Oregon Shines, Oregon Benchmarks and Sustainability in Oregon

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Oregon Shines, Oregon Benchmarks and
Sustainability in Oregon

• Presentation by Rita Conrad
• to the Mt. Hood C.C. Sustainability Class
• Gresham, Oregon
• May 2, 2006

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Goal of Sustainability

• To simultaneously improve environmental,
  economic, and community health for today and for
  future generations.
• - State Agency Guidance for Implementing EO
  03-03
• To ensure that human activity meets the needs of
  the existing residents of the planet without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs (WCED 1987). - Adam
  Zimmerman thesis, 2002

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Indicators Red Flags
THE POWER OF INDICATORS Tell the story Quantify
goals Identify priorities Align actions Assess
Progress Allocate Resources (What gets measured
tends to get done.)
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Whats the story here?
Economic Systems
Red flagFEDERAL DEFICIT
Social justice
Red flagGAPS IN SOCIAL EQUITY
Social Systems
Clean air and water and healthy habitats
Red flagGLOBAL WARMING
Natural and Physical Systems
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Composition of Spending as a Share of GDP
Baseline Extended
Red flagFEDERAL DEFICIT
Economic System
Percent of GDP
Revenue
Medicare Medicaid
Net Interest
Social Security
All other spending
Notes In addition to the expiration of tax
cuts, revenue as a share of GDP increases through
2015 due to (1) real bracket creep, (2) more
taxpayers becoming subject to the AMT, and (3)
increased revenue from tax-deferred retirement
accounts. After 2015, revenue as a share of GDP
is held constant. Source GAOs March 2005
analysis.
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Composition of Spending as a Share of
GDPAssuming Discretionary Spending Grows with
GDP after 2005 and All Expiring Tax Provisions
are Extended
Percent of GDP
Revenue
Medicare Medicaid
Net Interest
Social Security
All other spending
Notes Although expiring tax provisions are
extended, revenue as a share of GDP increases
through 2015 due to (1) real bracket creep, (2)
more taxpayers becoming subject to the AMT, and
(3) increased revenue from tax-deferred
retirement accounts. After 2015, revenue as a
share of GDP is held constant. Source GAOs
March 2005 analysis.
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Red flagGAPS IN SOCIAL EQUITY
Social System
Hispanics
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Red flagGAPS IN SOCIAL EQUITY
Social System
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Natural and Physical Systems
Red flagGLOBAL WARMING
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Where do Oregons indicators come from?
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Oregon Shines
?Oregon's Strategic Vision, Oregon
Shines -Drafted in 1989 -Revised in
1997 -Third revision is overdue ? Oregon
Progress Board -Monitors implementation of
plan -Chaired by the Governor -Created in
1990 -Is on life support
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• Indicators of progress
• OREGON BENCHMARKS

Results Not Effort
Quality of life vital signs for Oregon
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Oregon Shines addresses the Triple Bottom Line.
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90 Oregon Benchmarks similarly organized
Economy
Economy Education
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• Benchmarks measure progress towards 3 Oregon
  Shines goals.
• www.oregon.gov/DAS/OPB

1. Economy 1. Economy (quality
jobs) 2. Education 2. Community 3. Public
Safety (safe, caring 4. Social Supports
engaged) 5. Civic Engagement 3.
Environment 6. Development (healthy, 7.
Environment sustainable surroundings)
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Do Oregon Benchmarks measure sustainability?
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Bellagio Principles for sustainability indicators
International Institute for Sustainable
Development

• Clear vision and goals
• Holistic perspective
• All parts of the system and the whole
• Subsystems now and change over time
• Positive negative impacts of human activity
• Essential elements
• Social equity
• Ecological conditions
• Economic development

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Bellagio Principles for sustainability
indicators, continued

• Adequate scope
• Short and long time lines and spatial distances
• Historical conditions anticipate future
• Practical focus
• Framework
• Limited of key issues
• Limited of indicators
• Standardized measurement
• Comparisons to targets

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Bellagio Principles for sustainability
indicators, continued

• Openness
• Methods accessible to all
• Make explicit all judgments, assumptions.
• Effective communication
• Address needs of audience and users
• Indicators stimulant engagement of
  decision-makers
• Simplicity, clear and plain language
• Broad participation
• Grass-roots, professional technical groups
• Decision-makers link to policies and action

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Bellagio Principles for sustainability
indicators, continued

• Ongoing assessment
• Repeated measurement to get trends
• Iterative and adaptive
• Collective learning and feedback
• Institutional capacity
• Responsibility and support for policy-making
• Institutional capacity for data collection,
  documentation, maintenance
• Support development of local assessment capacity

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Bellagio do Oregon Benchmarksmeasure
sustainability?

• Clear vision and goalsYES Benchmarks measure
  progress towards Oregon Shines vision goals
• Holistic perspectiveYES, but weakness is in
  subsystem linkages.
• Essential elementsYES, but need more work in
  ecological equity (new 88). Benchmarks address
  social and economic equity.

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Bellagio do Oregon Benchmarksmeasure
sustainability? (cont.)

• Adequate scopeNo Benchmarks do not explicitly
  analyze historical trends and project in to
  future. Benchmarks are state specific dont
  address being part of the planet.
• Practical focusYes, but need additional work to
  establish a common metric for comparisons

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Bellagio do Oregon Benchmarksmeasure
sustainability? (cont.)

• OpennessYES Benchmarks are developed in open
  public meetings reports and endnotes document
  carefully known issues.
• Effective communicationNo Benchmarks are not
  widely understood or recognized by Oregonians.
• Broad participationYES Benchmarks are
  developed within the context of Oregon Shines
  thousands participate. Numerous collaborative
  efforts result from benchmark work.

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Bellagio do Oregon Benchmarksmeasure
sustainability? (cont.)

• Ongoing assessmentYES Biennial benchmark
  reports on progress against Oregon Shines goals
  biennial benchmark updates
• Institutional capacityYES Oregon Progress
  Board (benchmark work and performance measure
  consultation)

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Oregon Benchmarks generally fit the bill
according to Bellagio

• More work needed on
• Increasing scope to address current and future
  generations, national/global issues
• Tracking stocks and flows - are we managing our
  wealth in a sustainable manner?
• Assessing impacts between domains of benchmarks
  - economy vs. social vs. ecological
• Communicate better so Oregonians recognize and
  understand

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• Do Oregon Benchmarks fit the bill?Other
  Perspectives

• 60 of the 90 benchmarks had equivalents in 8
  other sustainability indicator programs
• Experts rated benchmarks 1-10 for usefulness in
  measuring sustainability

Human Systems Community Benchmarks 6 to 8
Natural Systems Environment Benchmarks 8 or
higher
Economic Systems Economy Benchmarks below 6
Zimmerman thesis
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One challenge trying to describe linkages
between subsystems (domains)
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Cross-Domain Benchmarks
Environment
Community

• Teen Pregnancy
• Volunteerism

• Native Fish and Wildlife
• Native Plant Species
• Air Quality
• CO2 Emissions
• Marine Species At Risk

• Comm.-Econ.-Environment
• Commuting
• Traffic Congestion
• Drinking Water
• State Park Acreage
• Municipal Waste Disposal
• Forest Lands
• Agricultural Lands
• Timber Harvest
• VMT

• Community-Economy
• Economic Diversification
• Overall Crime
• Juvenile Arrests
• College Completion
• Child Abuse or Neglect
• Health Insurance
• Living Wage
• Affordable Housing
• Income Disparity
• Poverty
• High School Dropout
• Rate Teen Alcohol Abuse
• Hunger
• Homelessness

• Environment-Economy
• Stream Water Quality
• Wild Salmon and Steelhead

• Research and Development
• Per Capita Income
• Economic Diversification

Economy
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Indices another way to describe
inter-relationships between domains.
From A. Zimmerman Thesis 2002
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• Taking Oregon Benchmarks to the next level

• FRAME OREGON SHINES III IN TERMS OF
  SUSTAINABILITY
• Involve the numerous sustainability partners in
  Oregon
• Analyze intergenerational, cross-domain
  measurement and other issues
• NEW OREGON BENCHMARKS WILL REFLECT THE
  SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK OF OSIII

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www.oregon.gov/DAS/OPB Progress.Board_at_state.or.us