FMYI | For My Innovation

Next up in our innovation blueprint (collaboration + sustainability + technology) for Economy 2.0 is sustainability.

No doubt there’s a lot of baggage with the term sustainability. What does it mean? Why does it sound so whimpy? The best definition out there is the Natural Step’s. In terms of the word itself, people criticize it for not being aspirational or inspiring. And I agree. But to me, the point is sustainability. By paying attention to the triple bottom line (people, planet, and profit), we’re able to sustain innovation and not get too out of balance. Because as we know, getting out of balance results in major shocks to the system. A lot of this is common sense and harkens back to the old days when things were simpler. Time to go back to the future.

So the bottom line is, sustainability is an approach to sustaining innovation. Using the sectors I mentioned in Economy 2.0 blog post, let’s check out examples of sustainability innovations coming out of Portland:

EDUCATION
The Northwest Earth Institute publishes discussion courses about sustainability that grows sustainably. What do I mean by that? You gather some friends or colleagues, do a course, and you either repeat the process for another course, or your friends/colleagues start their own. It grows without much top down guidance because people can talk about their passion around community and the environment. It’s also innovative because it’s an education approach that spurs personal action, without being prescriptive about how to bring about change.

ENERGY
Want to offset your carbon footprint? Check out the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. What they do is basically create an innovation fund for the development of renewable energy sources like solar power and wind farms. It’s a successful attempt at lowering the barrier to entry for new sustainable technologies while leveraging a fresh approach to marketing something that could be dry. And what makes it sustainable in the long term? There will always be a higher cost to new technology. This is a program that engages people and organizations to help bring down the barriers without relying solely on investors.

FOOD
Portland Farmer’s Market is an organization that has been putting on farmer’s markets since 1992. As we know, these markets are the perfect balance of people, planet, and profit. What makes it sustainable over the long term is the message of a closer, direct connection between the farmers, community members, and the food.

HEALTH
Coalition for a Livable Future is a group of almost 100 organizations dedicated to health and livability in the Portland area. By addressing health at a high level and stressing the interconnectedness of the issue, I’m betting that CLF’s efforts are sustainable over the long term. Health isn’t an isolated issue. We’re all connected to it.

HOUSING
Verde creates environmental job training, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities to residents of Hacienda CDC affordable housing and to other disadvantaged individuals. The key to the success of affordable housing is the success of the residents. By providing sustainability-related education and opportunities, Verde is working toward the long term success of the residents.

PRODUCTS
Rebuilding Center is a major hub of reused materials for new buildings and remodeling projects that employes disadvantaged community members. By taking a more balanced triple bottom line approach, the Rebuilding Center is creating a long term success model that will be more sustainable than the boom and bust cycles of more traditional home center retailers.

TRANSPORTATION
Ecoshuttle provides transportation services to groups using innovative vans powered by renewable fuels (and there’s wifi on board as well!). Long term, this approach is smart because of potential volatility with traditional fossil fuels, and is a competitive marketing advantage.

Do you have suggestions of other innovative models of sustainability in these sectors? Share them in the comments field below. In my next blog post, we’ll examine how technology can be leveraged for innovation in Economy 2.0…

-Justin