Even though he is no longer governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber still wears the clean jeans and cowboy boots he was known for while in office. He also sports a small planet Earth pinned to the lapel of his blue blazer. His new office at the Foundation for Medical Excellence is low profile, and he seems comfortable there.

In May of 2000, Governor Kitzhaber broke new ground in the region when he issued Executive Order 00-07 to direct state government to become a leader in sustainable practices. Speaking from his new office, Kitzhaber reflects, “For a long time, I have been an advocate of trying to figure out how we can live our lives in Oregon in a way that doesn’t reduce our future options. It’s nice to talk about sustainable development, but it occurred to me that state government could be a leader in this by setting an example.”

“When I became governor, I was essentially handed a very large business, that employs 40,000 people, paves highways, manages forests and rangelands, builds buildings, and issues permits. The Executive Order deals with lessening the footprint that state government leaves on Oregon.”

The Executive Order states: “All state agencies and employees are expected to take actions to promote sustainable practices within state government.” It even takes a stab at defining sustainability as “using, developing and protecting resources at a rate and in a manner that enables people to meet their current needs and also provides that future generations can meet their own needs. Sustainability requires simultaneously meeting environmental, economic and community needs.” Kitzhaber refers to this idea of addressing issues across traditional jurisdictional boundaries as “getting out of the silos.”

“We issued the Executive Order with the objective of trying to make Oregon a sustainable state within one generation. And we started with internal government operations,” says Kitzhaber. The Department of Administrative Services was put in charge, and purchasing guidelines for paper, office furnishings, motor vehicles, and building materials have been developed that favor environmentally responsible products. The Department is also beginning to look at new guidelines for purchasing food in state institutions, with an eye to supporting sustainable food systems in Oregon.

According to Kitzhaber, the results in just three years are impressive. “We created green building guidelines for all new state facilities, including the use of recycled material, increased energy efficiency and on-site storm water treatment. Last year more than four million square feet of State office buildings reduced electric energy use by an average of 21%. We also used an average of 37% less natural gas. These savings are the result of permanent reductions in lighting and changes in building operations.” “The state printing plant has developed an environmental management system for their 130-person operation, and they are now seeking certification of the system to the ISO 14001 standard. When certified, they will be the first state agency in the nation to receive such certification.”

Some other changes in Oregon government attributable to the Executive Order include:

• The Employment Appeal Board was inspired to reduce its paper use by 90% by using discs and the web to publish and deliver all of its reports and decisions electronically;
• The Liquor Control Commission dramatically reduced its use of water, pesticides and landfill space by composting its yard debris and then using that compost for landscaping;
• The Department of Corrections diverted used denim scraps that had been going to the landfill to a non-profit that creates jobs for low income folks making “Ecofiber” dog beds;
• The Department of Parks and Recreation has become a net generator of solar power at Tumalo State Park;
• The Parks and Recreation and Environmental Quality Departments co-located in a newly developed office building in downtown Baker City, increasing their office efficiency by sharing services and supporting downtown vitality in a rural part of the state.

Says Kitzhaber, “What I was proud of – even more than the individual examples – was the fact that all of a sudden you had people thinking differently. We had people in agencies saying, ‘Wait a minute, we really can do this a lot better.’” A monthly recognition program for agency efforts related to the Executive Order was launched. “I can’t tell you how important acknowledgement is, especially for other people who are thinking about stepping up.”

“We have a host of very tangible results. Not the least of which is helping to raise the whole level of awareness of the issues around sustainability. Sustainability is really about building a relationship between economic, social and environmental values. Once I issued the Executive Order, I began to incorporate that understanding into almost all of my speeches. I can make a case for it in the human service area, in the natural resource area, in economic development. It was a catalyst for me to try to figure out how to better articulate an idea that I already had arrived at. And it put me into contact with a lot of really good people.”

An executive order is probably the easiest mechanism for a governor to use in making policy. “It essentially has the force of law during your administration. It remains in effect unless a subsequent governor repeals it. It gave me the ability to develop some implementation criteria and then to make the agencies toe the line. I can’t say that it’s completely changed agency culture, but it has sure made a dent.”

In August of 2001, Kitzhaber shored up the legacy of the Executive Order by shepherding House Bill 3948 through the Oregon Legislature. The bill makes the adoption of sustainability measures within state government a requirement of state law. The bill also established a Sustainability Board, composed of leaders from the public and private sectors, to identify policy opportunities. Says Kitzhaber, “What we were trying to do is to institutionalize this beyond an executive order. The bill incorporates all of the right principles and I think it’s important that we have it, but I also think it’s important to recognize that it didn’t grow out of deep understanding or commitment to sustainability by the Oregon Legislature on either side of the aisle. We just muscled it through. I think the bill’s relevance will not be fully appreciated for some time. When we make this movement more mainstream outside of the legislative process, then I think what was created by House Bill 3948 will flourish.”

Kitzhaber does have some advice for his successor. “It takes a personal investment by the Governor to make this work. So the next step, it seems to me, is for the Governor to convene that Sustainability Board in his office on a monthly basis and not just lead it, but drive it up to the next level.”

Despite his own leadership experience, Kitzhaber feels that government isn’t likely to lead in developing innovative new strategies. “The Oregon Legislature over the last year and a half was consumed with one thing: balancing the budget without making difficult political choices. In other words, borrowing – mortgaging the future – the least sustainable thing they could possibly do. Legislative bodies have just about reached the limits of their capacity, in terms of dealing with the complex issues of this new century. So I think that the real opportunity is in the private sector and in the grant-making community to catalyze the move toward sustainability.”

One example of such community-based sustainability initiatives is the website and program that was developed out of Kitzhaber’s executive order. The site, Oregon Solutions, is an online resource and program supporting collaborative and integrated community governance at Portland State University. It is now headed up by Greg Wolf, Kitzhaber’s longtime friend and former policy advisor on land use and community development.

When it comes to the state as a whole, Kitzhaber is optimistic about sustainability. “It makes tremendous sense to anybody with an open mind. If Oregon really embraces this, it will spread. The whole concept of our watershed councils, for example, spread all over the West. If sustainability becomes a part of the Oregon culture – just like protecting our beaches or recycling cans and bottles – then others will follow our lead.”

“I think that in the West, there is a huge opportunity in the natural resource area to demonstrate that long term environmental stewardship and natural resource extraction are not mutually exclusive. Particularly in forestry, there’s a lot of leverage right now because of the concern about forest fires. The challenge here is to continue to talk about how fires are just a symptom, and that the real problem is the decline in forest health. Restoring healthy, sustainable forests is an objective that can be embraced by both the industry and the environmental communities. We’ve been doing that work out here, and I think it will have huge ripple effects throughout the natural resource world.”

For the future, the former Governor has a few things on his plate. “I’m interested in trying to shape the healthcare debate for the 2004 Presidential election; I am working with a group to more effectively help at-risk children; and I am looking to reengage in environmental issues here in the Northwest."

“Successfully addressing all of these issues will require more than simply action by the legislature or the governor. My experience over the past decade has led me to conclude that the traditional tools of government cannot solve many of today’s problems. These tools – law, regulation enforcement and resource allocation – haven’t changed much in well over a century. But our problems today things like substance abuse, at-risk children and non-point pollution – don’t lend themselves to regulation and enforcement. I’m not saying that you abandon them, but there’s a big gap in our governmental tools and we need to develop others. We need to find community-based approaches which don’t involve compelled behavior as much giving people a stake in the problem and a sense of ownership in the solution. I am focusing much of my time today on this challenge which, I believe, is key to building a sustainable future.”

Governor John A. Kitzhaber
C/o Oregon Solutions
Portland State University
NPCC - 720 URBN
Post Office Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751
Phone: 503-725-9097
Fax: 503-725-9099
www.ORSolutions.org