Sustainable Practices, Public Buildings, and Jobs (164K) November 2001.
By ECONorthwest for the Center for Watershed and Community Health. This report demonstrates that public buildings represent a substantial opportunity to take a major step toward a sustainable economy. The application of sustainability principles to the design, construction, and operation of public buildings in Washington and Oregon could yield significant reductions in the use of toxic materials, energy, water, and other raw materials. The positive impacts of sustainable practices applied to public buildings would then ripple throughout the regional economy.

Sustainable Practices, Jobs, and Distressed Communities in the Pacific Northwest: An Overview (168K) October 2001.
By ECONorthwest for the Center for Watershed and Community Health. This paper provides an overview of how the adoption of sustainable practices by businesses and governments can affect employment and economic opportunities for distressed communities in the Pacific Northwest. "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 poverty.

Sustainable Practices, Sustainable Jobs in the Pacific Northwest: An Overview (88K) October 2001.
By ECONorthwest for the Center for Watershed and Community Health. This paper provides an overview of how the implementation of sustainable practices by businesses and governments can protect existing jobs and create new jobs in the Pacific Northwest. These positive impacts on employment will occur even as some jobs associated with unsustainable practices are lost. Having a better understanding of the relationship between sustainable practices and jobs is especially important now because businesses and governments are accelerating their adoption of sustainable practices. Additionally, the adoption of sustainable practices can reduce the region's vulnerability to economic disruptions.

Green Building: Saving Salmon, the Environment, and Money on the Path to Sustainability (368K) September 2000.
By ECONorthwest. Innovative building and site design techniques, known as 'green building', reduce stress on the environment and help salmon habitat. Green building practices can reduce electricity and water demand, thereby reducing utility bills. Minimizing erosion cuts filtration costs and reduces the risk of flood damage, and landscaping design can reduce pesticide and herbicide consumption, reducing the flow of toxins to streams. This report shows how green building practices can benefit the bottom line of builders, homeowners, businesses, taxpayers and ratepayers.

"Just Plain Good Business" The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Sustainability as Exemplified by 160 Case Examples (252K) 2000.
By Bob Doppelt and Lisa Watson. Over the last few years, a growing number of businesses and organizations in Oregon and Washington have steadily been adopting practices and programs that save money while at the same time help to conserve and restore the environment. This report describes how over 160 companies and organizations have adopted practices and programs that generated savings of over $55 million annually while dramatically reducing their environment impacts. It follows the release of an earlier report, Saving Salmon, Saving Money: Innovative Business Leadership in the Pacific Northwest, which found data on firms that had saved money by taking steps to improve their environmental management (see below). While Saving Salmon, Saving Money was an analytical report, this report provides actual descriptions of what the firms did to achieve the cost savings and environmental benefits. Doppelt is the director of the Center for Watershed and Community Health at Portland State University and Watson is a graduate student at the University.

Saving Salmon, Sustaining Prosperity: An Introductory Handbook and Reference for the Puget Sound Region and Washington (1.2MB) 2000.
By ECONorthwest. If taken efficiently and effectively, the steps needed to save salmon would enhance the value of the services taxpayers receive in return for their tax payments, improve business profits, generate new jobs, and enhance property values. Saving salmon will be a good investment for the economy and help communities, businesses, and citizens throughout Washington state adopt more environmentally and economically sustainable paths. This report offers a quick summary of the economic data and issues associated with efforts to restore healthy salmon runs in the Puget Sound Basin and the rest of Washington.

Saving Salmon, Sustaining Agriculture: Opportunities to Conserve the Environment while Improving the Economic Well-Being of Farms in the Northwest (164K) 2000.
By Dr. Karin Sable and Bob Doppelt. Agriculture is an important component of the Pacific Northwest's economy and culture. Farmers in Washington and Oregon generate billions of dollars of agricultural production every year and the jobs and income produced by agriculture are the backbone of many rural communities. The listing of salmon under the Endangered Species Act has elicited a call for improved farming methods to conserve the environment and salmon, and opposition to change from farmers, related to the perceived high costs of these steps. This report asks if the costs of adopting more environmentally sustainable and salmon-friendly agricultural practices outweigh the economic benefits. The authors of this report assessed the costs and benefits of changes in supply and demand side farming practices and found that adopting more environmentally sustainable practices may have a neutral economic impact on most farms, and may save many farmers money. Dr. Sable is a professor of Economics at the University of Puget Sound and Bob Doppelt is the Director of the Center for Watershed and Community Health at Portland State University.

Increasing Stream Flows to Sustain Salmon in the Northwest: An Economic and Policy Assessment (164K) September 2000.
By Dr. William Jaeger and Dr. Raymond Mikesell. Because agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of the total surface water diversions for the Pacific Northwest, any efforts to augment streamflows will have to focus on reducing irrigation diversions. The authors base their analysis on market transactions for water rights, sales of irrigated farm land, and from a number of economic studies and cost estimation techniques. They conclude that the costs of increasing streamflows are likely to be modest if an efficient approach is taken. The authors caution that some actions aimed at restoring salmon may be excessively costly or largely ineffective. It should not be assumed that simply introducing water markets among farmers, or promoting adoption of improved irrigation technologies, will increase streamflows. Creative institutional arrangements and attention to biological and economic information will be required to make the measures effective. Dr. Jaeger is a professor of Economics at the Williams College in Massachusetts and Dr. Mikesell is a professor emeritus of Economics at the University of Oregon.

Saving Salmon, Saving Money (136K) January 2000.
By Eban Goodstein, Karen Sable, and Bob Doppelt. This report compiles evidence showing that 375 businesses and other organizations in Washington and Oregon have substantially reduced their needs for water, energy, hazardous materials and other inputs, by aggressively pursuing environmental efficiency. These actions reduced pressure on stream habitats and the environment while at the same time saving millions of dollars. These innovators in a movement known as "eco-efficiency" show that the economic savings from efforts to reduce environmental impacts to conserve streams, salmon, and the environment can quickly offset the initial investment costs. Goodstein is an economist at Lewis and Clark College, Sable is an economist at the University of Puget Sound, and Doppelt is the director of the Center For Watershed and Community Health at Portland State University.

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