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• EUGENE FACES MANY CHALLENGES • ECONOMIC ISSUES SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND unemplo THE CITY OF EUGENE • - Increased Economic Competition • • Rising Energy Costs and Insecure Supplies • SOCIALISSUES • • • Food Security and Health Bob Doppelt, Director, Resource Innovations • Cost and Accessibility of Health Care Academic Coordinator, Sustainability Leadership Academy _ - - University of Oregon • Reduced Tax Revenues for Public Services and Schools . . • • (541) 346 -1609 • Homelessness • E -Mail: bd000elt more¢on.edu ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES - - _ - • Climate Change—One of Most Pressing Issue of This Century •Salmon, and Other Environmental Issues • TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO • COMPLEX CHALLENGES However, due to interdependence, improving the Break the complexity into separate problems and parts of complex systems like our•community solve each one separately often does not make the whole perform better. (jobs; housing, healthcare, education, environment etc.) Seek to incrementally Improve each area in isolation. In fact, it can makes things worse! n Example: Assumption is that `the whole' (community) will be better off if each of its parts are improved separately. Maximizing economic development seems to harm the environment and public health, maximizing the environment seems to depress profits, jobs, and wages. • ALTERNATIVE APPROACH Start by building shared understanding of how the : Sustainable Development whole system (community) functions. Process of understand the interdependencies within Seek basic understanding of the connections and our economic, social and environmental systems interdependencies that exist. Then creating ways to improve the whole, not each component in isolation. Then, engage the `whole system' in linking the many skills and positive attributes that exist to • create something new that is valued by all. • 1