Commissioner Handy speaks with Community Volunteer, Dennis Sandow
Dennis Sandow is Commissioner Handy’s representative to the Lane County Planning Commission (LCPC), and has been a member of the Commission for a little over a year.
Dennis lives in Eugene with his partner and two adult children. He is the President of the Reflexus Company and has been studying social network structures that generate valued performance and well-being. He believes that it is only through social collaboration across institutional boundaries that we can reverse the current economic, environmental and public health crisis.
Dennis is also a partner in EcNow Tech, a Willamette Valley manufacturer and supplier of compostable and reusable polymers, and is the Director of the Social Observatory of the Matriztic School of Santiago, Chile.
He recently talked with Commissioner Handy about his interests, passions, and hopes for Lane County’s future.
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RH: Dennis, you are obviously a very busy person. I am extremely grateful to you for your willingness to accept the position of Lane County Planning Commissioner, a volunteer position demanding a significant amount of time. I’m not sure people realize that Planning Commissioners make a significant time commitment, serving at least four years and meeting once or twice monthly and that they often face a complex agenda of land use related items which require preparation prior to discussion and action.
Please tell me a little about your service on the LCPC.
Dennis: The LCPC has certainly been an eye-opening experience for me. I noticed early on that we don’t always have the information we need to help inform our discussions and actions. I asked staff to assist the Commission in becoming more of a learning organization than we are currently. In the absence of facts, and failing to provide and consider all available and related data, such as long term community health and social costs, we have no measure of the social and economic realities of Lane County. For example, data that reflects the quality of Lane County residents lives such as our unemployment rates, average wage rates, percent of our neighbors living homeless, hungry and in poverty should be considered whenever we make planning decisions. I believe serving citizens of the county requires an integrated systems approach, that decisions should not be based on belief but on timely and relevant data that reflects the quality of life in Lane County
I am pleased that the Commissioner’s recognize the differing political opinions and appreciate the need to keep a civil and democratic discourse open regardless of the differences and the outcomes of various actions.
RH: Your background and experience working with a global perspective brings something special to the LCPC. At one time, Oregon showed policy leadership in the type of ‘big picture’ planning you allude to. In the 1970’s, former Governor Tom McCall was responsible for initiating the establishment of 19 land use goals meant to protect Oregon’s natural resources for future generations. Now, almost 40 years later, we are facing new challenges and I agree with you that we need to be considering all available data and facts as we discuss and take action on behalf of our communities.
We now have Right to Know laws, and the Precautionary Principle, which states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action. Even so, I am not sure we are on the right path.
Do you think we are in denial, that we are collapsing already, and can we even turn our decline around?
Dennis: Although I do see evidence of social, biological and financial collapse already, I also believe we can turn this around. I’m convinced it is time to abandon the old lens of industrialization and to start looking forward through a new lens of environmental, biological and public health concerns to find our way.
We should be considering the constructs of social, biological, and economic well being as we use a new lens to guide us in our policy choices and decisions. It’s quite simple really. The economy depends on people. People depend on the biosphere. We know that social well-being, the capacity to collaborate, creates economic growth. So we need to facilitate an economy of well-being that generates financial security, conservation of our extraordinary biosphere and brings health and education to all citizens.
I am working with 2 engineers from Hewlett-Packard who are manufacturing cutlery from compostable polymers. This small business is establishing a process for replacing toxic, polymer plastics. This is an example of ‘composting the old economy’, providing local jobs through a growing business that is good for the biosphere. Where and how we work and live is interconnected, and we must stop acting as if all separate.
RH: Often, even discussing the topic of change makes some people uncomfortable, and perhaps unconsciously they put walls up and reject consideration of lifestyle or societal change. Can this community even get to implementation of some of these new concepts, such as regionalizing our local economy?
Dennis: We have to begin to consider well-being as a component of decision making. I’m encouraged by opportunities and discoveries that come out of collaborative efforts. People from diverse backgrounds, professions, and with diverse experiences working together is a model to be embraced if we are to solve problems and prepare for a healthier, more sustainable future. Sadly, we currently appear to be more tribal, for example, looking at others as the enemy, which I believe is a zero sum game – it dictates that someone must lose. Our public health system is a symptom of this social hierarchy where some win and others experience more and more disconnection from community. This is rapidly becoming a epidemic. As we lose our middle class wage earners we see evidence of a substantial increase in cardiovascular disease and ill mental health. I believe that as we shift to more open civil discourse and dialogue, we will develop more trust, which will help move us all that more diligently towards the changes that will improve community and personal health and become the foundation for a new growing economy.
RH: I am interested in your perspective on the topic of drinking water, which is an ever pressing public health issue locally, nationally, and globally. Clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water is central to our county’s (and world’s) health but it seems efforts aimed at protecting our vulnerable water sources are controversial, at best. Lane County experienced this recently when our efforts to address clean water issues at the end of 2010 were met with opposition and anger by local and out of area people who were bused in to lend their angry voices to the roar of anti-regulatory sentiments aimed at local governments nationwide. This ultimately derailed our plans for a public hearing, discussions, and any amendments leading to possible decisions regarding proposals intended to ensure the McKenzie River, which serves as the drinking water source for the city of Eugene, remains protected as a public health resource.
I am concerned that as a community, we sometimes tend to back away from difficult pressing issues, opposing rather than discussing ideas intended to protect our community’s health and welfare.
How do you see us moving forward on integrated, complex watershed and livability issues in the face of population growth impacts on our natural resources?
Dennis: Communities can’t be productive if they are sick; we need to be talking about what living well means to us, about conserving limited resources, ensuring we have clean, safe drinking water, food sources, and affordable housing. My primary concern is that we aren’t relying on scientific data to inform policy choices, as you mentioned earlier in your example about efforts to protect McKenzie River water quality. Few people realize that Central and Western Oregon depend on the same aquifer. Yet, while Central Oregon is practicing water conservation, western Oregon is ignoring the issue. People are led to believe their water source is clean, safe and abundant, information that is not necessarily supported by scientific data. In the meeting you are referring to those whose public protest at the hearing were angry because they believed there property rights were being violated. But I had not heard this in the presentations made to the LCPC. Instead, I heard a group of bright scientists and planners from our county presenting facts about the nature and necessity to protect our drinking water now and into the future.
Policy makers and jurisdictions must begin do a better job of disseminating data and making it available to community members. They should be asking how people want to protect drinking water sources, not if they should be protected. We all need to consider how we can be the best stewards of our threatened natural resources. Now we get back to the importance of social collaboration. In my opinion, the only mistake made in the planning for the future of our drinking water was in collaborating with those who live in close proximity to the McKenzie River to present a truly community based plan to Lane County.
RH: Dennis, you have given me a lot to think about, and I hope people reading this conversation will take a moment to consider their own role in ensuring the health of our drinking water and other natural resources.
Do you have any other thoughts you would like to share with me and the community?
Dennis: Recently, some of our neighbors have found it important for public servants to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s worth citing here:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." How we close the political divide that has paralyzed us from action and become truly “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” is a matter of not only our health but the health of our children’s children.
RH: Thank you again for the work you do on behalf of Lane County and other communities around the world. I look forward to learning more about some of the innovative ideas you have about fostering healthy communities.