Panel talks sustainability at Marylhurst

By Cliff Newell

The West Linn Tidings, Oct 11, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Marylhurst University professor Lisa Jo Frech is so excited about sustainability that she can get out of a sickbed to talk about it.

That is what she did last Thursday, joining a panel with Bonnie Bruce and Chris Van Dyke in a discussion on the topic at Marylhurst University.

However, as exciting as sustainability can be, Frech noted, “The definition of sustainability is like turning around a toy in our hands. It is not yet engrained in our minds and bodies.

“We will learn by going where we need to go. We can't afford to sit still. Denial today, greater pain tomorrow.”

It was not an evening for sitting still at Marylhurst. Frech, Bruce and Van Dyke talked about how sustainability is on the cutting edge of finding a new way to live our lives. An age of pioneers striving for ways that will make this happen.

The audience also was honed in on the subject and asked many astute questions; as might be expected of people of the Pacific Northwest, the nation’s leader in sustainability.

“We're living in a bubble in the Pacific Northwest,” said one audience member. “We’re much more enlightened than the rest of the country on environmental stewardship and what ecology is all about.”

That has the potential to make the Northwest not only an environmental but also an economic paradise.

“The Pacific Northwest is in perfect position to lead the world in sustainability,” Frech said. “It is 10 times the size of New England and there is tremendous diversity here. There is no end in sight for its rapid expansion. It is less degraded than the rest of the industrial world, so it has a better chance to reach sustainability.”

Van Dyke is hoping to transform big ideas into reality with Nau, an outdoor apparel company in Portland that is just three years old and based on wide-ranging sustainable principles, with the basic idea that a business can make lots of money while still being good to the planet and to people.

Backed by some business heavy hitters that includes Nike and Starbucks, Van Dyke, Nau’s chief executive officer, is anticipating success.

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