas Task Force, the bill contains these primary elements:

1. Directs the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) to collaborate with MPOs, other state agencies, local governments and stakeholders to adopt a statewide transportation strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as set forth under ORS468A.205. As background, ORS  468A.205 establishes Oregon’s policy on greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals:
   • By 2010, arrest the growth of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions and begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
   • By 2020, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are 10 percent below 1990 levels.
   • By 2050, achieve greenhouse gas levels that are at least 75 percent below 1990 levels.

   ORS 468.205 further declares that “it is the policy of this state for state and local governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations and individual residents to prepare for the effects of global warming and by doing so, prevent and reduce the social, economic and environmental effects of global warming.”

2. Directs the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Department of Land Conservation and Development Commission (DLCD), after consultation with MPOs, other state agencies, local governments and stakeholders shall establish guidelines for developing and evaluating alternative land use scenarios that may reduce GHG emissions.
3. Calls for development of a toolkit for use by local governments to reduce transportation sector GHG emissions through land use and other means.
4. Directs LCDC in consultation with the OTC, local governments and MPOs to identify a reduction target for the transportation sector for GHG emissions for vehicles weighing 10,000 lbs or less in each MPO area.
5. Directs ODOT and DLCD to work with other state agencies and the Oregon University System on public outreach and education associated with the need to reduce GHG emissions and associated costs and benefits of GHG emission reductions.
6. Asks local governments within MPOs to consider whether any immediate action should be taken to reduce transportation-sector GHG emissions, and to consider how Regional Transportation System plans outside the Portland Metropolitan area could be altered to reduce GHG emissions. [The Portland Metropolitan area has specific and related task it is working on per the 2009 HB 2001 Jobs and Transportation Act.]
7. Requires DLCD and ODOT to report on the above actions to the 2011 Legislature.

Credit goes to OAPA chapter Vice-President Brian Campbell for testifying on the bill, and to members of the emergent OAPA Sustainability Steering Team for their work – particularly Richard Ross and OAPA Legislative Liaison Stephen Kafoury.  For the full text of the bill, see: http://www.leg.state.or.us/10ss1/measpdf/sb1000.dir/sb1059.b.pdf

- Kirstin Greene, AICP, Managing Principal, Cogan Owens Cogan, LLC

Peak everything? Can we create a resilient society?

Last Tuesday, I joined Natural Step Network colleagues for coffee with Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at Post Carbon Institute.  Mr. Heinberg is best known as a leading educator on Peak Oil, though his expertise is far ranging, covering critical issues including the current economic crisis, food and agriculture, community resilience and global climate change.   The gloom and doom were thick – just like crude oil.

We are, according to Heinberg’s forecasts, entering the time when not only are we running out of oil, but we also are running lower on most of the basic minerals for industrial civilization.  Heinberg detailed what might be called the “Peak Everything” scenario.  If his forecast is true, we need to continue to focus on efficiency of resource use and Bill McDonough’s concept of eco-effectiveness, or as the Buddhist might say, doing no harm or maybe – just maybe improving nature’s ability to function.

This gloomy forecast stimulated me to frame what might be called a new Triple Bottom Line (TBL) – or R³:

• Resilient economies that focus on local/regional levels strategies.
• Revitalized communities that are more locally centered and self-reliant.
• Restored ecosystems that provide the ecosystem services to all species including Homo Sapiens.

To move to this R³/TBL we need to:

• Make scientific arguments clear and simple so they can be communicated to the public and policy makers.
• Begin to translate this thinking to policy makers as “opportunities” to improve local communities.
• Undertake prototyping projects at all scales to demonstrate these opportunities.
• Create strategies for change that work at different scales:  family, neighborhood, community, school, business, city, state, region and nation.

If we adopt this strategy, regardless of whether we are entering “Peak Everything” scenario or not, we may be able to improve our communities, economies and ecosystems.