Sustainability History Project

The SHP post “On the history of sustainability in the Pac NW” provides a useful way to think about the regional history of the thing we call “sustainability.” I wrote this post in the hopes that the student who contacted me with that question would engage us in a discussion on this topic for all of our benefit—but, unfortunately, this has not yet happened.

However, a student in this quarter’s Capstone class recently forwarded me an email with information about Steven Reed Johnson’s work, and this information does help shed some light on the topic. There are also some other sources that provide insight as well.

Johnson is “a community activist, researcher, educator, lecturer and consultant for 35 years.” Among other things, “In the early 1970s he created and published Rain Magazine, one of the first journals about sustainable development practices in the USA.” His website provides some information on the history of sustainability-related events and publications in the Portland area since the 1970s, including:

**Portlandopedia: This sources provides a “History of Portland Oregon’s Civic Life Since World War II,” with sections on “Civic Narratives,” “Civic Infrastructure,” “Civic Spaces,” “Transformation of Women’s Organizations,” “History of the Bicycle Movement,” and “Rise of Environmental Movement in Portland,” among others.

**Knowing Home: “A long long time ago (1982) in a place called Ecotopia . . . some people put together a handbook about creating a sustainable city . . .”

Alexander Patterson, “Terrasquirma and the Engines of Social Change in 1970s Portland,” Oregon Historical Quarterly 101: 2 (Summer 2000), 162-191.

Abstract: Assesses the influence of the urban commune known as the Main Street Gathering and its home, Terrasquirma, on progressive programs in Portland, Oregon. Formed by antiwar activists in 1972, the Gathering was a chapter of the Quaker-influenced Movement for a New Society. During the 1970’s Gathering members pioneered recycling programs, rape hotlines, and aid to Native Americans in the 1973 Wounded Knee controversy. They also protested against the construction of a nuclear power plant on the Columbia River. Although the group broke up in 1979, their influence can be found in many Portland programs and agencies.

Jeffrey Craig Sanders, Seattle and the Roots of Urban Sustainability: Inventing Ecotopia (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010).

Examines the rise of environmental activism in Seattle amidst the “urban crisis” of the 1960s and its aftermath. Seattle’s activists came to influence everything from industry to politics, planning, and global environmental movements. Chapters focus on neighborhood empowerment through the Model Cities and related federal programs of the 1960s-1970s; citizen activism to secure Discovery Park (formerly U.S. Army Fort Lawton) as a public space in the 1960s-1980s; creating the “Ecotopia” idea and Tilth agriculture standards and organizations in Washington and Oregon in the 1970s; and using solar technologies, permaculture fundamentals, conscious consumption, and other strategies to make individual households more sustainable.

If anyone has any other links or sources to recommend, please feel free to do so in the comments!

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