Sustained economic prosperity depends on the health of society and the environment.  People's ability to maintain their communities and responsibly manage local landscapes is directly related to the strength of the economy.

Workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, investors, government, and natural resources are all vital pieces of our economy.  Remove just one, and markets stop functioning.

Sustainable Northwest promotes market-based solutions to social and environmental challenges.  Through partnerships with natural resource dependent communities and enterprises, we're helping create a more sustainable economy in the West.

Features of sustainable enterprises:

• Production and sale of goods and services fully incorporate the role of, and impact on, nature and society
• Triple bottom line profitability - economic, social, and environmental
• Builds a strong customer base and expands market share by helping consumers consume less, serving their needs not their neediness
• Shareholders and employees are happy and loyal because the company creates value by being values-based
• Practices eco-efficiency (being less bad) and constantly strives toward eco-effectiveness (being all good), where the byproducts of production are inputs for other processes (zero waste).