‘State of Green’ economy neglected some key points

It’s a fine day in the neighborhood called “green is the new black” when politicians, CEOs, middle managers and entrepreneurs view sustainability as one myopic way of doing business that will “make the whole community more resilient and our local economy stronger.” That’s one take by Susanne Croft, former City of Spokane sustainability director, who is heading up Sustainable Resources Northwest and also pitching a candidates’ forum Tuesday to see what mayoral candidates think about greening the economy. It’s bound to be a lot of platitudes, not much substance, and a slew of misconceptions on what being green really is. Spokane mayors are traditionally virtually paper tigers when it comes to action, mired in state and federal economic constipation. Few know how to merge local with global politics and economics. It’s clear why some have this opinion: time and time again, this and other cities place little or no emphasis on ecology, geology, global climate (the biotic world outside the human-centered needs of food, power, sewage, fun/consumption) – and less emphasis on social justice. What I am emphasizing here was yet another, as I see it, faux sustainability-focused or sustainability-themed event: the June 15 Third Annual State of Spokane’s Green Economy. While Croft bills Tuesday’s candidate event as a way to frame sustainability as neither “a liberal nor a conservative issue … just a better way to run a business, local government or community,” the atmosphere at the Greater Spokane Incorporated event at the Spokane Club was surreal to say the least. The opening mood was set by moderator Hal Calbom repeating the rejoinder – “What do you think of this record winter snowpack and spring chill and rains? Global warming. Right.” There’s just no end to the spin Greater Spokane, Inc., puts into the PR blender when it comes to climate change, global warming, renewable energy, and local economy: what people are looking at seriously, with the addition of the environmental, social and economic justice challenges facing communities, and the globe. They never have the real thinkers and leaders in sustainability at these specialty events. They act as if engineers, builders and biotech wonks are the visionaries for a world gripped in climate change systems collapse and civil and ecological unrest. The panel – not much of a discussion, just canned statements – included Sen. Lisa Brown, Mayor Mary Verner, Washington Policy Center spokesperson Todd Myers, Climate Solutions’ Ross Macfarlane, and Sirti CEO Kim Zentz. These folk bastardized the concepts of sustainability, emphasizing short term economics, maximized profits and anemic and far-fetched job creation ventures, at the expense of true sustainability — protecting ecology, which is part of the quartet of cultural, human, animal, and biological ecology. The problem that those panelists failed to grasp publically, as did Gary Mallon of GSI and a representative of CH2MHIL, is sustainability is more than helping companies find the next “renewable energy” or providing Fortune 500 companies with tools to retool, retrofit or realign to save money. Even an anthropomorphic definition of sustainability would have helped shed some light on Spokane’s milquetoast, sometimes deceptive green parade, something like this: “How Sustainability is embedded within an organization influences the degree to which it is perceived as a good corporate citizen or green business. How do we embed Sustainability? The first step is an understanding what Sustainability is!” states Nikos Avlonas, president and managing director of Center for Sustainability & Excellence in Europe and John Friedman, co-founder, Sustainable Business Network of Washington. They continue: “Sustainability is a form of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (1987, World Commission on Environment and Development). It is about identifying what it means for your organization strategically, outlining performance measures that will indicate levels of success in aligning strategy with Sustainability, and designing transparent communications channels to talk about achievements. Bottom line… Sustainability is an honest attempt to create positive social, environmental, and economic impacts through transparent organizational performance measures and communications.” Unfortunately, technological boondoggles drive some companies looking to maximize profits and green points. Whereas worthy, valued employment and community enterprise, sustainable development at the neighborhood level, and focusing on the futures for our children’s children are never mentioned seriously. At the June 15 event, it was Lisa Brown barely harping on the fact that Washington State is becoming a has-been, formerly known as a regional education center. In tandem was homage to Spokane’s education future of old – so much potential with its colleges and universities. We could have been set to be an epicenter of all kinds of social capital growth and idea incubation. While Brown’s warning was slight, she did briefly take the bull by the horns: the current state of the state’s budget – as well as the national economy being eviscerated by decrepit political thinking – is not boding well for Washington higher education horizon. GSI, Avista, Sirti, CLEEN/NW and the others need to bring leaders to the table, who have a grasp on the future needs of future generations.