Is Waste Essential to Sustainability?

Elephant ears in the fryer

Recently, I visited Portland's Oregon Zoo with my wife and daughter.  Besides enjoying the animals, especially Samudra, the now not-so-small baby elephant, we made some purchases.  First were two elephant ears for my wife and daughter: tasty, zoo-themed slabs of fried dough slathered with butter and sugar.  At the end of our visit, we stopped in the gift shop, where my ten-year-old daughter got a stuffed animal.  In the gift shop, a sign announced an upcoming renovation that would enhance the shop's sustainability, with new bamboo shelves and paints with low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The sign got me thinking.  Certainly, the zoo's activities embody sustainability: education about the precious diversity of life; breeding and sometimes even releasing endangered species; and contributing to the economic well-being of the Portland metropolitan area.  But the concession stands and gift stores sell a lot of junk food that isn't good for us and souvenirs that we don't really need, like plastic toys, stuffed animals and T-shirts.

But everyone likes souvenirs, and they contribute to the economic viability of the zoo.   So, are they a good thing?   It seems that unnecessary consumption is an essential fundraising tool for even the worthiest of causes.   Consider the charity auctions and galas that consume significant resources just to get people to come and donate.  Why not just donate everything directly to the charity?  But I imagine that just asking people to write a check doesn't work as well.

"Welcome to the Urban Revolution" Navigates the Essentials of Successful Cities

By 2050, 70% of the world’s people will reside in cities, and the world’s population will likely peak at over 9 billion.    While people have been migrating to cities since the advent of agriculture the final phase of this migration will occur in the coming decades.  During this final phase, the world is organizing into networks of increasingly interconnected cities that are challenging nation-states for world influence.  By the middle of this century,  Jeb Brugmann envisions an interconnected Global City, which he explains in "Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities are Changing the World".  

What makes cities successful and migration from rural to urban areas so inevitable?   Brugmann identifies four urban advantages that attract migrants and drive prosperity:  density, scale, association and extension.  Urban enterprises that involve large numbers of people or goods in close proximity benefit from cities' density and scale.    Similarly, urbanites migrants have the opportunity to associate with a greater volume and variety of people relative to their rural counterparts.   The final urban advantage, extension, hinges on the superior urban communications and transportation infrastructure, along with familial and communal  relationships that persist through diasporas.  

City residents can combine the four urban advantages very powerfully through the organic or intentional practice of urbanism.   The citysystems that result are tightly coupled value networks that nurture and exploit the economic, social and cultural assets of urban residents.   Brugmann describes the migration of rural cattle herders to Dharavi, a suburb of Mumbai.   Urban migrants and their descendants use their familial and communal connections  to procure hides from the countryside. Dharavi leather industry workers produce high-quality goods in the dense, multipurpose neighborhoods in which they live and work, often in mixed use structures.  Their finished leather  goods find markets in the upscale stores of Mumbai, but are also distributed globally through Mumbai’s port facilities.  While this example of urbanism is organic, or unplanned, Brugmann sees intentional urbanism as critical to sustainable urban futures, and his book serves as a primer to aspiring urbanists.

Citysystems are robust, durable and adaptable, since they are owned, nurtured and governed by their residents.  But if the local establishment denies its communities

Vessel Tracking Website Beckons Armchair Seafarers

Let's face it:  I'm a transportation geek--if you haven't noticed already!  On my regular walk downtown to work, during inclement weather or when I am running late, I sometimes take the MAX light rail one stop within Portland's Fareless Square.  Earlier this week, I first noticed Tri-Met's Rail System Map, and managed to miss my stop while studying it!      

My interest does not wane at the water's edge.  I have long been fascinated with the newspaper port calendar that describes the local movements and moorings of ships, ocean-going tugs, and barges.  Local editor and writer Brian Doyle, eloquently explained our common interest in an Oregonian essay earlier this year.  But like most paper publications, port calendars now have online, real-time competitors.   Vessel-tracking websites display information transmitted by Automatic Identification System (AIS) radio transponders.  AIS is a short-range, coastal tracking system in which all passenger ships and all but the smallest cargo vessels must participate per international convention.  There are a number of websites that provide AIS-based geographical information systems (GIS),  most of which charge for their most interesting services.

San Franciscan Praises Portland's Green Streets

Matthew Roth profiles Portland, Oregon's atreet designs that combine stormwater treatment with safety and convenience for cyclists and pedestrians on sf.streetsblog.org,   Like many cities with older sewer systems, Portland is subject to combined sewer overflow (CSO), in which precipitation combines with sewage to overwhelm the sewage treatment system, resulting in unsanitary discharges into the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough.  Portland is addressing this problem through a twenty-year program to construct tunnels and pipes  which will transport stormwater to wastewater treatment facilities, eliminating the vast majority of CSO volume.  Interested readers can follow Rosie the Tunnel-Boring Machine on Twitter!

In addition to these massive investments, Portland places swales, planters and rain gardens on streets to absorb and filter stormwater before it reaches storm sewers.

For bicyclists, Portland provides bike lanes and bike boxes, which help prevent collisions, particularly between cyclists going straight and motorists turning right.  Portland's first bike track on SW Broadway gives cyclists an entire car-width lane that is separated from the motorized traffic by a line of parked cars.  For pedestrians, there are sidewalks and bulbouts, which extend curbs to calm traffic and improve visibility for both pedestrians and drivers.

All in all, Portland has much to be proud of in its efforts to make streets safe, accessible and sustainable.  What do you think?  What else could Portland be doing to improve its streets?

Urban Commentator Fails to Show that Portland's Progressivism and Livability is Fostered by its Racial Homogeneity

In "The White City" on newgeography.com, urban writer and advocate Aaron Renn contends that mid-size cities most often cited for their livability and progressivism are in fact bastions of homogeneity, with minorities, most notably blacks, underrepresented in their populations. Renn focuses on Portland, Oregon as the most visible and "whitest", with only 6% African Americans in Multnomah County (which contains six municipalities) versus a national core county average of 12.8%. Renn contends that Portland's racial composition sullies its ostensible accomplishments, asking

Can you have a progressive city properly so-called with only a disproportionate handful of African Americans in it? In addition, why has no one called these cities on it?

Renn describes characterizes Portland as "White Flight writ large", asking

Why move to the suburbs of your stodgy Midwest city to escape African Americans and get criticized for it when you can move to Portland and actually be praised as progressive, urban and hip?

Renn contends that density and livability policies like urban growth boundaries (in Portland's case, a state mandate administered by an elected regional government) and restrictions on building materials make housing less affordable for the urban poor and disproportionately affect minorities. He concludes that cities like Portland should not be so self-congratulatory about ostensibly progressive policies enabled by racial homogeneity.

Portland, like virtually all US cities, has a history of racial segregation and other egregious forms of discrimination. However, due to Portland's location and relative lack of industrial muscle there have been few historical motivations for significant black migrations to Portland. Liberty Ship construction during World War II, resulting in the ultimately doomed segregated city of Vanport, was a notable exception.

While policies that encourage density often raise the cost of urban housing, they also stimulate redevelopment and benefit those of modest means by reducing the need for lengthy drives to work and errands. Walkable cities, parks and farmers markets foster health and convenience for all, regardless of race.

Portland is far from a paragon of livability for all of its citizens. Indeed, the poorest areas of the city often have the least access to supermarkets, as shown in this figure from a USDA study published earlier this year.  No city should be smug about its accomplishments, but while Renn shows that racism could motivate migration to Portland, he fails to show that a significant number of people have moved to Portland for that reason.

Is Portland's livability and progressive reputation enabled by its racial composition?  Cast your vote in the first Digital Millwright poll at the top of this page!

Clean Tech Courses Offer Unusual Opportunity to Local Professionals

I have been volunteering with the Clean Tech Advisory Group sponsored by Worksystems, Inc. and the Oregon Training Network. In order to empower professionals who live or work in Multnomah or Washington counties, we have designed a series of world-class local courses at bargain prices thanks to federal subsidies. The theme is sustainability: best practices for improving the financial, social and environmental results of your organization.   Explore the courses that interest you, and be sure to sign up right away!

Integrating Sustainability Into Your Business Practices  November 18-19.  Learn how and why organizations embrace sustainability, and how it benefits them.  Develop a sustainability plan for an aspect of your own organization.  This course is led by business consultant Phil Berry who, as director of footwear sustainability at Nike, was one of the leaders that built the best corporate environmental program in the United States" according to Business Ethics Magazine (2006).  Register Now


Managing Virtual Teams December 1-2.  Learn how to establish, lead and manage teams that cannot regularly work face-to-face.  Develop plans for improving your organization's virtual work environment. Instructor Mark Molau has held senior management positions at Hewlett-Packard, Price Waterhouse and Microsoft, and has  developed and led a variety of multinational organizations and strategies.  Register Now

Taking Advantage Of Externally Hosted Platforms And Applications  December 7-8.   Learn to evaluate IT solution hosting options from dedicated hardware to cloud computing and optimize your organization's hosting investment.  Among their myriad IT leadership experiences, instructors Manoj Garg and Jackie Baretta are former CIOs of WebEx Communications and Con-way respectively.   Register Now

Understanding Energy Management and Measurement for Your Company  December 14-15.    Learn how to measure and reduce your organization's energy consumption.   By the end of this course, you will develop an opportunity to enhance one of your organization's product or services by reducing energy consumption.    Instructor Phil Berry was chosen by Vice President Al Gore as one of 1,000 people trained to deliver his climate change presentation.  Register Now

Photo Essay on the South Waterfront: New Urbanism meets the Great Recession

Portland's South Waterfront community along the Willamette River just south of downtown is served by an aerial tram to the Marquam Hill campus of Oregon Health and Science University and a streetcar line that loops through the city.  It is full of gleaming new buildings with a riverfront trail and attractively planted public spaces, and offers housing for a variety of income levels.  However, its promoters have been unable to attract sufficient luxury condominium buyers, leading to an auction on September 20 where condos were sold at steep discounts.  At the end of August, I explored the South Waterfront and and posted a photo essay to Facebook.