Five years ago, the talk of the Oregon Business Plan Summit was sustainability. Oregon's green expertise would be its economic driver; its renewable energy industries would be leading the charge.
At next week's Monday summit, the first since 2008, the focus will be on a different kind of sustainability: that of the state's basic services, its jobs and its economic viability.
"The huge unsustainable thing is that we're entering this decade of deficits," said Jeremy Rogers, project manager for the Oregon Business Plan, which since 2002 has been an effort to shape and improve the state's economy.
"There's no lack of interest in opportunity," Rogers said. "But we're focusing on how we get through the decade in a way that doesn't dismantle our services."
Read more in Sustainable Business Oregon.