As the impact of recession continues to permeate the business community, local leaders from public, private and nonprofit sectors gathered in Portland to address realities and opportunities at the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum.

While the scope of discussion ranged from carbon policy to finance system reform, one resounding takeaway was the sense of potential coiled within a climate of dire urgency and parallel economic prospects.

To quote guest panelist Rob Harmon, chief innovation officer and senior vice president at Bonneville Environmental Foundation, “Broken systems offer tremendous opportunities.” In a message to non-governmental organizations, he added, “Find a broken system, and offer a solution in a manner that ties to commerce.”

While Harmon addressed a specific scenario, his strategy can be translated and applied toward larger blueprints for aggressive problem solving; the principle of interconnected benefit should inspire many sectors. Our present economy and social situation are defined by broken systems that interweave to create a multiplier effect, which yields more damage than the sum of its parts. Devastating healthcare, finance and education systems mingle to cripple many of the small businesses, corporations and workforces that comprise the backbone of our economy. However, just as we contemplate the complexity of these problems, we can dare to imagine the possibility of solutions that flow outward from one system into others toward overall improvement. In rebuilding any one broken system, it is critical to think about how projected benefits unfold across sectors, which were too often approached separately in the old-era economy.

The “business case for sustainability” is not new to sustainable industry leaders, but the opportunity to prove and deliver that case to the full suite of business stakeholders has profound economic potential.

“Portland is ahead of the curve, but it must get out there and tell its story,” explained panelist Elaine Aye, principal at Green Building Services, who detailed the potential for job creation that surrounds building retrofits.  “Conservation is not a bad thing … it saves money.”

Keynote speaker Paul Hawken, acclaimed author and CEO of Pax Engineering Group, offered a potent dose of reality through statistics and storytelling, including a firsthand account of ice core sample analyses in Greenland. “My job is to look at the ‘bad news,’” he explained, “Such as straight data about our environment, climate, society and economy.” In addition to painting a stark, painful picture of overlapping reasons for alarm, Hawken balanced a tough-love reality check with great compassion in his plea to the business community.

“We need an intelligent way to go about this transition to make it economically viable,” Hawken said. “We need business to organize itself and have a presence. But we must do more. We don’t have a lot of time.”

As the economic forum concluded and I went back to another day of cyclone-scale news headlines, it was Hawken’s advice on how to address “the unknown” and the “impossible” that stayed with me as I approached my work:   

“Just try it, and look back afterwards to see if it actually was impossible.”

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We extend special thanks to Sustainable Industries Editor Becky Brun and Publisher Brian Back and their staff for hosting such an important forum.