Sustainable design's future is the Pacific Northwest's present

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"The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed." Science fiction writer William Gibson was fond of this statement, using it to explain the remarkable prescience in his novels, including 1984's now classic Neuromancer, which vividly described the modern internet a decade before its existence. Like us, Gibson lives in the Pacific Northwest — he in Vancouver, BC, we in Portland — and his words offer a clue about what makes this region such a great creative incubator. The future, he's suggesting, exists in pockets before it spreads; the real trick is finding them and extrapolating their impact. If the future of design is about sustainability — and we're pretty certain it is — then the Pacific Northwest is where that future lives.

Design for sustainability was almost unheard of a decade ago, but as green goes from niche to mainstream, businesses of all types are beginning to take it seriously. Whether to respond to customer demands or to express their own ecological values, companies are re-examining product lines and business practices, using terms that recently sounded sci-fi themselves. Carbon footprint. Lifecycle analysis. Design for disassembly. Sustainable design is a specialized skill, and it thrives in unique places, like the Pacific Northwest, that combine a culture of innovation with environmental awareness.

Portland's green credentials, for example, are famously impeccable: LEED buildings, recycling rates and bike infrastructure that beat the nation — and local businesses that take these values to heart. And while this makes for a nice place to live, it also signifies something more profound: a consumer base that can predict the future. Sustainability is an increasingly crucial consideration for North Americans, but it's already top-of-mind around here; the global green consumer of the future lives in the Pacific Northwest right now. This gives local designers immediate access to a forum of savvy green shoppers, opening a window on the future success of sustainably-focused design solutions. In many cases, the designers themselves are part of the target market.

Europe, Japan, New England, Canada and California all lead the world in different sustainable technologies. But even in such remarkable company, the Pacific Northwest stands out: in the fine-grained way we integrate environmental values into daily life, and in the magnificent collision of sustainable practice with our long-standing culture of experimentation. The largest employers in Portland and Seattle — Boeing, Nike, Microsoft, Intel — are also among the world's most innovative, and the region's status as a global center of the open source movement extends this tendency to the grassroots.

What's surprising is that this culture arose in the absence of many traditional innovation catalysts: we boast no internationally renowned design schools, no enormous government-stimulated research parks, and while the regional arts scene is vibrant, it's far from the global spotlight. Rather, the Pacific Northwest is innovative because innovators move here — permanently — from all over the world. Of Ziba's 115 employees, fully 30 percent are foreign born, creating a world-class team of 18 nationalities fluent in 24 languages; most dynamic companies in the region quote similar numbers. Quality of life is a primary reason for such spectacular talent retention, proof that our sustainability focus yields more than one type of commercial benefit.

This unique combination may explain why Portland and Seattle have been showing up in so many Top 5 lists for green business recently. These are real, far-reaching effects of the "sustainability sandbox" we're building here, and a culture that isn't just satisfied with being green, but obsessed with continually finding new and better ways to do it. The good news for business is that it's also a welcoming culture, eager to share. Companies seeking to incorporate sustainable design into their future strategy would be well advised to give this sandbox a visit.

Debbie Driscoll is an account director at Ziba, a Portland design firm. Eric Park, a Ziba creative director, also contributed to this column.