Introduction

Portland is a beautiful and friendly city. I think environmental *** and smiling people go together. Even when it's raining, Portlanders are out riding their bikes, on the sidewalks: just generally out in the environment. Why is this such a special place? This course will point out some key features of the city with examples and activities.

Portland has some iconic environments. These places have special meaning to our citizens as treasures to be protected, places to be enjoyed and features that enrich all of our lives.

Just like everybody else in the world, we depend on the environment for our water and food. But in Portland and in Oregon, we also depend on the environment for much of our energy as either hydro, wind or solar. Oregon has established this in land use laws and Portland is a prime example of how this works.

Land use laws are just one of the ways in which the public's engagement in governance has made Portland and Oregon unique places. This shows up in our energy policies, recycling, and agriculture as well as land use. Although public engagement can be a messy process, when driven by the shared desire to protect our environment it can be a unifying force in the public and lead to good governance in general.

Not every environmental program works. One of the exciting aspects of being in Portland is that you get to see first hand some of the ideas and projects that just didn't work. We can learn a lot from our mistakes. For example, many bioswales have been installed around the city (over 1000) but some of them are just not working as well as hoped. This is an opportunity to study the designs that worked and those that didn't.

The overall goal of this course is to introduce you to some of the interesting environmental aspects of our city. Although you may already know about them and enjoy them, this course will help you understand how they are related to the general environmental goals of the city. I hope this course will enhance your appreciation of these features and programs and not take all the fun out of it. I hope I can pass on some of my enthusiasm and coninuous enjoyment of living, working and learning in the city of Portland.