A sustainability frontier.

Byline: The Register-Guard

There's a danger that the final report of the task force working on Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy's Sustainable Business Initiative will be read as directions for draping the city of Eugene with a hair shirt of green virtue. But there's another way to read the report: as a guide for adapting and thriving in a time of economic and environmental challenges. Though the expense and effort required to implement the report's recommendations will have to be scrutinized, the pursuit of sustainability is really nothing more than common sense.

A sustainable enterprise, at its core, is one that can last without going broke, depleting its resources or choking on its waste. Mayor Piercy has broadened the concept, describing sustainable businesses as ones that promote economic, social and environmental well-being - the "triple bottom line." Those are the kinds of businesses any community wants. Nurturing them will require different strategies than in the past.

Eugene's economy, like the economy of much of the nation, took shape in times when limits on such resources as energy, air, land and water lay beyond the horizon. The limits are more clearly visible today - oil costs more than $60 a barrel, the best dam sites have been developed, air and water pollution occasionally reach unhealthful levels, siting such things as landfills is next to impossible, and water rights are oversubscribed. Businesses everywhere will have to learn to do more with less, and make better use of what they have. Those that learn first and best how to survive on this new frontier will have a strong advantage.

Forward-looking businesses will figure this out soon, if they haven't already. But government can do more than stand on the sidelines, waiting for market discipline to enforce tighter practices of waste reduction, energy conservation and resource use. Governments can lead by example, they can provide assistance to companies seeking to make the transition to more sustainable practices, and they can encourage the development of sectors of the economy that promise to thrive under conditions of constraint.

That's what the Sustainable Business Initiative seeks to do. It's not really a vehicle for achieving environmental goals. Rather, it's an attempt to adapt to environmental and economic changes that are happening already, and will accelerate in the years ahead. A single report won't ensure success. But surely, recognizing that adaptation is necessary is an essential first step.