Sustainable Community Indicators
Trainers’ Workshop
Hart Environmental
DATA
Sustainable Community Indicators
Trainer's Workshop
Development of this workshop was sponsored by the
US EPA Office of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities (OSEC)
under a cooperative agreement with
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Developed and produced by:
Hart Environmental Data
P.O. Box 361
North Andover, Massachusetts 01845
[email protected]
978-975-1988
http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/
Copyright © 1998 Maureen Hart. All rights reserved.
Permission to make copies is granted for nonprofit, educational uses
provided that the copyright and sponsorship information is included
on all materials and Hart Environmental Data is notified.
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................. 8
How to Set Up ..................................................................................... 9
Introductory Exercise .......................................................................10
Optional Exercises ............................................................................12
Section 1 - What is sustainability? ......................................... 14
A new way to look at the world ....................................................16
Training workshop agenda ...............................................................18
Let’s define some terms....................................................................22
What does sustain mean?...........................................................24
What is development?.................................................................26
What is carrying capacity?..........................................................28
What is community capital? ....................................................... 30
What are weak and strong sustainability? ..............................32
How do you define a community?............................................ 34
What is an indicator? ..................................................................36
Traditional measures ......................................................................... 42
Interconnected measures .................................................................44
There are many different definitions of sustainability ................46
Brundtland Commission .............................................................48
Brundtland Commission (continued) ...................................... 50
Caring for the Earth ....................................................................52
Indicators from Caring for the Earth.......................................54
MACED ..........................................................................................56
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.....................58
Table of Contents
Sustainable Seattle ........................................................................60
Puget Sound/Sustainable Community Roundtable................ 62
Co-op America .............................................................................64
MACED Communities by Choice ............................................ 66
Hawaii ............................................................................................. 68
Northwest Policy Institute .........................................................70
Indicators for sustainable communities................................... 72
Sustainable business ........................................................................... 74
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production ............................. 76
The Natural Step ..........................................................................78
Sustainable production indicators ............................................ 80
Sustainable agriculture ......................................................................82
Indicators for sustainable agriculture ...................................... 84
Sustainability is a vision of the future ............................................ 86
Recapping ............................................................................................. 88
Next ... .................................................................................................. 90
Section 2 - What makes a good indicator? ......................... 92
What are indicators for? ..................................................................94
Showing Linkages ...............................................................................96
What makes a good indicator? ....................................................... 98
Not at expense of others........................................................ 100
Environmental indicators ......................................................... 102
Cultural/social indicators ......................................................... 104
Economic indicators ................................................................. 106
Table of Contents
Making a better indicator .............................................................. 108
Examples of national economic indicators ................................ 110
Gross National Product........................................................... 112
Genuine Progress Indicator .................................................... 114
Ecological Footprint .................................................................. 116
Making measures that speak to people ...................................... 118
Total water use .......................................................................... 120
Water use per person.............................................................. 122
Water use vs. water available ................................................. 124
Measure cause and effect .............................................................. 126
Pressure - State - Response.......................................................... 128
Evaluating indicators ....................................................................... 130
Environmental indicators ......................................................... 132
Economic indicators ................................................................. 134
Transportation indicators ........................................................ 136
Land use indicators ................................................................... 138
Recapping .......................................................................................... 140
Next ... ............................................................................................... 142
Exercises............................................................................................ 144
Section 3 - Developing Indicators.......................................146
Small Group Exercise ..................................................................... 147
Small group exercise....................................................................... 150
Linking issues .............................................................................. 154
Indicator checklist ..................................................................... 156
Table of Contents
Recapping .......................................................................................... 158
Next ... ............................................................................................... 160
Section 4 - Indicator Projects and Resources ..................162
View of Community ....................................................................... 164
Economy, environment, society as interlocked circles ............ 166
Economy in society in environment............................................ 168
Indicator frameworks ..................................................................... 170
Indicator themes ....................................................................... 172
Issues ............................................................................................ 174
Goals ............................................................................................ 176
Indicator criteria ............................................................................. 178
Examples ..................................................................................... 180
How many indicators do we need? ....................................... 182
Data sources .................................................................................... 184
Local and regional data sources ............................................. 186
National and international data sources .............................. 188
Who is working on sustainability?............................................... 190
Where are they working on it? .............................................. 192
How are they working on it? .................................................. 194
Why are people working on it? ............................................. 198
Other resources .............................................................................. 200
How do we get there? ................................................................... 202
It’s time to measure what we want to be .........................204
Introduction
Purpose and Audience
This workshop is for people and organizations who are reaching out to communities on issues of
sustainability or who are considering developing economic, environmental, or social indicators for a
community. This includes nonprofit organizations, grassroots activists, community development and
economic development organizations, and state and local government officials.
The purpose of this workshop is to increase participants' understanding of sustainability issues at the
grassroots level and provide tools for initiating or furthering community indicator projects. It is hoped
that those who take this workshop, either in person or via the web site, will be able to present a one-day
basic course in indicators of sustainability. (A complete version of this workshop can be found on the
World Wide Web at http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/)
The one-day course provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability and the use of
indicators, as well as tools for evaluating indicators and sustainability projects. The course is an
interactive process that encourages the active involvement of the participants rather than a lecture
session. In addition to learning about how others are defining and working on sustainability,
participants will gain experience in developing and evaluating potential indicators of sustainability. The
course also highlights useful resources and sources of data for indicators.
As a result of attending this course, the participants will be able to provide more effective outreach
to their constituents on issues of sustainability. They will also be able to work more effectively with
groups developing indicators, so that those indicators are more aligned with the concepts of
sustainability.
Suggested Agenda
8:30
- 9:00
Introduction and warmup exercise
9:00
- 9:30
What is sustainability?
9:30 - 10:30
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What makes a good indicator of sustainability?
10:30
- 10:45
Break
10:45
- 12:30
Small group exercise: developing indicators
12:30
- 1:30
Lunch
1:30 - 2:00
Small group exercise continued
2:00
- 3:00
Report back on indicators
3:00
- 3:15
Break
3:15 - 3:45
How do we get there?
3:45 - 4:00
Wrap up
Hart Environmental Data
How to Set Up
This course works best when seating is arranged in a U-shape or semi-circle, so that participants can
talk to each other. The interaction among participants is as important to the success of the workshop as
the material presented.
The equipment required for this course includes:
✒ An overhead projector
✒ At least two large flip charts with plenty of paper
✒ Markers
✒ Tape for putting finished flip chart pages up on the wall
If possible, choose a room with plenty of open wall space. This will allow you to put flip chart pages
on the wall and keep them visible for the entire workshop.
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Introductory Exercise
At the top of one flip chart, write the title Quality of Life. At the top of the second flip chart
write Type of Organization. Taking turns around the room, each participant has one minute to
introduce himself or herself by providing the following information:
✒ Name
✒ Where he or she is from
✒ The type of organization he or she works for or represents (health, business,
planning, education, environmental protection, grassroots, private citizen, etc.)
✒ What he or she considers a key component of quality of life. One way to phrase
this concept could be to describe his or her vision of a good community—one
that has a good quality of life. Another way to phrase this concept would be to
describe a problem or issue that he or she is trying to improve.
For example, “My name is ___. I am a volunteer on the Watershed Watch group in ____ and I
think that quality of life includes having an adequate supply of clean drinking water.” Another
example would be, “My name is ___. I am a social worker for ______ and I think that
homelessness is decreasing people's quality of life.”
If the workshop is being done for a single organization, rather than saying the organization they
represent, the participants can mention a group that they are involved in outside of work such as
school PTA, church group, etc. This shows the different segments of the community that are
represented. These affiliations should be kept very brief—the object is to get a list of organizations
represented and a list of quality of life components.
When an organization type is mentioned (state environmental agency, health organization, etc),
it is written on the Type of Organization flip chart. If multiple people mention the same organization
type, just add a check next to that line on the flip chart.
When a component of quality of life or a quality of life issue is mentioned, it is written on the
Quality of Life flip chart. If multiple people mention identical issues or concerns, again, add a check
next to that line on the page. Make sure that the person recording the issues is accurately capturing
each idea. For example, if two people mention water quality but one is concerned with runoff from
fertilizer and pesticides and the other is concerned about sewer discharge, both issues should be
written down.
When everyone is done, ask the participants to look at the organizations and identify groups
that exist within a community, but are not represented at the workshop. Frequently missing groups
include business, youth, and the homeless or other disadvantaged groups. Write the groups
mentioned in a different color. Discuss ways to get people who represent these interests involved in
a sustainable community indicator project.
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Introductory Exercise
Things to Think About
Often the most difficult, but ultimately the most important, part of a sustainable community
indicator project is ensuring that all different groups within the community are represented and feel a
part of the process.
It is very important to listen carefully to what people are saying. Make sure they are really being
heard.
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Optional Exercises
These exercises can also be useful when working with groups on issues of sustainability. The first
exercise shows the diversity in the way people view a community because some issues will be classified
differently by different people. This reinforces the idea that a community is a complex web, not a
combination of the isolated elements of economy, environment, and society. The second exercise gives
participants a chance to think creatively about goals in a sustainable community.
1. Categorizing Issues
Using the flip chart of issues and concerns created in the introductory exercise, categorize the items
according to whether they are related to economic, educational, environmental, health, housing,
political/governmental, public safety, recreational, resource use, social/cultural, or transportation issues.
If people have different opinions (one person thinks something is economic and another thinks that it is
education) mark it as both.
The point is to get people to see that these categories are not mutually exclusive. Depending on the
participants, this can also show that a diverse group is needed to represent the community. For example,
if the participants are all environmentalists, most of the issues might be environmental, with very few
social issues mentioned. It is useful to refer back to this exercise when discussing the theme-based
indicator framework.
Things to Think About
The harder it is to categorize an issue, the more areas that issue is linked to, and the more potential
there is for developing a good indicator of sustainability.
The categories of issues addressed by a group, as well as the indicators that are developed as a result,
will reflect the interests of the people in the group. This is why it is so important to make sure that a
very broad cross section of the community is involved in a sustainability project and made to feel that
their opinion is important.
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Optional Exercises
2. Identifying Goals
Select one or two of the issues mentioned during the introductory exercise. Ask the group to define
the goal for that issue for a sustainable community. Ask the group to imagine what the community
would be like if this issue did not exist or had been corrected. Sometimes it is helpful to have
participants imagine the community fifty years in the future: The problem has been solved, what does
the community look like?
Try to keep the discussion focused on the goal, not how to get to the goal. People will have a
tendency to propose ways to get to a solution: "require all cars to be electric," rather than what the
solution looks like: "people are able to get around without creating pollution." If the discussion gets into
ways to solve the problem, bring the group back to the topic by asking "What is the goal, what does it
look like?"
Things to Think About
The hardest part of this exercise is keeping people from talking about how to solve the problem. It
helps to re-emphasize that the time frame to consider is 25 to 50 years.
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Section 1 - What is sustainability?
The purpose of this section is to introduce the participants to the concept of sustainability,
sustainable communities, sustainable development, and indicators of community sustainability. By the
end of this section, participants will understand sustainability as a concept that includes carrying
capacity, a community vision of the long-range future that includes all members of the community and
links the environmental, economic, and social aspects of the community. Participants will also
understand how sustainability is defined by a number of different groups, the common elements of those
definitions, and some indicators that are being used to measure sustainability.
Tips for Teaching/Key Elements
The important concepts to emphasize are:
1) Sustainability is not really an “environmental” movement, it is a community movement. It is the
concept that humans are a part of the ecosystem, and we need to learn to integrate our economic
and social lives into the environment in ways that maintain and enhance the environment rather
than degrade or destroy it.
2) Sustainable development is not sustained growth.
3) Living within the carrying capacity of the earth is a basic component of sustainability.
4) A sustainable community seeks to maintain and enhance all three types of community capital:
natural, social, and financial/built.
5) In the context of the sustainable community movement, a community is a geographic area that is
defined by the members of the community. It may be a small rural town, an urban area, or a larger
region or country.
6) Traditional indicators tend to focus on a single aspect of a community and frequently measure the
number of dollars involved with an activity. Some examples of these individual aspects of a
community are culture, economy, education, environment, government, health, housing,
population, public safety, quality of life, social, resource use, recreation, transportation.
7) Sustainable community indicators show the links among different aspects of a community and
measure results, not input.
8) Sustainability is a long range—25-50 years minimum—view of a community that allows all
members to participate, acknowledges the links between the economic, environmental and social
aspects of a community, considers carrying capacity, and is measurable.
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Notes
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Slide
Indicators
A new way to look at the world
Sustainable Community Indicators
A new way to look at the world
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Thinking about sustainability requires looking at the world from a new
perspective
➽ By encouraging a new way of thinking, we can begin to change our behavior
➽ New habits can help us improve our communities and maintain a high quality
of life while maintaining and enhancing the natural environment on which our
lives depend
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Narrative
What we measure often defines how we see the world. The purpose of this workshop is to encourage
people to look at the world in a new way. By using indicators to measure sustainable development and
sustainable communities, we can change how we look at the world. This in turn can change the way we
recognize problems and solve them, and can help us develop new habits that will continuously improve
our communities.
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Slide
Indicators
Training workshop agenda
Sustainable Community Indicators
Agenda
/ Introductory exercise
/ What is sustainability?
/ Common terms for discussing sustainability
/ Definitions of sustainability
/ Examples of indicators
/ What makes a good indicator of sustainability?
/ Develop indicators of sustainability
/ Others working on sustainable community issues
/ Data sources for indicators
/ How do we get there?
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Review agenda and purpose
➼ Provide an understanding of sustainability and indicators
➼ Learn the many uses of sustainable community indicators
➼ Provide an understanding of links among different community issues
➼ Learn what makes a good sustainability indicator
➼ Provide materials, information and experience to allow participants to
work with others on indicators
➼ Learn who else is working on these issues, what they are doing, and
where to find data
➼ What are the challenges and opportunities
➽ Encourage questions
➽ Have participants introduce themselves and state a topic of concern
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Narrative
Sustainable community indicators is a topic that sounds more difficult than it really is. What it
really comes down to is this:
✒ What is the quality of life for all members—human and non-human—of a
community now?
✒ How does the quality of life compare to life in the past and in the future?
✒ How do we measure quality of life?
✒ Do people have good jobs that pay for their basic needs?
✒ Is environmental quality a health concern?
✒ How involved are people in making their community a better place to work, play and
live?
These are all issues of concern for a sustainable community.
Sustainable community issues include issues of health, education, welfare, economy, environment,
transportation, public safety... in short, all the different parts that, together, make up a community.
Together, with all our diverse needs and desires, we all make up communities.
Creating sustainable communities requires that we understand how our needs and desires are
intertwined: a healthy economy helps to make housing affordable; environmental quality affects human
health; poverty and health affect how well students learn; well educated workers are necessary for a
healthy economy. All these different issues and needs are linked. Together we need to find ways to meet
those needs so that our communities can continue to improve and prosper.
There are five primary purposes for this workshop:
✒ To give each of you a common understanding of the meaning of some terms related
to sustainability, such as: sustainable community, sustainable development,
sustainable community indicators, community capital, and weak and strong
sustainability;
✒ To help you see how your professional or personal concerns are linked to other issues
in ways you may not have considered before;
✒ To show you all the ways that indicators can be used to help move a community
towards sustainability;
✒ To provide you with information and materials so that you can go back to your
organizations and constituents and help them understand how to move towards a
sustainable community;
✒ To provide you with examples of other communities that are working on issues of
sustainability;
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❦
Narrative
This is meant to be an interactive session, not a lecture. If you have questions, please feel free to ask
them. Remember that there are no dumb questions, only things that haven’t been explained well
enough. This is not rocket science. Sustainability is something that everyone can understand.
Now I would like to go around the room and have each of you give your name, the type of
organization you represent, and a short phrase (2 to 7 words total) that describes the issue that you think
is key to quality of life. “Sustainable communities” or “Sustainability” is not an appropriate answer; the
purpose is to get specific topic areas.
(Note: The facilitator or helper writes each issue on a flip chart at the front of the room. The
facilitator should go first to show by example that the issue statement is to be kept brief. For example,
the facilitator might say, “My name is Maureen Hart and I work for the Lowell Center for Sustainable
Production. For me, quality of life is having clean water to drink and clean air to breathe.” Other
examples include: time with family, recreation, green space, a good job, and good health. This has to be
kept short, particularly if there are more than 15 people present since this part of the workshop should
take less than 20 minutes. If people start to take too long, gently remind them that you are looking for a
2 to 7 word phrase.
The purpose of this introduction period is three-fold: First, to give the presenter an idea of the
interests of the group. Participants’ answers can direct the presenter toward specific examples to use
throughout the day. Second, the introduction allows everyone attending to understand the wide range
of topics that are involved in quality of life issues. Third, the list of topics will be used as a basis for
group exercises later in the day.
Some participants may come up with general phrases that could mean many different things to
different people. Examples include: economic progress, economic opportunity, economic growth. The
participants should be asked to elaborate on exactly what they mean by the phrase; for example, jobs for
everyone, good income, etc.
Once everyone has had a turn, ask the group to look at the list of types of organizations represented
and identify the types of organizations who are not represented. Categories may include: youth,
homeless, low income families, arts, business, developers, religion, and the medical profession.
The first thing every group needs to realize is that sustainability projects are most successful if they
represent a very diverse cross section of the community. This may make dialogue more difficult initially,
while trust and respect are built, but diversity is very necessary. If there is time, have the group discuss
ways to bring those not represented to the table.)
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Notes
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Slide
Indicators
Let’s define some terms
Let’s define some terms:
/ Sustain
/ Develop
/ Carrying Capacity
/ Community Capital
/ Weak vs. Strong Sustainability
/ Community
/ Indicator
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➽
Talking Points
➽ We need a common understanding of terms
➽ Sustainable development and sustainable community are not really
environmental movements; they are community movements
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Narrative
In order to talk about sustainable community indicators, we need a common understanding of
certain terms: sustain, develop, community, and indicator.
As we review these definitions, keep in mind that what we are trying to improve is our community:
not just the environment, not just the economy, not just social behavior, but all the interwoven pieces
that make up the community. Sustainable development is not an environmental movement. It is a
community movement. It is about making our communities better places to live for all members of the
community.
(Depending on the audience, the facilitator may or may not want to go to the definition pages for
sustain, develop, community and indicator. If not, incorporate the talking points or narrative from those
pages here.)
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Slide
Indicators
What does sustain mean?
What does sustain mean?
Sustain:
To keep in existence without diminishing, to provide
sustenance and nourishment
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➽
Talking Points
➽ A sustainable community:
➼
➼
➼
➼
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Nourishes, allowing all its members to flourish
Is able to continue indefinitely
Does not mean “no change” or “never changing” or “status quo”
Does not mean utopia
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Narrative
Sustain means to keep in existence without diminishing, to nourish. It means operating in such a
way that a community doesn’t use up all its resources. Notice that sustain does not mean to keep the
status quo—it does not mean that nothing ever changes.
It also doesn’t mean utopia. It doesn’t mean that bad things never happen. There will always be
floods and hurricanes. Some businesses may fail, some people will go hungry. Sustainability means that
we continually work to make things better and we make sure that the systems we set up are helping
rather than harming the process.
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Slide
Indicators
What is development?
What is development?
Develop:
To bring out the capabilities or possibilities of, to bring to
a more advanced or effective state
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Not growth
➽ To improve, make better
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Narrative
Development means to make something better than it was, to improve. Notice that development
does not mean growth. We all grow as children, but then we reach a certain age and stop growing.
However, we don’t stop developing just because we have stopped growing—we go back to school, we
learn a new trade or hobby, we go new places, make new friends. This is what sustainable development is
all about—changing and making better.
We live on a world with a certain amount of resources: air, water, energy, materials, and land. An
example that many people will understand is that of a small island community: There is a limit to the
number of people that can fit on the island and to the amount of the island’s resources that those people
can consume. One example is the island of Haiti where the need for fuel has completely deforested the
island. We are all living on an island called Earth and we need to develop or improve our individual and
global communities without using up or wearing out the resources that we have.
(Note that the difference between “growth” and “development” is a difficult but very important
concept for people to understand in order to make progress towards sustainability. One comment some
people may make is that growth is good as long as it is “quality” growth. However, people need to realize
that all growth is finite. A small town can only grow so much before it ceases to be a town and becomes
a small city. Small cities that grow become large cities. If a community likes its “small town feeling”
then the community needs to acknowledge that growth must stop at some point in order to preserve that
feeling.)
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Slide
Indicators
What is carrying capacity?
What is carrying capacity?
Carrying capacity:
The population that can be supported indefinitely by an
ecosystem without destroying the ecosystem
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Not an absolute number
➽ Depends on available resources and per capita consumption
➽ Not “caring” capacity
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Narrative
The carrying capacity is the size of a population that can live indefinitely using the resources
available where that population lives. For example, consider an island onto which is dropped a colony of
rabbits. As long as there is an adequate supply of food and water, the rabbits will not only survive but
they will reproduce and the colony will get larger. The rabbit population can continue to grow as long as
food and water are adequate. However, if at some point, there are more rabbits that there is food to feed
them, then the rabbit population will start to decline.
This limit is called the carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is not a fixed number; it depends upon
factors such as how much each rabbit eats, how fast the food grows, and how well the natural systems of
the island can handle the waste produced by the rabbits. Obviously, in a drought year less food would
grow and the island would support fewer rabbits. In good years, the island would support more rabbits.
The earth is our island. We have an advantage over the rabbits in that we have developed
technology to grow, process, and store food so that we can survive the bad years. We have also developed
technologies for handling wastes that we create. However, there is still a carrying capacity that the earth
can support. That carrying capacity is a function of the number of people, the amount of resources each
person consumes and the ability of the earth to process all the wastes produced. Sustainability is about
finding the balance point among population, consumption, and waste assimilation.
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Slide
Indicators
What is community capital?
What is community capital?
/ Natural capital
. Natural resources
. Services provided for human activity
. Capacity of capital to sustain diversity and long
term health
/ Human/social capital
. Connectedness to people and community
. Education, skills and health of population
/ Financial/Built capital
. Manufactured goods, buildings, infrastructure
. Information resources
. Credit and debt
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Natural capital is the natural environment and natural resources of the
community
➽ Human and social capital are all the people in the community
➽ Financial and built capital are all the things that humans have created
➽ We need all three types of capital, although usually we think only of financial
and built capital
➽ We need to live off the interest of our community capital, not use up the
principal
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Narrative
Another important term when talking about sustainable communities is community capital.
Although we tend to think of money or equipment when someone says the world “capital,” in fact, there
are three kinds of capital in a community: natural capital, human capital, and financial or built capital.
Natural capital is all the things that nature provides for us, such as raw materials to make clothing,
buildings, and food. It also includes the services that nature provides such as air to breathe, protection
from UV light, rain to water our crops, and wetlands to filter water and prevent flooding.
(It helps at this point to stop and ask participants to name some elements of natural capital that the
community has.)
Human and social capital are the people that make up a community: friends, neighbors, coworkers.
An important part of human capital is the connections among people, the way people work together to
solve problems or run a community. It includes volunteer efforts and the community’s governing
structure. Other parts of human capital are the skills and education of the community members and
their health.
(Again, ask participants to give some examples of human capital in their community.)
Financial and built capital are the built structures like roads, bridges, and buildings in the
community. It also includes the manufactured goods, the information resources, and the credit and debt
in the community.
All three types of capital are equally important to a community. All three types of capital need to be
managed with care in order to ensure that the community does not deteriorate.
Imagine that someone gave you a million dollars. You could spend that money quickly, or you
could invest it at 5% interest per year, earn $50,000 per year for life, and still have a million dollars to
pass on to your children and grandchildren. A sustainable community is one that nurtures its natural,
human and financial capital so that the community continues to improve. A sustainable community
lives off the interest of its community capital instead of using up that capital.
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Slide
Indicators
What are weak and strong sustainability?
Weak vs. Strong Sustainability
Weak sustainability:
Manufactured capital of equal value can take the place of
natural capital
Strong sustainability:
The existing stock of natural capital must be maintained
and enhanced because the functions it performs cannot be
duplicated by manufactured capital
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Natural resources provide material and services
➽ Weak sustainability means we can replace or duplicate natural materials and
services with manufactured goods and services
➽ Strong sustainability means that natural materials and services cannot be
duplicated
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Narrative
There are two different levels of sustainability: weak and strong. Weak sustainability is the idea that
natural capital can be used up as long as it is converted into manufactured capital of equal value.
The problem with weak sustainability is that, while we can assign a monetary value to manufactured
goods and capital, it can be very difficult to assign a monetary value to natural materials and services.
How much is a forest full of trees worth? A value can be calculated if you assume that all the trees are
cut down and turned into furniture or paper. However, the forest provides a home for wildlife that
provides food for hunters. It also provides a place for hikers to enjoy the natural environment.
Weak sustainability does not take into account the fact that some natural material and services can
not be replaced by manufactured goods and services. (Other questions to ask participants are: What is
the dollar value of the ozone layer? A wetland? An ocean fishery? An aquifer? A river full of salmon?)
Strong sustainability is the idea that there are certain functions that the environment performs that
cannot be duplicated by humans. The ozone layer is one example of an ecosystem service that is difficult
for humans to duplicate.
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How do you define a community?
How do you define a community?
Community:
A social group of any size whose members reside in a
specific locality, share government, and often have a
common cultural and historical heritage
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➽ A geographic area whose size should be determined by members
➽ Includes economic, environmental, and social/cultural features of that area
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The questions “What makes up a community?” and “How big is a community?” always come up
when discussing sustainable communities. The simple answer is: “as big as it needs to be.”
The more complex answer is that it depends on the community and the issues involved. In general,
a sustainable community is a geographic area and includes everything in that area—human and
nonhuman, animal, vegetable, and mineral. In some cases, political boundaries such as town, city or
county limits might be most useful in delineating a community. In other cases, watersheds or other
natural boundaries might be most useful. What is important is that the members of the community be
involved in deciding the boundaries of their community and how to make that community a sustainable
community.
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Indicators
What is an indicator?
What is an indicator?
Indicator:
A way to measure, indicate, point out or point to with
more or less exactness;
Something that is a sign, symptom or index of;
Something used to show visually the condition of a system.
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Talking Points
➽ Measure progress
➽ Show direction
➽ Very common, well-undertood concept
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An indicator is really just a long way of saying “how much” or “how many” or “to what extent” or
“what size.” Indicators are ways to measure. Measuring isn’t new. We all measure all the time. In fact,
we start doing it at an early age—who got the biggest piece of cake, who can run the fastest, who caught
the most fish—the examples are endless.
There is nothing wrong with measuring and comparing. How many people have set themselves a
goal for something that they really wanted to do? Perhaps as a child you saved money to buy a bicycle;
later on you wanted to buy a car. The amount of money in your piggy bank or bank account was the
indicator. The cost of the bike or car was the goal. How many people here have ever counted the
number of course credits they needed to graduate? How many people watch the highway signs showing
the number of miles left to wherever you are going?
We all set goals and use indicators to measure our progress towards those goals. The problem with
measurement is that sometimes we forget what the goal is and just worry about the indicators. The
measurement becomes more meaningful than the goal and we start to define ourselves in terms of what
we measure, not what we want to be.
For example, how many teachers have ever heard a student ask, “What do I need to do to really
learn the material in this course and apply it to my life?” And how many teachers have ever heard a
student ask, “What do I need to do to get an A?”
This is an example of the measurement becoming the goal. What is really more important? That the
student understand and be able to apply the material or that the student be assigned a letter grade of A?
When the student focuses on the letter grade instead of learning, the measurement has become more
important that the goal. As a society we also have goals and measurements, and in many cases the
measurement has become more important than the goal. Or the measurement hides what is really
important about some part of our lives.
(This next section should be tailored to match the audience.)
I’m going to ask some questions about things that you might measure. I want you to raise your
hand if you measure what I mention. I won’t ask you for the measurement, I just want to know if you
know the measurement. For example, if I ask you if you know how much you weigh, I am not going to
then ask you to tell everyone your weight. I only want to know if you know the measurement. I am also
not interested in precision. This isn’t a quiz. You don’t have to know your weight to the gram or exactly
what it is this morning after you had that extra pastry.
How many people know:
✒ How much money they make (hourly or yearly)
✒ How much they save (hourly or yearly)
✒ How many hours they need to work to pay for their basic needs?
What is really important? How much money you earn or whether it is enough to pay for your
needs? A student graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1948 got a very good
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job which paid $275/month. However, he only had to pay $70/month in rent. It’s not how much
money you spend that is important, it is how much you need to support yourself that counts.
How many people know:
✒ What the unemployment rate is?
✒ What the real unemployment rate is (includes people who have given up looking for
work or who have been out of work for too long to be counted)
✒ What the real employment rate is (number of people who have jobs appropriate to
their skill level that allow them to pay for their basic needs)?
It is not a question of how many jobs there are, it’s a question of how many good jobs there are
relative to the number of people who need or want jobs.
How many people know:
✒ How many dollars a week they spend on groceries?
✒ How many pounds of trash they generate each week?
✒ How much it costs to fill up the gas tank in their car?
✒ How many gallons of gas it takes to fill up the tank in their car?
✒ How many pounds of pollution that tank of gas generates?
✒ How many pounds of pollution are generated making that gasoline?
We tend to pay attention to the monetary measures of what we do without thinking about the
ecological consequences of what we do.
How many people know:
✒ Which store has the best prices?
✒ Which store has the most locally produced goods?
✒ Which store generates the most local jobs per local dollar spent?
We also don’t think about the social or health consequences of our actions.
If you buy something that is less expensive because it was made by the forced labor of children in
less developed countries are you responsible for their quality of life?
If you buy food that was grown in another country where DDT and other pesticides are still
allowed, are you responsible for the effect on migrating birds or for the effect of pesticide residues on
your family’s health?
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Most traditional indicators are based on dollars—the amount of money that we spend on
something. However, what is most important is what we get for the money we spend.
How many people know:
✒ What their shoe size is?
✒ What their ecological footprint is?
Your shoe size is how much space your foot takes up. Your ecological footprint is how much space
you take up when you consider everything that is necessary to support your needs. Imagine a glass dome
over the this area. How big would the dome have to be to include enough resources to support all the
people living in the dome indefinitely? If it was too small they would quickly run out of oxygen.
Making it a little bigger and the oxygen would hold up but they would run out of water. Imagine how
big it would have to be to support food and raw material needs for the whole population of the U.S.
(It is very useful, prior to the workshop, for the facilitator to find out the land area and population
of the area in which he or she is presenting this training and calculate the acres/person available.)
Our ecological footprint depends upon the lifestyle we lead. The average U.S. citizen’s ecological
footprint is 13 acres. We have the largest ecological footprint in the world. Ecological footprints are one
measure of sustainability. If everyone in the world consumed resources at the rate that we do, we would
need two more earths to support everyone. The world population is projected to double in the next 30
years. Then we will need six planet earths to support us. Measuring our ecological footprint tells us that
the earth can’t sustain this rate of consumption over the long run.
(Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees wrote a book call “Our Ecological Footprint” that explains
how to calculate the footprint. Wackernagel’s web site is: http://www.edg.net.mx/~mathiswa. There is
also a very good web site on ecological footprints by Dick Richardson [http://www.utexas.edu/courses/
resource/], a professor at the University of Texas in Austin. He has included calculating ecological
footprints in courses that he teaches.
The ICLEI also has an excellent web site that allows you to estimate your own ecological footprint
based on your eating, driving, and household characteristics. The URL is http://www.iclei.org/iclei/
coldfus/ecofootq.htm.)
It is not just a question of living better than everyone else. One American consumes as much energy
as 295 Ethiopians and as much water as 30 Nigerians. Clearly most people would say that Americans
have a better lifestyle than the average Ethiopian or Nigerian. However, we also use much more than
other countries with lifestyles similar to the U.S. For example, energy use per person in the U.S. is
double that of the United Kingdom and Sweden, almost three times that of Switzerland and Japan. We
use three times as much water per person as people in Denmark and five times as much as people in the
Netherlands. (Energy and water use information from World Resources 1992-93.)
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Are our lives twice as good as the lives of people in England or five times better than the lives of the
Dutch? Are water and energy use really good measures of standard or living? Or just a measure of a
wasteful style of living? What happens if everyone in the world were as wasteful as we are?
This is what sustainability is all about—are we living in a way that will allow our children and
grandchildren to have healthy, enjoyable lives 25 or 50 years in the future? And not just the
grandchildren of the people in this room, in this city, state or country, but the grandchildren of all the
people around the world.
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Traditional measures
Traditional Measures
Environment
Economy
Society
Water
Quality
Stockholder
Profits
Education
Health
Air
Quality
Materials for
Production
Poverty
Natural
Resources
Jobs
Crime
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Talking Points
➽ Traditional view sees unconnected boxes
➽ Resulting measures often work at cross purposes
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Narrative
Some of the measures or indicators we just discussed are traditional measures:
✒ How much money do you make?
✒ What is the unemployment rate?
The traditional measures that we use tend to show a community as disconnected segments: the
environment, the economy and the society. An environmentalist wants to improve air quality. A
business person want to increase profits. The health professional wants to improve people’s health.
However, the traditional ways we use to measure progress in these areas don’t take into account the
connections among these three areas. As a result, the three groups may work at cross purposes. For
example:
Shutting down a factory may improve air quality, but if many people are out of work they won’t be
able to afford health care.
Ignoring air quality regulations may improve profits in the short term, but poor air quality can affect
worker health, which can in turn cause health insurance costs to go up and therefore hurt profits in the
long run.
(Ask participants to suggest other common measures that may work at cross purposes. One example
is laying off workers to improve profits when the stockholders are pension funds owned by the workers
or their parents. Another example is poor water quality requiring companies to pay more to clean the
water before they use it. A third example is increasing the number of jobs that pay minimum wage and
provide no benefits, which may actually increase overall poverty.)
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Interconnected measures
Interconnected Measures
Water
Quality
Stockholder
Profits
Education
Health
Air
Quality
Materials for
Production
Poverty
Natural
Resources
Jobs
Crime
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Talking Points
➽ Community is a complex web of interconnections
➽ Changes in one area affect other areas
➽ We are all stockholders
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Rather than being three disconnected boxes, communities are actually a complex web of
interactions. Air and water quality affect the quality of other natural resources, which in turn are used as
materials for production. Having materials for production allows people to have jobs, which in turn
affects their health and the general poverty levels.
An important point to note here is that although there is a tendency to think of ‘stockholders’ as
someone other than ourselves, we are all stockholders in some sense. Even if you don’t own stock
personally, if you have a pension fund, a mortgage, a car loan, a bank account, or a credit card, then you
are a stockholder in the community. We are all part of the economic system and we all need to become
more aware of how measures of well-being in these different areas are reported and how they connect to
each other.
(Activity: It is very useful at this point to have the participants look at some of the interconnections
in their community. Start by writing in the middle of a flip chart page one of the quality of life
components that many people agreed on. Ask participants what other quality of life components link to
those. Add their suggestions to the flip chart and draw in the links. Keep adding links and components
until at least 15 or 20 items are added with multiple links.)
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There are many different definitions of sustainability
Definitions of Sustainability
/ Sustainable Development
/ Sustainable Community
/ Sustainable Production
/ Sustainable Agriculture
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Talking Points
➽ Different ways to use the term
➽ Establish common understanding
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There are many different ways that the term sustainable has been applied and defined. There are
probably as many definitions as there are people who are trying to define it. The fact that there are so
many definitions is not a problem; everyone has a different way of looking at things. In fact, having
different definitions provides many ways to discuss a difficult concept.
I am now going to share with you some of the ways that the idea of sustainability has been applied
by a wide variety of groups and communities. These definitions are similar in many ways, but it is
important to realize that each group came up with its own definition. It is not necessary that every
group have its own unique definition. However, a community should not use another community’s
definition or indicators without discussing the definition with all members of the community to ensure
that the definition applies.
All communities are different. What is sustainable in Seattle may not be sustainable in Tuscon or
Miami. What is sustainable in an urban setting may not be sustainable in a rural setting. However, the
process of discussing what sustainability is and how to measure it is an important step in the process of
understanding sustainability.
(When presenting this to a group, the facilitator should select some number of definitions that are
relevant to the group. The point is not to overwhelm people with the many different definitions of
sustainability. In a rural area, show rural examples; for a business audience, use business examples. It is
important to show that the definitions from one area may also relate to another area; for example, urban
and rural communities do have some points in common and therefore have some aspects of
sustainability in common: everyone needs a job, for example.)
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Brundtland Commission
Sustainability is:
“..development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs”
World Commission on the Environment and Development
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Talking Points
➽ Brundtland Commission started looking for environmental issues
➽ People responded with many interrelated issues: jobs, health, ecological
productivity, education, international trade
➽ Sustainability is not as much about the environment as it is about our
communities and economic systems and how they will survive into the future
➽ The future is not short term; it is long term: 25 or 50 years
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Although the concept of sustainability has been around for a long time, it became more widely used
in the 1980s. Back in 1983, the Secretary-General of the UN established a commission called the World
Commission on the Environment and Development. This commission is frequently referred to as the
Brundtland Commission, after Gro Harlem Brundtland, the head of the commission and formerly the
Prime Minister of Norway.
The commission was asked to look at the world’s environmental problems and propose a global
agenda for addressing them. She put together a team that went around the world and talked to people
in all walks of life: fishermen, farmers, homemakers, loggers, school teachers, indigenous people and
industry leaders. They asked what peoples’ environmental concerns were and how they should be
addressed.
The result of the study was that there wasn’t one environmental issue that was first and foremost in
peoples’ minds. People talked about living conditions, resources, population pressures, international
trade, education, and health. Environmental issues were related to all of these, but there was no hard
and fast division separating environmental issues, social and economic issues. All the problems were
intertwined. There were links among the environment, the economy and society that caused problems
in one of these areas to affect the other areas.
As a result, the Brundtland Commission came up with this definition of sustainable development
which emphasizes meeting needs, not just now, but in the future as well. (Source: Our Common Future,
page 8)
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Brundtland Commission (continued)
Sustainability is:
“Sustainable global development requires that those who
are more affluent adopt lifestyles within the planet’s
ecological means.
Sustainable development can only be pursued if population
size and growth are in harmony with the changing
productive potential of the ecosystem.”
World Commission on the Environment and Development
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➽ Equity
➽ Carrying capacity
➽ Population
➽ Changing lifestyles and habits of consumption
➽ Not sustained growth
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Narrative
Although the first definition is the most widely quoted definition from the Brundtland
Commission, their report, “Our Common Future,” defined the term in a number of different ways. The
two listed here are examples. Although the first definition was fairly general, these next definitions are
more specific and speak to equity, population, and consumption. (Our Common Future, page 9)
Many other organizations and groups have developed definitions of sustainability and ways to
measure progress toward becoming a sustainable community. The key elements of the Brundtland
definitions are equitable distribution of resources, both for existing people and people not yet born, and
not using more than the ecosystem is able to continue providing. Sustainable development is not the
same as sustained growth.
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Caring for the Earth
Sustainability is:
“...improving the quality of human life while living within
the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems.”
Caring for the Earth
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Talking Points
➽ Quality of all human life
➽ Living within the limits
➽ Conservation and development are parts of the same process
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In 1991, three environmental organizations, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources (IUCN) [http://w3.iprolink.ch/iucnlib/], the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) [http://www.unep.org/] and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
[http://www.panda.org/home.htm], jointly published a book called “Caring for the Earth.” This
definition, taken from that book, emphasizes the carrying capacity of the earth and the quality of
human life. The book lists nine principles of a sustainable society and outlines a set of strategies for
achieving it. The principles are:
✒ Respect and care for the community of life
✒ Improve the quality of human life
✒ Conserve the earth’s vitality and diversity
✒ Minimize the depletion of non-renewable resources
✒ Keep within the earth’s carrying capacity
✒ Change personal attitudes and practices
✒ Provide a national framework for integrating development and conservation
✒ Create a global alliance
The book begins with the idea that “We need development that is both people-centered,
concentrating on improving the human condition, and conservation-based, maintaining the variety and
productivity of nature. We have to stop talking about conservation and development as if they were in
opposition, and recognize that they are essential parts of one indispensable process.” (Caring for the
Earth, page 8)
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Indicators from Caring for the Earth
Sustainable Community Indicators
Caring for the Earth
/ Energy use per person
/ Annual emissions of greenhouse gases per person
/ Percent of land area that is natural, modified, cultivated,
built, and degraded
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➽ Use of material resources
➽ Use of ecosystem services like CO2 uptake
➽ Use of land resources for different purposes
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Some of the indicators that are proposed in “Caring for the Earth” include the amount of energy
used per person, the amount of greenhouse gases produced, or the amount of land used for different
purposes. Note that these indicators do not just look at the flow of money, they look at the flow of
resources and the use of services that the earth provides, like CO2 uptake. They also recognize that land
is a finite resource that is needed for many different purposes.
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MACED
Sustainability is:
“Sustainable community development is the ability to make
development choices which respect the relationship
between the three “E’s” economy, ecology, and equity...”
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development
(MACED)
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Talking Points
➽ MACED is located in a rural area
➽ MACED is an economic development organization
➽ Link between three E’s highlights the fact that economy exists in a context of
ecology and equity
➽ Equity is essentially a social measure, as determined by a community
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The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED)
[http://www.maced.org] is a nonprofit organization in Berea, Kentucky, that provides assistance to
communities in Appalachia. MACED addresses economic development with an emphasis on building
healthy, sustainable, equitable, democratic and prosperous communities. Their definition refers to the
links between economy, ecology, and equity. In the rural communities in which MACED works, jobs
are an important issue but they recognize that the jobs have to take into account the social and
environmental health of the communities as well.
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Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Sustainability is:
“Sustainable development...(is) the process of building
equitable, productive and participatory structures to
increase the economic empowerment of communities and
their surrounding regions.”
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
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Talking Points
➽ The Interfaith Center is a religious-oriented organization
➽ Stresses participation of people
➽ Like MACED, requires equity as a key component
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The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is an organization in New York that is an
association of religious organizations that are concerned with corporations’ behavior toward society. The
Interfaith Center defined sustainability in terms of equity and participation of community members in
the economic decisions that determine their lives.
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Sustainable Seattle
Sustainability is:
“...long-term cultural, economic, and environmental health
and vitality...”
Sustainable Seattle
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Talking Points
➽ Long term
➽ Participatory process requiring consensus
➽ Sustainable Seattle project produced a great indicators report
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Although not the first community group to work on issues of sustainability, Sustainable Seattle
[http://www.scn.org/sustainable/susthome.html] is one of the most well known groups that have
developed indicators. They came up with this definition of sustainability, which specifically mentions
the importance of all three aspects of a community: society, economy and environment. It took them a
long time to arrive at this definition because of a disagreement over whether the economy or the
environment should be listed first. As a compromise, they used the term “cultural” and put the three
words in alphabetical order. This definition emphasizes the fact that the economic, environmental, and
social aspects of a community are all linked; issues in one area cannot be solved at the expense of another
area.
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Puget Sound/Sustainable Community Roundtable
Sustainability is:
“... A community is unsustainable if it consumes resources
faster than they can be renewed, produces more wastes
than natural systems can process or relies upon distant
sources for its basic needs.”
Sustainable Community Roundtable
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Talking Points
➽ Emphasis on carrying capacity
➽ Not self-sufficiency but also not overly dependent on distant sources
➽ Produced an excellent indicators report
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Not far from Seattle is an area known as the South Puget Sound and the city of Olympia. Some
people in this area formed a group called the Sustainable Community Roundtable
[http://www.olywa.net/Roundtable/] and published a document on indicators for their community. The
document includes a number of brief stories of what a sustainable community might look like and how
people might live. They emphasized the idea of carrying capacity and using local sources for fulfilling
needs.
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Co-op America
A Sustainable Society is:
“... characterized by an emphasis on preserving the
environment, developing strong peaceful relationships
between people and nations, and an emphasis on equitable
distribution of wealth.”
Co-op America
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Talking Points
➽ Co-op America is a business organization
➽ Preserving environment
➽ Peace
➽ Equity
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Co-op America [http://www.coopamerica.org/] is a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate and
empower people and businesses so that they can have a positive impact on the economy. Their
definition emphasizes equity and living in harmony with all people and nations.
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MACED Communities by Choice
Sustainable communities
/ Value and respect all people
/ Cultivate trusting relationships among people,
organizations and institutions
/ Cooperate for the common good
/ Provide opportunities for communication and learning
/ Seek to develop and not just grow
MACED Communities by Choice
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Talking Points
➽ Makes a distinction between development and growth
➽ Learning and communication
➽ Trust
➽ Respect
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This Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED)
[http://www.maced.org] definition emphasizes developing as an alternative to growing. It also stresses the
importance of communication, learning, trust, and respect. This definition emphasizes the intangible
elements of sustainable community that are the foundation for successful living.
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Hawaii
“Aloha ‘aina, malama’ aina, ahupua’a style living...”
“Aloha ‘aina simply means to love and respect the land,
make it yours and claim stewardship for it.
Malama 'aina means to care for and nurture the land so it
can give back all we need to sustain life for ourselves and
our future generations, and,
An ahupua'a is an ancient concept of resource use and
management based on families living in a division of land
that connects the mountains to the reefs and the sea."
Puanani Rogers,Team Leader for the Ho‘okipa Network
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Talking Points
➽ Definition as stated by indigenous people
➽ Traditional lifestyle
➽ Nurture and care for the land
➽ Concern for future generations
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For native Hawaiians, sustainable development is part of their traditional lifestyle. Groups of
families have traditionally lived in areas defined by from the tops of the volcanos ridges down to the sea.
Each group maintained a lifestyle that could be supported by the area in which they lived. This
definition comes from a speech given by Puanani Rogers, Team Leader for the Ho‘okipa Network
[http://www.hawaiian.net/~cbokauai/cbed.html] at a conference at Lihu‘e, Kaua’i in Hawaii in October
of 1996.
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Northwest Policy Institute
Sustainability is:
“Sustainable communities foster commitment to place,
promote vitality, build resilience to stress, act as stewards,
and forge connections beyond the community”
Northwest Policy Institute,
University of Washington,
Graduate School of Public Affairs
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Talking Points
➽ Northwest Policy Institute is an academic institution working with
communities in the Northwest
➽ Commitment to place as a foundation of caring for the community
➽ Connection to other communities
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There are many educational institutions that are working with communities on the issues of
sustainability. The Northwest Policy Institute [http://weber.u.washington.edu/~npcweb/] in Seattle, at
the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs, has developed a workbook for
communities to use. They have done a great deal of work with rural communities. Their definition
emphasizes connections within and among communities.
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Indicators
Indicators for sustainable communities
Sustainable Community Indicators
/ Number of hours working at the average wage needed
to pay for basic needs
/ Acres of land redeveloped
/ Number of acres of farmland remaining in the county
/ Percent of food produced locally
/ Annual fuel consumption and number of vehicle miles
traveled
/ Dollars spent in local community that stay local
/ Percent of goods made from recycled material
/ Annual harvest of timber compared to growth rate
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Link between what you need and how much you have to work
➽ Links among locally produced food, fuel used to transport, pesticide use
➽ Links among fuel and vehicle use, air pollution and global warming
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Narrative
Here are some of the indicators that communities are using to attempt to measure their long term
sustainability. Rather than measuring the economy, society and environment in separate boxes, these
indicators link the three boxes. For example, the first indicator looks not just at the average wage, but at
whether it is enough to pay for basic needs.
Remember that the point is not to let the measure become the goal. Don’t measure the money,
measure what you want the money to buy you. Some things to consider when developing indicators are:
✒ How much you earn should be related to what you need to survive.
✒ Look at how many people have jobs that use their skills and pay a living wage.
✒ The more money circulates within a community before leaving, the more jobs are
created.
✒ Simply returning bottles and paper doesn’t help if the material isn’t reused.
✒ Land is a resource; we need to recycle it as well.
✒ Local food is fresher, requires less energy to transport, and may involve fewer
chemicals.
(It helps to use examples that are relevant to the participants’ situation.)
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Slide
Indicators
Sustainable business
Sustainable businesses:
/ Replace nationally and internationally produced items
with products created locally and regionally.
/ Take responsibility for the effects they have on the
natural world.
/ Do not require exotic sources of capital in order to
develop and grow.
/ Engage in production processes that are human,
worthy, dignified, and intrinsically satisfying.
/ Create objects of durability and long-term utility
whose ultimate use or disposition will not be harmful
to future generations.
/ Change consumers to customers through education.
Paul Hawken, “The Ecology of Commerce”
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Strengthening local communities
➽ Understanding links between economy and environment
➽ Junk bonds do not enhance community well-being
➽ Workers are an important asset
➽ Knowledgeable consumers are also an important asset
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Narrative
Paul Hawken is a successful businessman in the U.S. who has thought about how business fits into a
sustainable world. These are some of the principles he has defined to guide businesses toward
sustainability. (Paul Hawken, “The Ecology of Commerce”, page 144)
Businesses need to respect and enhance the communities in which they exist and upon which they
depend. This includes not just the community a factory is in, but also the communities that supply
materials and consume the final product. Companies are responsible for the environmental effects of
their products, from raw materials through the ultimate disposal of the product. The workers are an
important part of both the business and the community. It is in the company’s best interest to help
those workers become more productive. Companies should also help educate their customers.
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Slide
Indicators
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
Sustainable Production
/ Products and services are ecologically safe through out
their life cycle
/ Processes and technologies minimize or eliminate
hazards and wastes
/ Workers are valued and their creativity, skills, and
capabilities are continuously developed
/ Communities are respected and enhanced
economically, socially, culturally, and physically
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Products and services conserve on resources and are not harmful throughout
their life cycle
➼ consider entire life cycle
➼ durable, repairable, recyclable, compostable
➼ use minimal and appropriate energy, material and packaging
➽ Production processes are designed and operated to conserve resources
(including energy) and minimize hazards and wastes
➽ Workers are a company’s most important resource
➽ Communities, both those surrounding a facility and those far away, are
treated with respect and care
➽ Economic viability does not require unsustainable use of resources or everincreasing consumption of energy and materials
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Narrative
(Note: This slide and the next focus on production in a sustainable world. The presenter should
consider the needs of the audience and may consider using only one of the two. The Lowell Center for
Sustainable Production information may work better with a general community audience. The Natural
Step deals with very basic concepts but can be difficult to explain in a very short period of time to a nontechnical audience. The Natural Step information may work better with an audience with an
engineering or scientific background.)
A sustainable community has businesses that work both to improve the long term viability of the
community, but also to improve conditions within the community as it is today. That business operates
on principles that are based on a foundation of sustainable development. A key point for sustainable
production is that the company’s overall success cannot be dependent upon unsustainable consumption
patterns.
A product’s life cycle begins with the mining or harvesting of the raw materials, ends when the
product is finally disposed of, and includes all the points in between: transporting raw material, the
manufacturing process, transporting to the vendor, and actual use by the consumer.
Products and services must use appropriate materials and energy. Depending on the product or
service, they should be durable, repairable, recyclable, compostable, and use minimal and appropriate
energy, material and packaging. For example, an item designed for long term use such as a car, should be
durable, easily repairable and made of parts that can be recycled. An item designed for short term use,
such as soda, should be in a package that is readily recyclable by the consumer in that consumer’s
community.
Sustainable production includes processes that are ecologically sound, preserve resources and energy,
but also embodies a company mindset that places high value on employees and communities.
The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production works with businesses, government, communities and
workers to develop and promote new ways of production that make sense in a sustainable community.
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Slide
Indicators
The Natural Step
The Natural Step principles:
1. Substances from the earth's crust can not
systematically increase in the biosphere.
2. Substances produced by society can not systematically
increase in the biosphere.
3. The physical basis for the productivity and diversity of
nature must not be systematically deteriorated.
4. There must be fair and efficient use of resources to
meet human needs.
Robert, Daly, Hawken and Holmberg
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Nothing disappears—matter and energy are constants
➽ Ability of ecosystem services to handle results of human activity, including
waste
➽ Carrying capacity
➽ Equity
➽ Developing a language and process for businesses to see how they fit into the
larger world
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Narrative
The Natural Step was developed in Sweden in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert. Robert used a
consensus process involving the country’s top scientists to define principles of a sustainable society. The
principles look at the earth as a complex system of which humans are an integral part.
The four systems conditions listed form the basis of the Natural Step. The four conditions mean
1. Material that humans take out of the earth such as lead and mercury can’t be allowed to
accumulate in the environment. The environment and health-related issues due to lead and mercury are
probably the most well known problems the first condition addresses.
2. Material that are created by humans can’t build up faster then the ecosystem can break them
down. Examples of this range from materials which are harmful in relatively small doses such as DDT,
PCBs and ozone-depleting chemicals, to materials which are less harmful but are being produced in very
large quantities, such as CO2.
3. Human activity cannot destroy the ability of the earth to provide the services we need. Examples
include farming practices that cause erosion or land use practices that destroy the flood calming and
water filtering abilities of wetlands.
4. Resources need to be used equitably and efficiently. Equitable distribution means that poor
people will not have to destroy their natural resources just to survive in the short term. The Natural Step
process helps companies to understand the connections between their business and the earth’s ecological
and social processes. The Natural Step in many ways is a continuation of other efforts by business to
improve their processes and reduce their impact on the world. These other efforts have included Total
Quality Management, Total Quality Environmental Management, pollution prevention, toxics use
reduction, design for the environment, ISO 9000, and ISO 14000. The Natural Step moves beyond
these to focus on how businesses will work in a sustainable society.
The Natural Step U.S. web site is: http://www.ccnet.com/~emis/tns/.
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Slide
Indicators
Sustainable production indicators
Sustainable Production Indicators
/ Type and rate of material use
/ Amount and type of energy consumption
/ Amount and toxicity of waste and emissions
/ Amount of land used or reused
/ Development of workers
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Materials - ecologically safe, used at sustainable rate
➽ Energy - renewable, used at renewable rate
➽ Waste and emissions minimized
➽ Brownfield versus greenfield development
➽ Workers are an important asset
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Narrative
How a company measures sustainable production will depend upon the particular product or
service. The important items to measure are:
✒ The amount and type of material and energy being used—is it ecologically safe and
being used at a sustainable rate?
✒ What types of wastes are being generated and what happens to them?
✒ How is land being used or reused by the product, service, or production process?
✒ Are workers valued and enhanced?
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Slide
Indicators
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture
“..farmers in sustainable agriculture are concerned about
feeding their families and paying their bills, but those are
not their only goals in life. They set out to protect the
land, improve their quality of life, and enhance the
communities in which they live. Their day-to-day decisions
are not guided by a single minded search for profit, but by
a delicate balancing act among many goals.”
Dick Levins, Land Stewardship Program, Minnesota
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Farmers have multiple goals
➼ family
➼ land
➼ communities
➽ Need to find balance among all those goals
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Narrative
The Land Stewardship Program, in White Bear Lake, Minnesota is a nonprofit organization
promoting a sustainable, family-farm based system of agriculture. Levins suggests that, since farmers
have multiple goals they should have multiple measures of success. He suggests four indicators for
sustainable agriculture and has devised a very simple way to measure agricultural sustainability using data
from a farmer’s tax form.
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Slide
Indicators
Indicators for sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture Indicators
/ Reliance on government programs
/ Use of equipment, chemicals and nonrenewable energy
/ Creation of jobs
/ Balance between feed use and feed production
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Farmers cannot be too reliant on subsidies
➽ Less equipment, chemicals, nonrenewable energy use is better
➽ Local job creation is desirable
➽ Use energy of animals to harvest crops and spread manure
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Narrative
Dick Levins’ indicators include: how much a farm is self supporting, how little it needs to rely on
mechanical and chemical means to improve productivity, jobs that are created in the local community,
and a balance between feed production and use. A farm that produces just feed or just animals for sale
does not strike a balance between feed production and use. A farm on which animals use their own
energy to harvest the feed and spread manure, rather than using mechanical means with nonrenewable
energy, is a better example of striking this balance.
The Land Stewardship Program can be found at http://www.misa.umn.edu/lsphp.html.
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Slide
Indicators
Sustainability is a vision of the future
Sustainability is a vision of the future:
/ Community oriented
/ Inclusive of all members
/ Long-term
/ Acknowledges linkages
/ Considers carrying capacity
/ Measurable
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Of, by, and for the community
➽ Everyone can and does participate
➽ Long term is 25 or 50 years, seven generations
➽ Economy, environment, society are intimately connected
➽ Humans are part of nature, need room for all
➽ If you don’t measure you won’t get there
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Narrative
A common factor in all these definitions is a vision of a community’s future. That vision is
community-oriented and includes all members of the community. The vision is focused on the long
term: not just five or ten years out, but 25 or 50. Native Americans talk about making decisions that
take into consideration the next seven generations.
The vision takes into account links among economic, environmental and social aspects of the
community. The vision also takes into account the need to balance resource use and waste generation
with the earth’s ability to produce resources and assimilate the waste produced. Last but not least, the
vision is measurable. We need to have a goal and a way to measure progress towards that goal, or we will
never know if we are making progress.
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Slide
Indicators
Recapping
So far...
/ Definitions
/ Sustainable development
/ Carrying capacity
/ Community capital
/ Weak vs. strong sustainability
/ Traditional vs. interconnected view
/ Sustainable business, production, agriculture
/ Examples of indicators of sustainability
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Sustain means to nourish (not maintain the status quo)
➽ Develop means to improve (not grow)
➽ Sustainable development, not sustained growth
➽ Carrying capacity: living within the means of the ecosystem
➽ Community capital: natural, social/human, and financial/built
➽ Traditional vs. sustainable community indicators
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Narrative
So far we have reviewed definitions of various aspects of sustainability. The key points to remember
are:
✒ Sustain means to nourish (not maintain the status quo)
✒ Develop means to improve (not grow)
✒ Sustainable development means continuing to get better (not sustained growth)
✒ Carrying capacity is the ability of a particular population living within the means of
the ecosystem in which it exists
✒ Community capital includes three types of capital: natural, social/human, and
financial/built
✒ A sustainable community is one that lives off the interest of its community capital
and maintains or enhances principal
We also defined weak and strong sustainability. Weak sustainability assumes that built capital can
replace natural capital, while strong sustainability is the idea that there are some things in nature that
cannot be replaced.
We talked about traditional, one-dimensional measures of the economy, the environment, and
society. These measures do not take into account the connections among the three facets of a
community and frequently result in solutions in one area that work at cross purposes to another area.
We then talked about the web of interconnections among these three facets of the community and the
need for indicators that reflect the connections.
Finally, we looked at a number of different ways that communities and organizations have defined
sustainability and some of the ways that they have come up with to measure progress towards
sustainability.
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Slide
Indicators
Next ...
Next ...
/ Indicators
/ What are indicators for?
/ What makes a good indicator?
/ Traditional vs. sustainability indicators
/ How to make a better indicator
/ Small group exercise
/ Indicator projects
/ How do we get there?
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➽
Talking Points
➽ More detail concerning indicators
➽ Small group exercise
➽ Indicator projects
➽ How do we get there?
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Narrative
Now we are going to go into more detail about indicators. We will discuss what indicators are and
what makes an indicator a good indicator. We will compare some traditional indicators with sustainable
community indicators and see what the differences are. Then we will look at ways to make a good
indicator even better.
After that it will be your turn to develop indicators in small groups. After lunch we will learn about
some communities that have worked on these issues and talk about potential data sources for indicators.
Finally, we will talk about potential next steps.
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Section 2 - What makes a good indicator?
The purpose of this section is to provide participants with an understanding of what makes an
indicator a good indicator of community sustainability. By the end of this section, participants will
understand some of the problems with traditional indicators. They will also examine some examples of
better indicators that communities are developing. Participants will realize the necessity to make
indicators that help community members understand how their actions affect the sustainability of their
community.
Tips for Teaching/Key Elements
The important concepts to emphasize are:
1) Sustainable community indicators are useful for: monitoring progress; understanding sustainability;
educating community members on the issues; describing linkages; motivating and focusing action.
2) A good indicator of sustainability:
✒ addresses carrying capacity
✒ is relevant, understandable, and useable by the community
✒ takes a long term view (25-50 years)
✒ shows linkages
✒ is not at the expense of another community
3) The GNP and GDP are measures of the flow of money, not measures of economic welfare. They
include a number of factors that actually decrease human and environmental welfare. Most
monetary measures are not good measures of community sustainability.
4) New national measures of economic welfare, like the Genuine Progress Indicator, have been
proposed, but none are universally accepted yet.
5) Ecological footprints are an estimate of the amount of resources that an individual consumes. They
have been calculated for a number of countries based on national data. Lifestyle choices affect the
actual size of a person's ecological footprint.
6) Indicators for a sustainable community need to speak to the people whose behavior is affecting the
sustainability of the community.
7) Indicators should address causes as well as effects. Don’t just measure a “state” that needs to be
changed or the “response” that is meant to change the state, measure the “pressures” that are causing
the “state.”
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Slide
Indicators
What are indicators for?
Indicators are for:
/ Measuring progress
/ Explaining sustainability
/ Educating community
/ Showing linkages
/ Motivating
/ Focusing action
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Indicators have many uses
➽ Do not just measure progress
➽ Explain sustainability by making it more concrete
➽ Educate community about what is important
➽ Show linkages between different parts of community
➽ Motivate people to act
➽ Focus action on critical issues
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Narrative
Indicators serve several different purposes:
Measure progress - Do I have enough money to buy the bike? Do I have enough course credits to
graduate? If we keep consuming resources at this rate will there be any left in the year 2030?
Explain sustainability - The process of describing indicators helps diverse members of a community
reach consensus on what sustainability means. Indicators help put sustainability in concrete terms that
demonstrate a new way to measure progress. Concepts like a person’s ecological footprint help people
understand how their everyday actions relate to issues that seem beyond the reach of a single individual.
Educate - The process of describing indicators helps to educate the community. As a nation we have
been tremendously successful over the last 25 years at addressing the easily fixed sources of pollution.
Pollution from industry has gone down and the quality of our air and water has improved. However,
increasingly the environmental issues that we face are due to our collective individual actions. Air and
water pollution is in large part due to non-point sources such as fertilizer, pesticides, and emissions from
cars. It was easy to point to a large polluter and say, “Clean it up.” We now need to point to ourselves as
individuals and as society and say, “Change how we do things.”
Show linkages - Infant mortality—the number of children that do not live past their first year—is
frequently used as an indicator of early childhood health. However, a better indicator might be the
number of infants being born to unwed women under the age of 18 who have not finished high school.
These babies are more likely to have had no prenatal care, have low birth weight, and live in poverty.
Poverty is linked to crime, poor health, and poor education, which reduce the chances that future
generations can become self-supporting members of the community. The more people understand the
links, the more solutions can be developed that address the full range of problems.
Motivate - Indicators can help us use our competitive spirit to our advantage. The Toxic Release
Inventory (usually referred to as the T-R-I) is great example of this. In 1987, manufacturing facilities in
the U.S. were first required to report the amount of pollution they were releasing into the environment.
No one had ever looked at it before, and everyone was shocked when the numbers came out: 3.5 billion
pounds were released in 1988. By 1994, emissions had been reduced to 2 billion pounds.
Focus action on the issues - Indicators can help focus people’s actions and make sure that people
know where to put their efforts. What can I do to help? How many people have an electric meter in
their house or apartment? Where is it? In the basement? How many people ever go and look at how
much energy they are using? In the Netherlands, a recent building regulation required that new houses
be built with the electricity meter in the front hall instead of in the basement. The article I read said that
energy use in those houses was 1/3 less than what was expected. Just knowing what a measurement is
can have an effect.
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Slide
Indicators
Showing Linkages
Showing Linkages
Wildlife
Education
Health
People
With Jobs
Healthy
Forest
Poverty
Materials for
Production
Crime
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Not separate boxes but web of interconnections
➽ Nature provides materials for production
➽ Production provides jobs
➽ Jobs alleviate poverty
➽ Monkey wrench to tweak the system
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Narrative
A community is an intricately connected web. Here is an example of a web for a community that
derives part of its support from a forest. The forest provides materials for production, which allows
people to have jobs. Jobs help keep people out of poverty. Education improves the skills of workers,
further reducing poverty. There is also a link between education and health. Crime can also affect
health. People with jobs may enjoy the forest and like hunting for wildlife in the forest.
All these links are like connections in a complex piece of machinery. Sustainability is about
understanding the connections and figuring out how to make the machinery run more smoothly. Alan
AtKisson, one of the founders of Sustainable Seattle, gives the analogy of using a monkey wrench to
adjust the system. He says that the idea is to figure out where in the system a slight tweak with a
monkey wrench will have the most positive effect.
For example, crime is an issue in many communities, but solving crime by hiring more police or
building more jails may not do as much to improve the sustainability of a community as using the
monkey wrench on the “education” or “jobs” parts of the system.
When you draw linkage pictures like this you want to try to identify key linkages. This will help
you when you are developing indicators of sustainable communities. For example, for the issue of jobs,
although crime and deer population are connected, they are not key to ensuring jobs. For jobs,
education and materials for production are key links.
(Note to instructor: This is a good place to do a short interactive session on linkages as follows:
Pick one of the “quality of life” issues that were mentioned in the warm up exercise by several
different people and write it in the center of a flip chart page. Ask participants to name other things on
the list that are related to the issue. Write each item mentioned on the page and draw a line between
each item and everything else on the page to which it is connected.
Once you have at least ten items on the page, have the participants identify the key linkages.)
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Slide
Indicators
What makes a good indicator?
What makes a good indicator?
Address carrying capacity
Relevant
Understandable
Community
Used
Long-term view
Show linkages
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Addresses carrying capacity
➽ Is relevant to the community
➽ Is understandable to community
➽ Is useable by the community
➽ Takes a long term view of progress
➽ Shows links between economy, environment and society
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Narrative
There are a number of characteristics of a good indicator:
Address carrying capacity - An indicator of sustainability needs to address the carrying capacity:
whether the community is using resources at a rate faster than they are being renewed or restored. Is the
community using up its capital or is it living off the interest and reinvesting or enhancing its community
capital? In many cases this means not measuring things in terms of monetary value. It is not the total
dollar value of housing stock in a community that is important to sustainability, it is whether or not
there are enough houses that people can afford.
Relevant to community - What is sustainable in Seattle is not what is sustainable in Tucson,
Miami, or Berea, Kentucky. Sustainable solutions in metropolitan areas will be different from
sustainable solutions in rural areas. Communities should select indicators that are relevant to their
situations.
Understandable to the community - How many people have ever seen a part per billion? We need
to develop indicators that speak to people, so that they understand what they personally are doing that is
causing problems and what steps, however small, they might be able to take to help solve the problem.
How about pounds of pollution per mile or gallon? Tons of pollution per year? This will also help the
general public understand why some laws go into effect and help prevent backlash against regulations
that work.
Useable by the community - If indicators are not used by the community, they will not have any
effect on what people do. Indicators need to help people see how they can change their behavior to have
a positive effect on community sustainability.
Long term view - Sustainability is a long term goal. We need long term indicators. This means 25
or 50 years in the future, not 5 or 10 years.
Show linkages - Traditional indicators tend to be narrowly focused on one aspect of a community.
When you focus on increasing the number of jobs without looking at the details—the types of jobs,
whether the jobs are long term, and whether they have health benefits—you may just be setting the
community up for more problems down the road.
The town of North Conway, New Hampshire, saw incredible job growth during the 1980s.
Unfortunately, the jobs were all retail sales jobs: seasonal work dependent on the tourist trade, with low
wages and no benefits. When a downturn hit the economy of Massachusetts, New Hampshire’s tourist
industry took the hardest hit, and North Conway’s jobs were affected. Then, when Massachusetts’
economy bounced back, job growth returned, but all of a sudden there was an incredible traffic problem
in town. The indicator of jobs wasn’t linked to the social or environmental aspects of the community.
More information on the characteristics of good indicators can be found on the Effective Indicators
page [http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/EffectiveIndicators.html] of Maureen Hart’s
Indicators of Sustainability web site.
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Slide
Indicators
Not at expense of others
A good indicator is not
at someone else’s expense
Not at the expense of:
/ Another community’s sustainability
/ Global sustainability
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Making your life better by making someone else’s worse is not sustainability
➽ What goes around comes around: everyone is downstream or downwind of
someone else
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Narrative
If you develop an indicator that makes your community better at the expense of another community
(local, regional, or global), then you are not measuring sustainability. For example:
✒ If the indicator is “median income that is 110 percent of the national average,” then
you are saying that someone else has to be at 90 percent. This is not sustainability.
✒ If the indicator is “amount of solid waste landfilled in your community,” and you
stop landfilling by dumping everything in the ocean, you are not measuring
sustainability.
This does not mean that one community will not be better than another. It just can’t get there at
the expense of another community.
Instead of median income compared to other places, measure whether local people can afford local
basic needs on the local wage.
Instead of measuring the amount of solid waste landfilled in the community, measure the amount of
solid waste produced and work to reduce it.
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Slide
Indicators
Environmental indicators
Environmental Indicators
/ Parts per million of particulate matter in the air
/ Number of good air quality days
/ Increase in asthma-related hospital admissions
/ Number of vehicle miles traveled
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Traditional environmental indicators look at specific problems
➽ Traditional indicators are necessary but not sufficient
➽ Sustainability indicators show links to economy and society
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Narrative
Here are four examples of environmental indicators. The first two are traditional indicators; the
second two are sustainable community indicators.
The number of good air quality days is certainly an indicator that can be easily understood by
members of a community. However, it is a one-dimensional, short term measure of a problem. It answers
the immediate question “Is it okay to breathe today?”, but does not link the answer to causes or effects of
poor air quality.
The disadvantage of number of good air quality days as an indicator is that it does not show links
between air quality and other economic or social issues. Sustainable community indicators do show these
links. For example, asthma-related admissions shows the link between air quality and health. Vehicle
miles traveled shows the link between social and economic behavior and environmental results.
Additional examples of environmental indicators can be found on the Environment indicators page
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/Environment.html] of Maureen Hart’s Indicators
of Sustainability web site.
(Note to instructor: Rather than just telling participants what makes the second two indicators
better than the first two, engage participants by asking them to explain the differences among these
indicators. Make the discussion interactive by asking participants for their ideas for good indicators in
these areas. Have the facilitator or helper write down the indicators that participants suggest. For each
one, ask the participant what the links are with the various categories of issues.)
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Slide
Indicators
Cultural/social indicators
Cultural/Social Indicators
/ Number of runaway children
/ Number of reported abuse cases
/ Families with satisfactory child care arrangements
/ Families with adequate income
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Traditional social indicators look at specific problems
➽ Traditional indicators are necessary but not sufficient
➽ Sustainability indicators show links to economy and environment
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Narrative
Here are four social indicators. Again, the top two are traditional indicators, the second two are
sustainable community indicators.
Runaways and child abuse are clearly issues that need to be addressed in a society. However, those
measures do not show the links between these social issues and economic issues. Measuring the number
of families who have satisfactory child care arrangements or the number of families who have an
adequate income are measures that connect the social and economic parts of a community.
What indicators can you suggest that help to measure cultural or social aspects of a sustainable
community? Additional examples of traditional and better social indicators can be found on the Social
indicators page [http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/Society.html] of Maureen Hart’s
Indicators of Sustainability web site.
(Note to instructor: Rather than just telling participants what makes the second two indicators
better than the first two, engage participants by asking them to explain the differences among these
indicators. Make the discussion interactive by asking participants for their ideas for good indicators in
these areas. Have the facilitator or helper write down the indicators that participants suggest. For each
one, ask the participant what the links are with the various categories of issues.)
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Slide
Indicators
Economic indicators
Economic Indicators
/ Net job growth
/ Employment diversity
/ Number of jobs with benefits
/ Work required to support basic needs
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Traditional economic indicators have narrow focus
➽ Traditional indicators are necessary but not sufficient
➽ Sustainability indicators show links to society and environment
106
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Narrative
Here are four examples of economic indicators. Net job growth is a very common measure of
economic progress. However, it’s not how many new jobs a community creates that is important, it’s the
type of jobs:
✒ jobs that match the skills of the available workforce
✒ jobs that provide benefits
✒ jobs that pay reasonable wages so people can afford basic needs
Economic indicators need to show the links between the economy and a healthy society. Additional
examples of traditional and better economic indicators can be found on the Economic indicators page
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/Economy.html] of Maureen Hart’s Indicators of
Sustainability web site.
(Note to instructor: Rather than just telling participants what makes the second two indicators
better than the first two, engage participants by asking them to explain the differences among these
indicators. Make the discussion interactive by asking participants for their ideas for good indicators in
these areas. Have the facilitator or helper write down the indicators that participants suggest. For each
one, ask the participant what the links are with the various categories of issues.)
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Slide
Indicators
Making a better indicator
Making a better indicator
/ Measure what you want to be
/ Make a measure that speaks to people
/ Measure the cause not just the effect
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Need indicators that
➼ measure what is important
➼ can be understood by the people who need to use them
➼ measure causes, not just results
108
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Narrative
We have just looked at some of the factors that go into making a good indicator; now we need to
talk about how to make even better indicators. There are three things to consider when you are
developing indicators.
First, indicators need to be focused on the right goal. Before you use an indicator, make sure that the
indicator is truly measuring what you want to be. Some of the traditional indicators that we rely on as a
society are actually measures that work counter to sustainability. We will examine one example of this
later in the workshop.
Second, make sure the indicators you develop are ones that people understand and can use. We will
look at an example of taking a good indicator of sustainability and making it more personal later in the
workshop.
Third, when you have a group of indicators, make sure that some of them measure the causes of the
problems, not just the results. We will compare several examples of indicators of cause and indicators of
effects later in the workshop.
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Slide
Indicators
Examples of national economic indicators
Measure what you want to be
/ Gross National/Domestic Product
/ Genuine Progress Indicator
/ Ecological Footprint
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➽
Talking Points
➼ Examples of both traditional measures of economy and sustainability
indicators
➼ Goal should be to measure true economic well-being
110
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Narrative
At the national level, we tend to use economic measures such as the Gross National Product or the
Gross Domestic Product as surrogates for measures of human welfare. However, there have been a
number of attempts to come up with better ways to measure human welfare and how it links to the
economy and the environment.
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Slide
Indicators
Gross National Product
1993 Per Capita GNP
$30,270
Switzerland
$23,730
Japan
$21,100
US
$17,830
France
$6,230
Saudi Arabia
Brazil
$2,550
Haiti
$400
China
$350
Source: World Resources 1992-1993
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Generally considered to measure economic welfare
➽ Actually a measure of money flow between businesses and households
➽ Rises when money is spent coping with problems, such as
➼ health care (accidents, pollution, cancer, addiction)
➼ natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados)
➼ commuting
➽ Does not include non-market activities that benefit communities and
individuals, such as
➼ volunteer labor
➼ work in the home, garden
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Narrative
GNP is used to measure economic growth. It is generally synonymous with the health of the
economy and economic progress. GNP is considered a measure of the relative success of different
countries. As you can see, when using GNP as a measure, Switzerland has a fairly high standard of
living, the U.S. has a slightly lower standard of living, and countries like Haiti and China are two orders
of magnitude lower.
What is the GNP made up of? It is the flow of money from households to business. It can be
measured as a rate of consumption, but generally it is measured as a rate of production, the flow of
money from business to pay for products. It includes depreciation and taxes. It is not just a measure of
market activity; it also includes an estimate of some non-market activity such as food and fuel used by
farm families, rental value of owner-occupied housing, and food and clothing provided by the military.
There are a number of things that the GNP does not measure. Although it includes a few nonmarket activities, there are a number other non-market activities that are not included, such as charity
and volunteer work. For example, suppose there was a massive wave of civic feeling and everyone in the
country decided to they could afford to take 2 hours off each week—for no pay—to do volunteer work
in their community. The U.S. GNP would drop by over $1000 dollars, but would we be worse off if that
many volunteer hours were poured into the community?
Also not included are environmental costs and benefits, or the depletion of natural resources. The
Exxon Valdez spill caused the GNP to go up. The GNP also includes expenditures for undesirable
activities, such as the cost of taking care of cancer patients or victims of drunk driving. (Sources: Daly
1983)
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Slide
Indicators
Genuine Progress Indicator
GDP vs GPI
Gross Domestic Product
Genuine Progress Indicator
$20,000
Dollars
per
capita
(1982)
$16,000
$12,000
$8,000
$4,000
0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990
Source: Cobb, Halsted, Rowe; Genuine Progress Indicator
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Volunteer labor
➽ Cost of crime
➽ Family breakdown
➽ Underemployment
➽ Ozone depletion
➽ Loss of old growth forests
114
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Narrative
The fact that the GNP does not really measure economic welfare is not news. Back in the early
1970’s William Nordhaus and James Tobin proposed a new measure. They called it the Measure of
Economic Welfare (MEW). They said that economic welfare is related to consumption, not to
production.
They started with GNP but took out amounts related to production and investment, such as
depreciation. They took out costs of education and health expenses because they said those are defensive
expenses. They deducted the costs associated with commuting to work. How many people have a
commute that is 30 minutes or less? If you had to drive an hour instead it would cost more but would
you be better off economically? No. They also excluded costs for items such as police services,
sanitation services, road maintenance, and national defense. A lot more money is going into the personal
equivalent of national security: car alarms, house alarms. None of these improve the quality of our lives.
So Nordhaus and Tobin said they shouldn’t be included when measuring economic welfare.
In the early 1980’s Xenophen Zolotas proposed another measure, the Economic Aspects of Welfare
(EAW). It was similar to MEW. For example, he deducted the cost of commuting and treated
education expense as investment. He also deducted:
✒ Half of advertising costs, because he estimated that only half of all advertising is a
valuable information delivery service
✒ Pollution control costs
✒ An estimate of damages from air pollution
✒ Half of health costs, based on the assumption that half these costs are the result of
environmental stress
✒ A factor to account for national resource depletion
In the late 1980’s Herman Daly and John Cobb proposed a measure that they called the Index of
Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). They also started with the GNP as a basis. What they included
in their measure were expenditures on public education and health. They took out expenditures for
advertising and commuting. They decided that increasing dependence on foreign capital was a negative
influence, as was the loss of wetlands and farmlands. They said that an increase in income disparity was
also a negative influence. They reasoned that the stock of land available was fixed and increases in real
estate value due to inflation do not really increase overall economic welfare, so they designed their
measure to reflect that. Then they calculated it all the way back to 1950 and compared it to the GNP.
Then, in 1995, Clifford Cobb, Ted Halstead and Jonathan Rowe proposed a measure they called the
Genuine Progress Indicator. They went farther than Daly and Cobb did and factored in the value of
volunteer work, cost of crime and family breakdown, the cost of underemployment, ozone depletion and
the loss of old growth forests. They calculated the GPI from 1950 onward and compared it to the GDP.
As you can see, according to the GPI we are not even breaking even.
(Sources: Daly, 1983; Cobb, Halstead, Rowe, 1995)
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Slide
Indicators
Ecological Footprint
Ecological Footprint
India
1.04
World average
4.68
Netherlands
8.63
11.18
Canada
US
13.26
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Acres per person
Source: Wackernagal & Rees, Our Ecological Footprint
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Estimate of resources consumed
➽ Relates economy to carrying capacity
➽ Not a measure of quality of life, measure of life style
116
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Narrative
One of the measures I mentioned earlier was the ecological footprint. This is a measure of how
much of the earth’s resources we are using. The amount depends upon consumption and is very different
for different countries and for different people living in a particular country. For example,
✒ A person who walks or takes public transportation has a smaller footprint than
someone who commutes fifty miles in a sport utility vehicle that gets 15 miles to the
gallon.
✒ A vegetarian has a smaller footprint than someone who has steak every night.
✒ A family of 4 living in a 1500 square foot energy efficient house has a smaller
footprint than a family of two living in a 2000 square foot, poorly insulated house.
✒ A house or office park with a small amount of green lawn has a smaller ecological
footprint than a house or office park with acres of lawn that is treated weekly with
chemicals and watered all summer to keep it emerald green—not to mention the cost
savings of having a smaller area to maintain.
(Note: it is helpful to refer back to the quality of life components that the participants mentioned at
the beginning of the workshop. Most people do not say that quality of life depends on having many
possessions or using lots of energy. Quality of life does not have to be resource intensive.)
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Slide
Indicators
Making measures that speak to people
Making measures that speak to people
/ Relate to sustainability
/ Make it personal
/ Focus on the goal
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➽
Talking Points
➽ If people cannot understand an indicator, it won’t help
➽ If people do not see what they can do to fix a problem, it won’t help
118
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Narrative
Indicators need to be understandable. They also need to inspire individuals by pointing out a
specific, practical way to solve a problem. They need to overcome the twin arguments: “That problem is
too big; nothing I do can solve it” and “Well, if we don’t have enough, let’s just figure out a way to get
more.”
The following example demonstrates how to start with a traditional indicator and turn it into an
effective sustainable community indicator.
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Slide
Indicators
Total water use
A traditional indicator Total Water Use
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
Million
gallons
per
day
3.0
2.5
Average yield (in ave. year)
2.0
Safe yield (during drought)
1.5
Estimated future daily use
1.0
Actual average daily use
0.5
0.0
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
Source: Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Water use is going up
➽ There is a limit
➽ Not very personal
➽ Easy to pass the buck
120
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Narrative
Once you decide what you want to measure you have to make sure that the way you show it helps
the community to understand what it means. Indicators have to speak clearly to people. Here is an
example of a measure of a problem in a town that has a lake for a water supply.
The number of gallons per day is the line moving up from left to right. The straight line at 3.4 is
what is called the safe yield: how much can be taken out of the lake after two consecutive drought years
without adversely affecting the lake’s ability to refill itself. The straight line at 4.5 is the average yield: the
amount that can be taken out in normal years. As you can see, the amount used is getting close to the
safe yield.
The typical response to this graph is: “Someone should solve this problem. Tell the selectmen that
they need to find a way to get us more water.” Never mind that the selectmen are only paid about $3000
per year for their work and if they raise taxes they will be voted out of office!
This measure shows that there is a problem but does not help the community understand what is
causing the problem.
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Slide
Indicators
Water use per person
A more personal indicator Water Use per Person
160
140
120
Gallons
per
day
per
person
100
80
60
40
20
0
1940 '45
'50
'55
'60
'65
'70
'75
'80
'85
'90
'95
Source: Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ More personal
➽ Still doesn’t show connections to other parts of community
122
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Narrative
If we change the graph to show how much each person is using, we begin to see part of the problem.
People are using a lot more water than they used to. This starts to show people how their individual
behavior is causing the problem.
(Ask participants to give examples of why water use has doubled since 1950; examples include:
increased number of appliances that use water, increased lawn size, swimming pools, twice daily showers,
more cars being washed, more people being washed.)
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Slide
Indicators
Water use vs. water available
Putting it all together Water Use vs.Water Available
450
Actual daily use
400
Gallons
per
day
per
person
Estimated future daily use
350
90% of safe daily use
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1940 '45 '50 '55 '60 '65 '70 '75 '80 '85 '90 '95
'00 '05 '10
Source: Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Link personal use to the limit
➽ Helps show choices between growth and water limit
124
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Narrative
This graph shows how much water is being used per person and how much is available based on the
number of people in the town. The future trend is based on the expected increase in population and the
current increasing trend in water use per person. Now we can see not only when the problem may
become critical, we can also see more clearly what the choices are: decrease the amount of water each
person uses or limit population increase in the town.
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Slide
Indicators
Measure cause and effect
Measure cause and effect
/ Pressure: activity causing state
/ State: condition that exists
/ Response: actions to change state
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ State is the condition that exists
➽ Response is what is being done to try to fix the state
➽ Pressure is what is causing the state
➽ Pressure is most important but frequently neglected
➽ Pressure-state-response is like ripples on a pond
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Narrative
Traditionally, organizations tend to measure conditions that exist. This is called the state. For
example, an environmental agency measures the condition of the air—the air quality—by measuring
how many parts per million of a pollutant are in the air or how many days the air quality is rated “good.”
These are measures of the state of air quality. An agency may also measure responses related to that state:
how many air permits were issued or what emissions standards have been set for automobiles? These are
measures of response to the state of air quality.
However, frequently what is not measured is the activity that is causing the state to exist. This
activity is called the pressure. In the case of air quality, examples of pressure are the number of cars being
driven and the amount that they are driven. When you develop indicators, make sure you pay attention
and measure pressures in addition to states and responses.
(Note: The pressure-state-response framework was developed for environmental issues and works
well for those types of indicators. It is harder to apply this framework to social and economic issues. It
helps to establish a context and draw a boundary around a problem before deciding what the pressures,
states, and responses are.
For example, if the issue is crime, as defined by “the number of robberies,” then the context is
“safety.” The number of crimes is the “state.” A response might be to hire more police officers. The
number of police officers is a measure of the “response.” There are a number of “pressures” that may be
causing the “state” to exist, including drug use and poverty. The amount of drug use or the lack of jobs
are measures of the “pressures.” These pressures and responses define the boundary of the issue.
However, it is possible to see the lack of jobs as a “state” if the context is “economic well-being.” In
this case, welfare and job training are both “responses” to the state; as a society, two responses that we
have to the lack of jobs are: giving people money (welfare) and helping people develop skills (job
training).
Both of these responses need to be measured, but there should also be a measure of the pressures
causing the lack of jobs. Examples of pressures causing lack of jobs include increased mechanization and
the shifting of jobs to places with lower wage rates. In a sense, the shifting of jobs to places with lower
wage rates can be seen as a pressure causing crime (a state) and job training (a response to crime), but
they are both outside the boundary of the original context of “safety.” Setting the boundary of the
context helps to keep the discussion focused.
Another difficulty with pressure-state-response discussions is that some things may be a pressure in
one context and a state or response in another. For example, if the context is air quality, then the
amount of air pollution is the state and a pressure would be the number of cars being driven. However,
if the context is transportation, the state becomes the number of cars driven and a pressure may by the
distance between where people live and where they work. Again, it is important to understand the
context and the boundaries.
Discussions of pressure-state-response can be like the ripples caused by throwing a stone into a
pond-everything leads to something else. Understanding the ripples of the cause and effect relationships
is an important part of developing better indicators.)
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Slide
Indicators
Pressure - State - Response
Pressure - State - Response
Pressure
State
Response
Pounds of
toxics used
Air quality
(ppm)
Number of air
permits
Vehicle miles
driven
Air quality
Cars inspected
Number of
single use /
disposable goods
purchased
Tons recycled
incinerated or
landfilled
Number of
permitted
landfills or
incinerators
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ More examples
➽ State is easiest to measure
➽ Responses also easy to measure
➽ Can’t necessarily control pressures but they are most important
128
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Narrative
Here are some other examples in the pressure-state-response framework.
An environmental agency monitors the level of pollutants in the air. A typical unit of measure is
parts per million. An environmental agency responds to that level of pollution by issuing permits to
facilities that are causing the pollution. However, it is only recently that these agencies are looking at the
pressures causing the state: the amount of toxic material that is being used or released into the
environment.
A second example is a general measure of air quality: the number of days that air quality is
considered “good.” Because air quality problems come from automobiles, environmental agencies
measure the number of vehicles that have been inspected or the number that meet certain emission
standards. However, the pressure behind the problem is the amount that people drive. The emission
controls on cars over the last two decades have dramatically decreased the amount of pollution generated
per gallon of gasoline used. However, because people are driving much more than they used to, some
metropolitan areas have actually seen air quality get worse. If the pollution per mile driven goes down by
half but people are driving three times more than they used to, the result is more pollution.
A third example is the problem of what to do with trash. It is not uncommon to measure the
amount of material that is landfilled or the amount incinerated. Environmental agencies also count the
number of inspections done on incinerators or permits for landfills. However, the pressure is the
amount of product being purchased for which the ultimate end is the landfill or incinerator.
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Slide
Indicators
Evaluating indicators
Evaluating Indicators
/ Relevant
/ Understandable
/ Useable
/ Long-term view
/ Linkages
/ Addresses carrying capacity
/ Pressure state or response
/ Type of capital
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Points to keep in mind when evaluating sustainability indicators
➽ Relevant to the community
➽ Understandable and useable by the community
➽ Takes a long-term view
➽ Links different facets of community
➽ Addresses carrying capacity—use of resources and size of population
➽ Pressure state or response need to be considered
➽ Types of capital include social, financial and natural
130
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Narrative
When you look at an indicator from the point of view of sustainability, you need to consider:
whether the indicator is:
✒ relevant to the community it will be used by
✒ understandable and useable by that community
✒ looking at the long term (20 or 50 years, not just 5 or 10 years)
✒ helping to show the links among economy, environment and society
✒ incorporating the concept of limits, carrying capacity or ecological footprint
Think about whether the indicator is looking at the pressure, the state or the response. Make sure
that at least some of the indicators are measuring the causes. Don’t just concentrate on the effects.
It is also important to think about the type of capital that you are trying to measure. Communities
are made up of social and natural capital as well as financial capital. Social and natural capital are much
more difficult to quantify, but they are just as important for a community.
Now we are going to look at a number of different indicators in several different areas and use these
criteria for evaluating them.
(Note: Depending on the audience and time available, you should select whichever of the following
topics are the most relevant to the participants.)
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Slide
Indicators
Environmental indicators
Environmental Indicators
/ Resource Use
/ Cost of solid waste disposal
/ Number of people recycling
/ Pounds of material recycled
/ Number of products made from recycled material
/ Number of products made to be recycled, repairable,
compostable
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Which of these indicators address carrying capacity?
➽ What types of capital are being addressed?
➽ Which are measuring pressures, states or responses?
➽ Which take a long-term view?
➽ Which address links within the community?
132
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Narrative
For example, the “cost of solid waste disposal” is purely a financial measure. Although it is an
environmental measure, it is only tangentially linked to the environment. “Number of people recycling”
and “pounds of material recycled” are linked more closely to society and to the environment; however,
they do not really address “carrying capacity.” “Number of products made from recycled material” links
the production process to the disposal of solid waste and so addresses carrying capacity. The “number of
products made to be recycled, repairable, compostable” also addresses carrying capacity and links
disposal to the production process.
(If there is time, ask the participants for additional ideas for better indicators.)
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Slide
Indicators
Economic indicators
Economic Indicators
/ Income
/ Median income
/ Distribution of personal income
/ Hours of work needed to support basic needs
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Which of these indicators address carrying capacity?
➽ What types of capital are being addressed?
➽ Which are measuring pressures, states or responses?
➽ Which take a long-term view?
➽ Which address links within the community?
134
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Narrative
For example, “Median income” measures the amount of money made by a person but does not
measure how that compares to the amount of money that person needs to live. “Distribution of personal
income” measures the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. There have been studies that show
that overall health of a society is lower in those countries that have wider gaps between the haves and
havenots.
“Hours of work needed to support basic needs” is a measure that links income to the costs of living
in a particular location and also addresses personal “carrying capacity” in the sense that one person only
has 24 hours in each day and can only spend so many of those hours working.
(If there is time, ask the participants for additional ideas for better indicators.)
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Slide
Indicators
Transportation indicators
Transportation Indicators
/ Waiting time at intersection
/ Number of cars at peak period
/ Time devoted to non-recreational travel
/ Portion of household expenses spent on
transportation
/ Percent of vehicles powered by renewable energy
/ Ability of non-drivers to reach employment centers
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Which of these indicators address carrying capacity?
➽ What types of capital are being addressed?
➽ Which are measuring pressures, states or responses?
➽ Which take a long-term view?
➽ Which address links within the community?
136
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Narrative
For example, “Waiting time at intersection” and “Number of cars at peak period” are traditional
measures of the traffic flow that are very counter productive to sustainability. Although they are measures
of the “carrying capacity” of a particular road, they are not good measures of the overall “carrying
capacity” of the entire community. A number of studies have shown that widening roads generally results
in increasing amounts of traffic, which, in turn, requires even wider roads. There is a limit to the amount
of land in a community that can be devoted to transportation and neither of these indicators addresses
those limits. Nor do these two measures link transportation to other aspects of the community.
In contrast, “Time devoted to non-recreational travel” links transportation to work and to free time.
In effect, this measures a piece of a person’s social carrying capacity—the amount of time available in a
day—by indicating how a person is able to use that time. Time spent commuting results in less time for
family, friends, community, and personal leisure.
“Portion of household expenses spent on transportation” links transportation to personal income
and therefore to the number of hours needed to support basic needs. As with time spent commuting,
the larger the percentage of household income used to pay for transportation, the smaller the percentage
of income available for other basic needs.
“Percent of vehicles powered by renewable energy” links transportation to energy use and speaks to
the type of energy used.
“Ability of non-drivers to reach employment centers” links transportation to work as well as to social
equity and housing.
(If there is time, ask the participants for additional ideas of better indicators.)
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Slide
Indicators
Land use indicators
Land Use Indicators
/ Number of permits issued
/ Number of housing starts
/ Change in urban area vs. change in population
/ Acres of farmland lost to development
/ Land per capita used for transportation
/ Change in amount of impervious surfaces
Hart Environmental Data
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Which of these indicators address carrying capacity?
➽ What types of capital are being addressed?
➽ Which are measuring pressures, states or responses?
➽ Which take a long-term view?
➽ Which address links within the community?
138
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Narrative
For example, “number of permits issued,” and “number of housing starts,” although good measures
for a housing department or a real estate developer, do not address carrying capacity or have links to
other aspects of the community. Some aspects that are missing include: how much land is being used up
in creating new houses, whether those houses are affordable to people living in the area or only to people
moving in from outside the area, whether the housing results in more transportation needs or whether
the housing is close to existing places of employment, shopping, education, and recreation.
“Change in urban area versus change in population” addresses “carrying capacity” in that many
communities have increased the amount of land that they use at a much greater rate than the population
is increasing. Clearly this is not a sustainable trend.
“Acres of farmland lost to development” and “land per capita used for transportation” also address
carrying capacity in that there is a fixed amount of land available. These indicators also link land use to
other areas, specifically food production and transportation.
“Change in the amount of impervious surfaces” links transportation and land use to water quality
and addresses carrying capacity in that the impervious surfaces do not absorb water and increase the risk
of flooding.
(If there is time, ask the participants for additional ideas for better indicators.)
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Slide
Indicators
Recapping
So far...
/ Introduction and definitions
/ Indicators
/ What are they for?
/ What makes a good indicator?
/ Measure what you want to be
/ Make measures that speak to people
/ Measure cause as well as effect
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Make sure indicators are really measuring the right things
➽ Make sure they allow people to see how they can help
➽ Measure the pressures, not just states and responses
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Narrative
So far we have discussed the idea that indicators are for measuring progress, but they also help
motivate, educate, and focus communities on sustainability issues. We have also discussed the
characteristics of a good indicator. A good indicator of sustainability:
✒ Considers carrying capacity
✒ Is relevant, understandable, and usable by a community
✒ Has a long term view of a community (20 to 50 years, not 5 or 10)
✒ Highlights the linkages among different areas of a community
✒ Is not at the expense of another community’s sustainability
Finally, we have talked about how to make indicators better indicators by making sure that the
indicator measures what we really want to be, is understandable to people, that it speaks to people, and
that we include in our set of indicators measures of the causes as well as the effects, the pressures as well
as the states.
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Slide
Indicators
Next ...
Next ...
/ Small group exercise
/ Define goal for issue
/ Discuss linkages
/ Brainstorm indicators
/ Evaluate indicators
/ Select best indicators
/ Indicator projects
/ How do we get there?
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Small group exercise
➽ Indicator projects
➽ Challenges and opportunities
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Narrative
The next thing we will do is the small group exercise. This is your turn to work. Each small group
will have a topic for which you will develop some indicators. You will start by defining the goal and
drawing the linkage webs for that issue in your community. You will then brainstorm some indicators,
evaluate which are the best, and present your solution to the larger group.
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Exercises
Here are three exercises that can help participants understand the topics presented in this section.
1. Linkages
Write the words “Air Quality” in the middle of a flip chart page. Ask the participants to help build a
picture of the linkages. As each topic is mentioned, write it somewhere on the flip chart and draw a line
connecting it to Air Quality and other topics. For example, topics that might be mentioned include:
Human Health (from breathing poor quality air), Water Quality (from deposition of air borne
emissions), Transportation (causes emissions), Energy Use (ditto), Production of Goods (ditto),
Education (people learn to recognize activities that cause problems). Human Health is linked to
Education as well.
Make another linkage page by writing the words “Resource Use” in the middle of another flip chart
page. Again, ask the participants to help build a picture of the linkages. As each topic is mentioned,
write it somewhere on the flip chart and draw a line connecting it to Resource Use. Examples include
Production, Energy, Air Quality, Waste Generation, Transportation, Ecosystem Health, Human Health.
If the participants have a hard time thinking of links, start with two topics such as “Jobs” and
“Income” with a line between them to show the linkage. Then ask the participants to list other linkages.
Ideas may include Health (insurance and ability to pay for care), Poverty (not enough income), Crime
(solution to not enough income), Charity (people who have money can afford to help others),
Environment (people who have good jobs have time to enjoy the environment), Commuting (people
with jobs have to get there), Transportation (how they get there), Connectedness (the more time people
spend commuting, the less time for their community).
With one of the linkage pictures, ask the participants to identify the key links, those links where
improving the second topic will help the first. For example, if the topic is jobs, education is a key link
but crime or charity may not be. This will depend upon the circumstances of the community, since
there are some places where crime is such a problem that employers do not want to locate there.
Next, ask the participants to think of indicators that show the connection involved in some of the
key links that have been identified.
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Exercises
2. Evaluating Indicators
Using the indicator checklist in the appendix and the list of indicators developed by the Interagency
Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators, walk the participants through evaluations of a
couple of indicators. Then have them evaluate a few indicators individually and compare their answers
as a group.
3. Pressure-state-response contexts and boundaries
Write a phrase at the top of a flip chart page that defines a problem of concern to the group, for
example “crime.” Ask the participants to name a few ways to measure the state of this problem.
Examples might include the number of robberies and the number of violent crimes. Write these under
the phrase in the middle of the page.
Ask the participants to name a few responses to the state and indicators for measuring those
responses. Examples might include the number of police officers or the number of convicted criminals.
Write these on the right side with lines from the center.
Ask for examples of pressures and how to measure them. Examples include lack of jobs or drug
abuse. Write these on the left with lines to the center.
Ask participants to think of the “pressures” as “states” and think about examples of pressures that
cause these states. Examples might include mechanization of jobs and moving jobs to areas with lower
wage rates. Write these to the left of the original pressures with lines to the original pressures.
Have the participants look at the original “responses” (number of police officers, etc.) and think of
those as a “state.” Ask them to name responses to those states. Examples are increasing taxes to pay for
the police or building more jails to house the criminals. Write these on the far right and draw lines to
the original “responses.”
Draw a dotted circle around the original state, pressures and responses. This is the boundary of the
original context. The next level out is the first “ripple on the pond.”
It is possible to continue adding pressures and responses and end up with a response that is a
pressure, thereby creating a continuous loop.
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Section 3 - Developing Indicators
The purpose of this section is to provide participants with an opportunity to develop potential
indicators for a sustainable community and get feedback from other participants on how to make an
indicator better. By the end of this section, the participants will have experience discussing the issues of
sustainability and providing feedback to others on indicators.
Tips for Teaching/Key Elements
The important concepts to emphasize are:
1) Start with the vision or description of sustainability and use that to come up with ideas for
indicators.
2) Think about the linkages between the issue and other areas.
3) When brainstorming ideas, don't dismiss indicators because the data does not currently exist.
Indicators that are relevant to sustainability--but for which no data exists--are better in the long run
than indicators that are not relevant to sustainability no matter how much data exists.
4) A sustainable community goal cannot involve making a community better by making another
community worse off.
5) Look at the indicators from several viewpoints or frameworks--theme based, pressure-state-response,
natural-human/social-built capital, goal based--to see if you have a well balanced set of indicators.
6) Develop a way to evaluate indicators that works for your community.
7) Think about who might already be collecting the data or monitoring that facet of the community.
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Small Group Exercise
The purpose of this exercise is give participants experience in indicator development using one of
the issues and concerns identified in the introductory exercise. Divide the participants into groups of
three or four people. Give each group a topic to discuss based on the quality of life issues identified in
the introductory exercise. No group should be larger than four people in order for everyone to have a
chance to speak within the small group.
For their topic, each group will do the following (approximate time needed for each task is given in
parentheses):
✒ Define the desired goal (15 min)
✒ Identify the linkages, including key links (20 min)
✒ Identify the pressures that are causing the state and the type(s) of capital (15 min)
✒ Brainstorm indicators (30 min)
✒ Evaluate indicators (30 min)
✒ Identify possible data sources (10 min)
✒ Discuss ways to incorporate indicators into daily work or activities (15 min)
✒ Prepare to report back to larger group (15 min)
At the end of the exercise, each group will report back to the larger group using the report format
below. Here is a more detailed description of the tasks:
Define the goal (15 min)
Begin by defining the desired goal for your issue. Remember, you are not trying to prescribe how
the goal is reached, just what the community would look like when the goal has been reached.
Identify links (20 min)
Discuss the linkages between your issue and other areas of concern. For example, if your issue is
childhood asthma, there is a link to environment because of air quality issues. There is also a link to
transportation because air emissions from automobiles may be a factor. If the area is rural, wood stoves
might be a factor, in which case there is a link to energy and resource use. The purpose of this part of the
exercise is to help everyone see the linkages among different factors in a community. Use either the
linkage worksheet or a linkage web. Identify key links.
Identify pressures and type(s) of capital (15 min)
Discuss which type(s) of community capital the issue involves and some of the pressures on and
responses to the state that is being addressed.
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Small Group Exercise
Brainstorm ideas for indicators (30 min)
This should be real brainstorming. Don't worry about how feasible an idea is, or whether it is
possible to measure, or whether any data exists. The point is to get as many ideas on the table as possible.
Evaluate indicators (30 min)
Review the indicators. For what level of audience would the indicator work: is it for the general
public, for policy makers, or for specialists? Next, determine whether the indicators are related to
pressures, states, or responses. Finally, use the indicator checklist to rank your indicators. Discuss your
reasons for assigning the rankings. (It is all right to have different opinions about how an indicator is
ranked as long as you can explain why.) Select one or two indicators to present to the larger group.
Identify data sources (10 min)
Discuss possible sources of data for the indicators that you selected. Would the source have to be
developed, or are there groups that already collect the data? Is the data available at a local and regional
level, or only at one level?
Identify ways to use indicators (15 min)
How could the indicators be used and publicized so that they become a part of the general public's
thinking?
Prepare to report back (15 min)
Pick a spokesperson and prepare to present the top one or two indicators to the entire group. Use
the format below to present your results.
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Small Group Exercise
Report Format
Using a common report format will make it easier for the group as a whole to interpret each small
group's results. Use the reporting process to get feedback from the group as a whole concerning ways to
improve the indicators.
Here is a sample report that illustrates the format each small group should use:
Indicator Report
Issue: Air pollution in the city
Goal: The air will be clean enough that sensitive populations will not be affected
Linkages: health (key), education, air quality, economy, transportation (key)
Indicator: Number of respiratory related deaths during times of poor air quality
Type of indicator (pressure, state or response): State
Type of capital: Natural/Social
Rank: 7 (out of 15)
Natural Capital Carrying Capacity: 1 (ability of air to allow people to breathe)
Social Capital Carrying Capacity: 1 (health of people)
Understandable: 1 (easy to understand)
Long-term goal: 1
Links: 3 (cultural/social, economic, energy, environment, health, transportation)
Potential data sources: Local hospital, local doctors’ association, board of health
Ways to incorporate indicator into daily life: Have graph in local newspaper
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Slide
Indicators
Small group exercise
Small Group Exercise
/ Goal - Develop indicators for an issue
/ Steps:
. Define Goal
. Determine linkages
. Brainstorm indicators
. Rank indicators
. Make a better indicator
. Report back
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Develop goals for issue
➽ Analyze links
➽ Brainstorm indicators
➽ Evaluate indicators
➽ Improve indicator
➽ Report back
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Narrative
(As part of the introduction to the workshop, participants created a list of issues that concerned
them. During the break, the facilitator should review this list of issues and combine any that seem to be
redundant. Once the group gets back together, ask participants to select one issue area for which they
would like to develop indicators. Try to arrange it so that no group has more than four people if
possible.)
Now we are going to break up into groups of three or four to start working on developing indicators
of sustainability. The groups will be based on the issues that were identified during the introduction.
The first thing each group should do is define the goal for the topic or issue. Think about what the
community might look like in 30 or 50 years if this problem has been solved. The goal should not state
how the problem is solved, however. For example, if air pollution is the problem, a statement that says
‘all automobiles have been banned’ is not a good goal statement. This is really a statement about how to
reach the goal. In this example, a goal statement might be ‘people can get where they need to go without
generating pollution.’ Spend about 15 minutes developing a goal statement.
Next, discuss the linkages among your issue and other areas of concern. For example, if your issue is
childhood asthma, there is a link to environment because of air quality issues. There is also a link to
transportation because air emissions from automobiles may be a factor. If the area is rural, wood stoves
might be a factor, in which case there is a link to energy and resource use. The purpose of this part of the
exercise is to help everyone see the linkages among different factors in a community. Spend about 20
minutes talking about the different connections. Be sure to identify those links that are key links.
Next, discuss what type of community capital is involved in your issue. Also discuss the pressures,
states and responses involved. Spend about 15 minutes on this part.
Now that you have identified the key links, the type of community capital and the pressures, state,
and responses for your topic, use that information to start to brainstorm ideas for indicators. This should
be real brainstorming. Don’t worry about how feasible the idea is or whether it is possible to measure.
The point of this part of the exercise is to get as many ideas on the table as possible. Spend 30 minutes
brainstorming indicator ideas.
Now use the indicator checklist to rank your indicators. You can either do the ranking individually,
compare answers, and talk about why different people came up with different rankings, or you can rank
each indicator as a group. However, part of the learning process is understanding why someone else gave
an indicator a different rank than you did, so try to be open about discussing your reasons. Spend some
time on how the indicator can be improved. What will make the indicator more useful, more used, more
relevant, more understandable? Try to end up with at least three indicators that you would use to
measure your issue. You have 30 minutes to select the best indicators to present to the larger group.
Now spend 10 minutes discussing where you might find data for the indicators that you have
selected. Be sure to consider local sources of data. What organizations may already have the data that
you need?
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❦
Narrative
Spend about 15 minutes discussing how the indicators could be publicized so that people are aware
of them and actually use them in making decisions.
Finally, spend 15 minutes preparing to present to the entire group the indicators selected by your
small group.
(Describe the procedure and format for reporting results back to the group as a whole. Once the
time is up, the facilitator should have each small group report back to the group as a whole.)
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Slide
Indicators
Linking issues
Linking Issues Worksheet
/ Issue __________________________________
/ Goal __________________________________
/ Link to:
. Economy
. Health
. Housing
etc.
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➽
Talking Points
➽ There are different ways to determine linkages
➽ Linkage web was used earlier as a way of depicting linkages
➽ Worksheet is another way to determine linkages
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Narrative
There are a number of different ways to think about the linkages of issues in a community. One is
the linkage web described earlier. Drawing a web diagram allows the group to see all the different ways
that one issue is connected to other issues and where the issue fits in the overall community.
Another way is to use a worksheet to list all the different connections. Write the issue at the top of
the page. Then, for each of the categories listed, write how the issue is related to that category. See how
many different connections you can think of.
For both of these methods, once a number of links have been identified, the group should review the
links and decide which are “key” links, which points in the system will have the most effect if you could
get a monkey wrench in to tweak the system.
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Slide
Indicators
Indicator checklist
Indicator Checklist
Address carrying capacity:
Natural ............................................................. 3 Points
Social ................................................................. 2 Point
Financial ............................................................ 1 Point
Understandable ...................................................... 1 Points
Long-term view ...................................................... 1 Points
Linkages .................................................................... 7 Points
Not at expense of global sustainability
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Checklist ranking is in addition to the fundamental requirement that the
indicator is relevant to the community
➽ Address carrying capacity of all three types of community capital
➽ Be understandable
➽ Provide long-term view
➽ Link different areas of community
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Narrative
An indicator is a lot like a compass: it points out a direction in which to move. But, just like a
compass, it’s important that an indicator be properly calibrated—that it really be pointing in the right
direction. If not, it can lead you somewhere you had no intention of going. The checklist is a way to
calibrate sustainable community indicators based on a set of characteristics that all good sustainability
indicators share.
Two key components of sustainability are the concept of community capital and carrying capacity.
Community capital reperesents all those things a community has that allow its inhabitants to live and
interact productively. There are three components to community capital: natural capital, social capital
and financial/built capital. Carrying capacity is the ability of a community’s capital to provide for the
community’s needs over the long term. Good indicators of sustainability address whether a community
is maintaining and enhancing the capital on which it depends.
The checklist is designed to identify indicators that are, in general, good indicators of sustainability.
However, just because an indicator scores high on the checklist does not mean it is right for every
community. The number of salmon is relevant in Seattle, but not in Arizona. The number of subway
riders is relevant in urban areas, but useless in rural areas. Each community must decide if a particular
indicator is relevant to its own situation and whether there is reliable data for that indicator.
The checklist has seven questions. Each positive answer earns points. Some questions are more
important than others and so result in more points. Partial credit is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
The total possible score for an indicator is 15 points, although few indicators earn more than 10 points.
The most important question on the checklist is the last question. It does not have any points
because it is the “show stopper” question. Does the indicator focus on local sustainability at the expense
of global sustainability? Any indicator that says “we are going to be better off by making someone else
worse off ” is automatically disqualified. This does not mean that one community cannot be better than
another community. There will always be communities that succeed while others fail. It just means that
it is not acceptable for a community to succeed at the expense of another community.
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Slide
Indicators
Recapping
So far...
/ What is sustainability?
/ What makes a good indicator?
/ Small group indicator development
/ Goals, linkages, brainstorming and evaluating indicators
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➽
Talking Points
➽ We have defined concepts of sustainability
➽ We have examined riteria for good sustainability indicators
➽ We have practiced developing indicators
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Narrative
We have covered the basic concepts involved with sustainability and have seen how a number of
different groups have defined sustainability. We have talked about the criteria for indicators and you
have had a chance to practice developing indicators.
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Slide
Indicators
Next ...
Next ...
/ Indicator projects
/ Indicator frameworks
/ Criteria for indicators
/ Data sources
/ Who else is working on sustainability?
/ How do we get there?
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Indicator projects
➽ Data sources
➽ How to get there
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Narrative
Now we are going to look at other groups that are developing indicators. We will also talk about
possible sources for data for indicators. Finally, we will talk briefly about where to go next—and how we
can get there.
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Section 4 - Indicator Projects and Resources
The purpose of this section is to introduce participants to additional criteria and tools for evaluating
sustainability indicators. We will also examine several different frameworks for sets of sustainability
indicators, as well as potential sources of indicator data. Finally, participants will be given an overview of
communities and organizations that are working on indicators and other sustainability projects.
By the end of this section, the participants will be familiar with different criteria and frameworks for
indicators, know some of the many ways that communities have worked on sustainability and indicators,
and be familiar with some of the tools for evaluating sustainable projects and indicators.
Tips for Teaching/Key Elements
The important concepts to emphasize are:
1) Indicator sets should balance the economy, environment, and society. Category-based frameworks
tend to reinforce disconnected thinking. Goal-vision matrices encourage connected thinking.
2) Although there is data available at the global, national, and state/province level for indicators, the
best source of data may be local sources such as town halls, local employment offices, and local
health agencies.
3) Because sustainable community projects require that diverse members of a community work
together, facilitation is an essential element in the process.
4) A number of communities and organizations have developed guides to getting started. The guides
can be helpful, but should be modified to fit the needs of each community.
5) There are a number of economic tools that communities are using to build sustainability. These
emphasize that a sustainable global economy is dependent on healthy local economies.
6) There are a number of tools available for evaluating the sustainability of individual lifestyles,
communities and projects.
7) There are many organizations that can provide support for communities dealing with the issue of
sustainability. Although some funding is available, in general, community projects that are mainly
self-supported are the most successful.
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Slide
Indicators
View of Community
View of Community
Environment
Economy
Society
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➽
Talking Points
➽ “Three legged stool” view of sustainable community
➽ All three facets are equally important
➽ Need to balance economy, society and environment
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Narrative
A good set of sustainability indicators for a community addresses the priorities of the community
while providing an overall perspective of how issues are connected. What is important is that the
framework and the set of indicators reflect a balanced view of the community.
This diagram is frequently used in discussions about sustainability. The analogy is often made to a
three-legged stool; communities are supported by a stool with three legs: economy, environment, and
society.
Traditional indicator sets generally measure the non-overlapping areas of these circles. As a result,
progress in one area is often at the expense of another area. Sustainability indicators measure the overlap
among these three areas.
This view of a community will frequently result in an indicator framework that is theme-based.
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Slide
Indicators
Economy, environment, society as interlocked circles
View of Community
Economy
Environment
Society
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Represents the fact that the three facets are actually more overlapped than
the previous picture suggested
➽ More significant overlap reflects interconnections
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Narrative
This view of the relationships of a community’s economy, society, and environment recognizes that
the three are more intricately connected than in the previous view. Sustainability indicators are an
attempt to measure the linkages and acknowledge the fact that the overlapping areas are much greater
than the first diagram shows. There are very few parts of the environment that are not affected by
human society and human economy. Likewise, society is very dependent upon both the economy that
moves goods and services where they are needed and the environment in which the society exists.
Indicators of sustainability need to highlight the overlap. An issues-based framework for an indicator
set is more likely to measure the interconnecting areas of these circles.
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Slide
Indicators
Economy in society in environment
View of Community
Economy
Society
Environment
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Economy is part of society, which in turn exists within the environment
➽ Environment can exist without us; we can’t exist without the environment
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Narrative
This view shows that human economy—the exchange of goods and services—exists within human
society. Society, in turn, exists in the environment of the earth’s ecosystem.
This view emphasizes that humans are part of nature. Human economy and human society both
exist within the environment. Indicators that measure progress within this view need to measure how the
economy affects and is affected by society and the environment. A goal-based framework reflects this
interdependent view of a community.
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Slide
Indicators
Indicator frameworks
Indicator Frameworks
/ Themes
/ Issues
/ Goals
/ Pressure-state-response
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Indicator frameworks are different ways to organize sets of indicators
➽ Each has advantages and disadvantages
➽ Some communities use a combination of frameworks
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Narrative
There are a number of different frameworks or ways to organize indicators. Each method has
advantages and disadvantages. A community needs to decide which framework works best for its
particular situation. Many communities use a combination of frameworks. What is important is that
the framework and the set of indicators reflect a balanced view of the community.
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Slide
Indicators
Indicator themes
Indicator Themes
. Economy
. Population
. Education
. Public Safety
. Environment
. Social/Cultural
. Health
. Resource Use
. Housing
. Recreation
. Politics/Government
. Transportation
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Communities pick topics that fit their situations
➽ Need to make sure there is a balanced mix
➽ Reflects the “three-legged stool” view of community
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Narrative
A theme-based indicator set looks at the basic areas of the community. Some communities use only
the Economy-Environment-Society categories as themes, but most break those down farther. The
specific categories are used depend upon the circumstances of the community. The list above represents
some of the areas that people are concerned about in their communities.
Do you need to have an indicator in each of these categories? No. Nor do you need to use these
category names. It’s your community; measure what is important to your community members.
If a theme-based framework is used, it is important to remember that the overall set of indicators has
to be balanced. Sometimes, particularly when one segment of the community is more involved in a
sustainable community project, the resulting indicators can emphasize one aspect of the community and
exclude others.
For example, civic groups tend to have more indicators relating to government or citizen
involvement. Economic development groups tend to have more indicators relating to business.
Environmental groups tend to have more indicators relating to the environment. This is why it is
important to include all members and groups within the community. If all views are represented, the
result will be a more even mix of indicators. You need to have indicators that address the three aspects of
a community: economy, environment, and society. Over all, the indicators have to reflect a balance of all
the facets of a community.
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Slide
Indicators
Issues
Issues
/ Poverty
/ Jobs
/ Pollution
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Similar to themes, but focused on problems
➽ Requires the same attention to balance that theme-based framework requires
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Narrative
Some communities use issues as the framework for indicators. This tends to cross organizational
boundaries a little more than the theme-based framework and so is more apt to result in indicators that
show linkages.
However, as with the theme-based framework, it is important that all members of the community
are represented so that a balanced view of the community results.
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Slide
Indicators
Goals
Goals
Live within
Alberta’s
carrying
capacity
The economy
is healthy
Albertans are
educated
and informed
Urban and rural
communities
have a healthy
environment
Air Quality
Index
o
o
o
Waste per
capita going
to landfills
o
o
o
Percent of
forest
successfully
restocked
o
o
Employment
Index
o
o
Per capita
debt
o
o
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➽
Talking Points
➽ A matrix approach
➽ Tends to show linkages
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Narrative
Categorizing indicators according to the goals towards which they are measuring progress is very
helpful in showing linkages. This matrix is part of a larger matrix developed by the Roundtable of the
Province of Alberta, Canada. The matrix shows graphically how the different indicators measure
progress toward multiple goals. This framework makes it easier to see the links among the different
facets of the community.
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Indicators
Indicator criteria
Indicator Criteria
/ Relevant to community
/ Addresses carrying capacity
/ Understandable and useable
/ Data accessibility, reliability
/ Not at the expense of others
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Talking Points
➽ There are many different ways to evaluate indicators
➽ These are the basic components to evaluate
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Narrative
As we already discussed before the small group exercise, there are a number of ways to evaluate
indicators. The basic criteria are that indicators be relevant, understandable, and useable by the
community. To be an indicator of sustainability, the indicator must address the issue of carrying capacity
(population and available resources). There also needs to be a way to collect reliable data.
Finally, sustainability can not be achieved at the expense of another community’s sustainability.
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Indicators
Examples
Evaluating Indicators
/ Bellagio Principles
/ Hart Indicator Checklist
/ Waitikere City Smart Indicators
/ Hamilton-Wentworth Indicator Grades
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Communities, groups and individuals have developed a number of different
methods to evaluate indicators
➽ You can use these methods as examples
➽ Modify these examples to develop criteria that work for your community
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Narrative
We have already used the Hart Indicator Checklist, which can be found at Maureen Hart’s web site
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/IndicatorChecklist.html].
Another set of criteria for evaluating indicators is the Bellagio Principles. These were developed by
an international group of measurement practitioners and researchers:
“These principles deal with four aspects of assessing progress toward sustainable development.
Principle 1 deals with the starting point of any assessment—establishing a vision of sustainable
development and clear goals that provide a practical definition of that vision in terms that are
meaningful for the decision-making unit in question. Principles 2 through 5 deal with the content of any
assessment and the need to merge a sense of the overall system with a practical focus on current priority
issues. Principles 6 through 8 deal with key issues of the process of assessment, while Principles 9 and 10
deal with the necessity for establishing a continuing capacity for assessment.”
The full text for the Bellagio Principles is available on the web site of the International Institute for
Sustainable Development [http://iisd1.iisd.ca/measure/compendium.cfm].
Other communities have developed their own methods for evaluating the indicators they have
developed. Additional information on contacting these organizations can be found on the Resources
page [http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/AddlResource.html] of Maureen Hart’s
Indicators of Sustainability web site.
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Indicators
How many indicators do we need?
How Many Indicators Do We Need?
“Trying to run a complex society on a single indicator like
the Gross National Product is literally like trying to fly a
747 with only one gauge on the instrument panel...”
Hazel Henderson, Paradigms of Progress
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Talking Points
➽ We are part of a very complex system
➽ Complex systems need complex measures
➽ Composite indicators don’t provide enough information to make decisions
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Narrative
Hazel Henderson said that “Trying to run a complex society on a single indicator like the Gross
National Product is literally like trying to fly a 747 with only one gauge on the instrument panel...”
Think of how many gauges there are in the cockpit of a airplane. What if there was just one gauge that
said “good plane or bad plane?” An airplane is a very complex machine, but not nearly as complex as a
society.
Imagine if you went for your annual checkup and the only thing the doctor looked at was your
blood pressure! Your body is also a very complex system and you expect that your doctor will look at a
number of different indicators of your health.
Yet we somehow believe that there is one number like the GNP that tells us how the country is
doing. How many people feel better when you hear that the Consumer Price Index went down? In fact,
a composite indicator like the GNP does not really give us enough information to make decisions. What
would you do differently if the GNP went down instead of up?
We need more than one gauge to fly a plane. We need more than one number to measure
community progress toward sustainability.
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Indicators
Data sources
Data Sources
/ Local/Regional
/ National/International
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Talking Points
➽ There is a lot of local data, but it can be hard to get
➽ National data is easy to get, but it may not be relevant at the local level
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Narrative
(These next two sections on data and who is working on sustainability should be modified
depending on the interests of the audience. The facilitator should emphasize those that are most relevant
to the participants.)
Data for indicators can be found in a wide variety of places, including local government agencies,
state government agencies, academic institutions, large government databases, and reports at your local
library. In most cases, the more local the source of data, the more relevant it will be to your community.
Finding data sources is a matter of talking to a wide variety of people. If you have succeeded in
having a diverse cross section of the community represented in your project, locating data sources will be
easier because of the expertise of the people working on the project. Everyone will know at least one
potential source of information; some people will know many.
Some specific ideas for data sources can be found on the Data Sources page of Maureen Hart’s web
site [http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/IndicatorSources.html].
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Indicators
Local and regional data sources
Local and Regional Data
/ School system
/ Health officials
/ Town clerk
/ Department of Public Works
/ Environmental Agencies
/ Planning Commission
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Many different data sources
➽ Be creative
➽ The more people you involve, the more data sources you can identify
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Narrative
Quite often the best data for a local indicators project will be found at the local level. Particularly in
rural areas, data collected at a regional or national level do not include enough data to work for a local
project. The secret to finding data for indicators is to include as many different people as possible in
defining the indicators. These people will be able to provide ideas for sources of data.
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Indicators
National and international data sources
National/International Data
/ United States Government
/ Environmental Protection Agency
/ Census Bureau
/ Bureau of Economic Affairs
/ Bureau of Labor Statistics
/ Housing and Urban Development
/ United Nations
/ Nongovernmental Organizations
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➽
Talking Points
➽ National and international organizations are useful for larger projects or for
comparing information across different communities
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Narrative
Some of the organizations that have data include:
The US Census Bureau [http://www.census.gov/] is an agency of the Department of Commerce.
Their web site has information about the people and economy of the United States.
The US Bureau of Economic Affairs (BEA) is an agency of the Department of Commerce. The
BEA [http://www.bea.doc.gov/] web site contains a vast quantity of information about the U.S.
economy including economic growth, regional development, and the nation’s position in the world
economy.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [http://www.bls.gov/] gathers information about labor
economics.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) [http://www.huduser.org] web
site has information on housing costs.
The World Resource Institute [http://www.wri.org/] is an independent center for policy research
and technical assistance on global environmental and development issues. WRI annually publishes
World Resources, a compendium of data on all aspects of global development.
The World Watch Institute [http://www.worldwatch.org/] is an independent center that conducts
inter-disciplinary non-partisan research on emerging global environmental issues, the results of which are
widely disseminated throughout the world.
Other resources can be found on the Resources page of Maureen Hart’s web site
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/AddlResource.html].
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Indicators
Who is working on sustainability?
Who is Working on Sustainability?
/ Economic Development Corporations
/ Civic Organizations
/ Environmental Groups
/ Business Groups
/ Nonprofits
/ Foundations
/ Religious Organizations
/ Government Agencies
/ Local, Regional, State, and Federal
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Talking Points
➽ Many different organizations are working on issues of sustainability
➽ These organizations represent different viewpoints, all of which are necessary
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Narrative
Many different communities and groups are working on sustainability projects. Their experiences
are valuable to those who want to incorporate sustainability into their community’s decision-making
process.
These communities and groups represent many different types of organizations. Each type of
organization has its own unique point of view. The fact that such a diverse range of organizations is
involved in sustainability, however, demonstrates that there is broad agreement that we need to find a
direction that will move us toward a viable future.
These lists are not intended to be complete. They are only intended to give you a starting point
from which to begin exploring sustainability. Other resources can be found on the Resources page
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/Resource.html] of Maureen Hart’s Indicators of
Sustainability web site.
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Indicators
Where are they working on it?
Where are They Working on it?
/ Seattle, Washington
/ Upper Valley, Vermont/New Hampshire
/ Farmington, Maine
/ Willapa Bay, Washington
/ Greenville, South Carolina
/ Chattanooga, Tennessee
/ Jacksonville, Florida
/ Chattanooga, Tennessee
/ Fife, Scotland
/ Hamilton/Wentworth, Canada
/ Waitakere, New Zealand
and many more...
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Urban and rural
➽ Large and small
➽ Agricultural and industry
➽ North and south
➽ In U.S. and internationally
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Narrative
There are many different communities working on sustainability, from rural areas to large urban
areas. The communities that have information on the Web include:
Chattanooga, Tennessee - Chattanooga Venture [http://www.chattanooga.net/sustain/]
Seattle, Washington - Sustainable Seattle [http://www.scn.org/sustainable/susthome.html]
Willapa Bay, Washington - Willapa Bay Alliance [http://www.willapabay.org/~alliance]
Jacksonville, Florida - JCCI [http://www.unf.edu/~clifford/jcci/jccihome.htm]
Ho‘okipa Network, Hawaii [http://www.hawaiian.net/~cbokauai/]
Sustainable Community Roundtable [http://www.olywa.net/roundtable/]
Pierce County, Washington [http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/services/family/benchmrk/qol.htm]
Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council
[http://monticello.avenue.gen.va.us/Gov/TJPDC/sustain.html]
Waitakere, New Zealand [http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/ecocity/frameset.htm]
Maine Measures of Growth [http://www.mdf.org/megc.htm]
Additional information on contacting these organizations can be found on the Resources page
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/AddlResource.html] of Maureen Hart’s
Indicators of Sustainability web site.
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Indicators
How are they working on it?
How are They Working on it?
/ Visioning
/ Community Forums
/ Community Profiles
/ Master Plans
/ Location (Special Place) Mapping
/ Resource Mapping
/ Community Income Statements
/ Neighborhood Eco-Teams
/ Local Currency
/ Sustainability Evaluation
/ Indicators
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Many different ways to approach sustainability
➽ Use what works best for your community
➽ Indicator reports may be difficult for small communities
➽ Indicators still useful for education
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Narrative
There are as many different ways to work on sustainability as there are communities and
organizations working on it. Some communities have open meetings to start dialogues about where
residents think the community should be going. Some communities have included indicators in their
Master Plan or Comprehensive Plan.
Creating a map of a community is one way to get people to begin to see the links among the
economic, environmental, and social parts of a community. These tools can be low tech or high tech. In
a low income neighborhood in Boston, the staff at the Bowdoin Street Health Center started with a
paper map and the sneakers on their feet. They walked around the neighborhood and marked
environmental and social hazards on the map. They included vacant lots where garbage was being
dumped, nail salons, and auto body shops. The map was useful in explaining to the general public the
variety of public health issues as well as in communicating with local city officials concerning areas that
needed the most attention.
On the other end of the mapping spectrum, a planning consultancy firm, Criterion, Inc. in
Portland, Oregon, has developed a computerized geographic information system (GIS) that allows a city
or town to see how proposed changes will affect a number of different aspects of the community, from
the number of cars at a given intersection to potential energy use and CO2 production.
There are also computer games and models for understanding how day-to-day decisions affect
sustainability. The Institute for Policy and Social Science Research at the University of New Hampshire
distributes a program called Fish Banks where participants take on the role of fishing companies and
learn how their decisions affect the overall sustainability of the Georges Bank fishing grounds.
Ken Meter has written a number of income statements for communities. Community income
statements look at the amount of money flowing into and out of an area in much the same way that an
income statement for a business shows the income and expenses of the business. For a community,
knowing how money is leaving the community is an important first step in keeping local money
circulating within the community as much as possible. This type of study provides good baseline data
for economic development efforts, allowing a community to know its current status, set future goals,
and evaluate successes.
Some communities have also developed their own local currency in order to boost the local
economy. The community of Ithaca, New York is a leader in the area of local currency
For individuals and households, Global Action Plan has developed a workbook for groups of
measure and work on lessening their individual household’s impact on the earth’s ecosystem.
The Global Eco-village Network has developed an Eco-village Audit for measuring the sustainability
of villages and communities. Their web site includes examples of how two existing eco-villages rated
themselves. They also have a personal audit for individuals based in part on the Global Action Plan’s
work.
A number of organizations have developed checklists for communities to use to start thinking about
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Narrative
how to measure sustainability. Two of these are the Izaak Walton League and the Northwest Policy
Center.
I have already discussed using Ecological Footprints as a measure of sustainability. The book “Our
Ecological Footprint” is available from New Society Publishers. In addition, Dick Richardson, a
professor at the University of Texas, has developed a course on Ecological Footprints and has an excellent
web site on the subject.
Information on contacting these organizations can be found on the Resources page
[http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/AddlResource.html] of Maureen Hart’s
Indicators of Sustainability web site.
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Indicators
Why are people working on it?
Why are People Working on it?
“ ... it has always been my hope that the council would
show the vision... and, more than creating a quality lifestyle,
create a different lifestyle, a lifestyle more appropriate to a
planet of diminishing resources,...to look at new job
opportunities, to tune into the changing world and be able
to change and adapt to it.”
Mount Washington Valley Economic Council Member
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➽
Talking Points
➽ Listen to people and ask them about their concerns
➽ Many people have concerns related to sustainability, although they may call it
something different
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I was sitting in a meeting with a group of business leaders talking about sustainability for the White
Mountains area in New Hampshire when one of the leading businessmen in the resort town of North
Conway gave this reason for working on sustainability. He was concerned about his livelihood and
keeping his business going, but he also felt there could be creative new ways to solve the problems that
keep us within the carrying capacity of the world. This is the type of statement one might expect from a
environmentalist, but this man would not define himself as an environmentalist. He is a business person
who cares about his community, the economy, the people, and the natural place of which the economy
and people are an important part.
If you talk to people about their concerns, you will find that most people have similar issues. Many
of those people are concerned about issues of sustainability, although they probably do not use the word
“sustainability” to describe their concerns.
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Indicators
Other resources
Other Resources
/ Government agencies
/ Nonprofit organizations
/ Schools, colleges, universities
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➽
Talking Points
➽ There are many other resources that can assist communities
➽ Assistance is generally technical, not monetary
➽ Local colleges and universities are a great source of enthusiastic interns
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Narrative
There are many other organizations that work on issues of sustainability. Although these
organizations may not have funding to assist communities, they frequently are able to provide technical
assistance. Although by no means a complete list, a few key resources are:
President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD) [http://www.whitehouse.gov/PCSD/]
US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Ecosystems and Communities (OSEC)
[http://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity/]
Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) [http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/]
International Institute for Sustainable Development (ISSD) [http://iisd1.iisd.ca/]
Redefining Progress [http://www.rprogress.org]
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) [http://www.iclei.org/]
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) [http://www.igc.apc.org/citizensnet/]
Center for Economic and Social Studies on the Environment (CESSE)
[http://www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sustvl.html]
Additional resources to contact can be found on the Resources page of Maureen Hart’s Indicators of
Sustainability web site [http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators/HTMLSrc/AddlResource.html] .
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Indicators
How do we get there?
How Do We Get There?
/ Education and outreach
/ MEGO vs. data poetry
/ Political will
/ Bottom up and top down
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➽
Talking Points
➽ We need to educate people on the issues
➽ We need to develop measures that speak to people
➽ Sustainability needs to happen at the local level and at the national and global
level to be successful
➽ It takes political will to develop indicators that may show that current
systems do not work as well as we have been lead to believe
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Narrative
I started this presentation by saying that sustainability is a topic that sounds more difficult to
understand than it actually is. Hopefully, by now you all have a much better idea of what sustainability
is. However, if you have a better understanding, you probably also realize that the hardest part of
sustainability is actually achieving it. How do we move towards becoming a sustainable community?
The first and most important step is education and outreach. As a society, we need to become more
aware of the concept: what does it mean, how does it apply to our daily lives, what will be the benefits of
becoming more sustainable, what are the dangers if we don’t move in that direction?
You are not the first group to think about sustainability. As we have seen, many communities and
organizations have already begun working on the issue. Many of these groups have developed tools that
you may find useful. There are also many resources available. I have briefly discussed some of the many
tools available. It is time to start using them.
Another important step is for communities and organizations to develop an understanding of the
measures currently being used to measure progress and how to better measure progress. MEGO stands
for my-eyes-glaze-over, something that happens to many people when the subject of numbers and
measurement comes up (Source: Pat Vasbinder, NH Charitable Foundation). Instead of avoiding the
issue of measurements, communities need to develop ways to make numbers speak to people, ways to
express data in concise, clear ways—data poetry.
However, no matter how much education and outreach is done, no matter how much data poetry is
written, if there is no political will to change, we will not achieve sustainability. Political will is needed at
both the top—the Federal level—and at the bottom—local, grassroots level. It does not matter how
much federal legislators would like to change the system; if there is no support at the local level, change
will not occur.
At the same time, regardless of how much a local community would like to become sustainable,
without support from the Federal level in the form of changes to existing laws and regulations that
perpetuate our current unsustainable society, change will not occur. The push for sustainability needs to
happen at both the Federal and local levels simultaneously in order for society to move towards a more
sustainable, enjoyable, equitable, and ultimately liveable lifestyle for all members of our local, national
and global communities.
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Indicators
It’s time to measure what we want to be
We are what we measure
Let’s measure what we want to be
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➽
Talking Points
➽ What we measure is what we pay attention to
➽ What gets measured is what gets fixed
➽ We need to change measures of progress so they point to where we really
want to go
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Narrative
Very often, what we measure is what we pay attention to. When a measurement tells us something
is broken, we make sure it gets fixed. However, because we have traditionally viewed our communities as
isolated categories of economy, environment and society, we have measures of progress in these different
areas that often work at cross purposes. We need to start taking a hard look at our traditional measures
and find new ways to measure where we want to go.
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