Sustainable Business and Job Development Publications

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/13134

Resource Innovations work in sustainable business and job development is focused on building public education and communication, local and regional business and job economic impact assessments as well as projects related to sustainable food systems and sustainable mobility systems.

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Browsing Sustainable Business and Job Development Publications by Author "Niemi, Ernest G."

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    Green building: saving salmon, the environment, and money on the path to sustainability opportunities for the Pacific Northwest
    (ECONorthwest, 2000-09) Ebenhoh, Jim; Niemi, Ernest G.; Tapogna, John; Whitelaw, Ed
    The Pacific Northwest faces a number of growing environmental challenges. For example, at least 19 wild salmon populations in Washington and Oregon are extinct and the remainder are in trouble. More than 70 percent of Washington and one-half of Oregon are covered by “endangered” or “threatened” listings of salmon under the Endangered Species Act. Conserving the environment, including water quality and salmon habitat requires widespread changes in how homes, offices, and shopping areas are built, landscaped, and operated. Some builders prove every day that conserving the environment and saving salmon does not have to hurt the bottom line. Wider application of green building practices makes good economic sense and would occur, even if there were no salmon crisis. Through common-sense actions, they stop wasteful uses of electricity and water that are expensive to produce; reduce the emission of pollutants that are a waste of resources and expensive to clean up; recycle building materials that are too valuable to throw away; and avoid creating compacted soils and other impervious surfaces that are expensive to manage, accelerate rainwater runoff, and increase the risk of flooding.
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    Sustainable practices, jobs, and distressed communities in the Pacific Northwest: an overview
    (Center for Watershed and Community Health, Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University, 2001) Niemi, Ernest G.; Doppelt, Bob
    This paper provides an overview of how the adoption of sustainable practices by businesses, communities and governments can affect employment and economic opportunities for distressed communities in the Pacific Northwest. “Sustainable practices” reduce waste in the use of energy, water and other raw materials (especially toxins), and curtail harmful environmental impacts. “Distressed communities” include places, such as low-income urban neighborhoods and rural towns, as well as groups, such as low-skill workers, that exhibit high levels of unemployment or poverty. Understanding the relationships among sustainable practices, jobs, and distressed communities is especially important because businesses, communities, and governmental agencies are accelerating their adoption of sustainable practices to lower costs for energy, materials, and waste clean-up, and to comply with legal obligations that require reduced environmental impacts. Furthermore, to compete effectively in many regional, national, and global markets, businesses increasingly must satisfy sustainability standards. In some industrial sectors, global demand for goods and services associated with sustainable practices is growing, and businesses in the Pacific Northwest are striving to become market leaders. In sum, the adoption of sustainable practices is growing and many forces exist that suggest that the trend will continue and grow. Workers and distressed communities need to know what to expect so they can prepare themselves to take advantage of new, sustainable jobs and be prepared when jobs associated with unsustainable practices are lost.