Sustainability is a big tent

Column from Martin Goebel, Sustainable Northwest President, in the Sustainable Business Oregon, a publication of Portland Business Journal

With mid-term elections upon us, the airwaves are pulsating with political pundits pontificating about which way the pendulum will swing in November. Each party promises they have all the answers. Yet most of us know that no party or politician ever delivers all of the solutions they've promised. Of course that's because no party really can have all of the answers.

What would be refreshing to hear in this year's election rhetoric is talk about our common ground – the rallying points that can bring people together and seed collaboration. We desperately need more bi-partisan solutions, which always cost less and endure more.

Now more than ever we're reminded that in the end, all politics are local. History has shown us that top down mandates don't work because they don't involve (and usually aren't implemented by) those most affected by the policies ordered. The complexity of today's most pressing problems – especially in rural communities that have been hardest hit by the down economy – demands elegant solutions that are inclusive. And we must be in this for the long haul.

Nowhere has this tenet played out more clearly than in Oregon's Klamath River basin. Up and down the Klamath, natural resource-dependent communities have been grappling – like many places in the West – with water allocation decisions that must balance competing and growing demands on limited (or shrinking) water supplies. Those most affected by how these day-to-day decisions play out – the tribes, farmers, ranchers, fishermen and conservationists – have in the past turned to one political party or the other for answers. But over time, when all they got were hollow promises that pitted neighbor against neighbor, they agreed to come together to forge their own future.

Water is a precious resource in the Klamath basin and the infamous water war of 2001 and salmon kill of 2002 were crises that drove home the point to locals that something had to change. Things hit rock bottom for sure, but if you talk to the stakeholders, you'll hear that what really mattered most is the desire to create a community where their children could grow – and thrive. To do this they understood that they needed to find common ground and meld economic and environmental issues while all the time envisioning and believing they could create a sustainable future.

The result is an extraordinary document called the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement that gives each water user just enough. The agreement's creation involved compromise: Nobody got everything they wanted. But enough is allocated for multiple values to coexist sustainably – fish and farms, rodeos and tribal ceremonies. When the process started there wasn't really a role model for an undertaking at this large scale. But five years later their effort could help inform other communities in the West struggling with similar problems.

We believe there is an important lesson in the Klamath agreement that is worth celebrating in this election year: sustainability is a big tent we can all get under.