Portland is Awesome

Every time I come to Portland, I’m faced with the question of why I don’t live here.
- Paul Hawken, at Literary Arts-hosted discussion, this morning at W+K

Yesterday evening, along with writers Barry Lopez and Rebecca Solnit, Hawken sat the Armory stage. Lounging in comfy chairs on loan from the ReBuilding Center and amidst by the woody cacophony of Portland Center Stage’s Great Notion set design, the three tag teamed across a wide terrain from “community as reciprocity” to “prefigurative politics.”

One topic that loomed large was language.

Don’t call it alternative energy, urged Hawken. Energy from the sun or wind or tides is primary energy.

The answer to every either/or question is, I think, “yes,” sounded Solnit.

When we speak of social or ecological restoration, what we mean is “reconciliation,” elucidated Lopez.

While the affair at the Armory soared, the morning’s W+K coffee turned somber. Hawken foresees an immanent “red queen dilemma,” in which - amidst interconnected food, water, energy and climate crunches - societies scramble to meet basic needs.

And this (awesome Portland), stated simply, is one place that’s pointing the way. You must get tired of everyone telling you that, he smiled. But everyone is looking at Portland.

And what we need you to do is to keep raising the bar.