Transcript Sustainability - The Natural Step

SUSTAINABILITY:
THE NATURAL STEP
Leanne Hedberg Carlson, Viterbo University
OVERVIEW
•What
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is Sustainability?
The Natural Step Framework
Who else is using The Natural Step?
Resources
What is Sustainability?
"Sustainable development is development that
meets the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs."
-- Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, 1987
World Commission on Environment and
Development
An Approach That Acknowledges the
Interdependency and Order of the Economy,
Society and the Natural Environment
Natural
environment
Society
Economy
An Example of
The Sustainability Challenge:
High Level of Complexity
*Resources
*Ecosystem services
declining
Environmental?
Economic?
Social?
Cultural?
increasing
*Global population
*Demand for:
•Resources
•Ecosystem services
The Natural Step – the Story
• Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert, cancer
doctor
•Originated in Sweden, now being
adopted in organizations and
municipalities world-wide
• Built scientific consensus on
sustainability
•Build on the premise of success –
“What actions can we take that are
based upon what is already proven
to work?”
THE NATURAL STEP – THE STORY
Founded in Sweden in 1989
 More than 70 municipalities and 60
corporations are now using TNS in Sweden
alone.
 The Natural Step currently has offices in 12
countries.
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HOW WILL TNS BE HELPFUL?
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TNS is a comprehensive approach shared by
private, public & non-profit sectors.
Adopted by the City of La Crosse and the County of
La Crosse in 2006 – creates, expands
partnerships.
Community-wide understanding, inspiring vision &
compelling action plan
Business in leadership – know expectations and
can plan
Engages community support (students, staff,
faculty, board of advisors)
Shift from serial single projects to cost-saving,
comprehensive sustainability.
WHO USES THE NATURAL STEP?
Swedish Ecomunicipalities
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A PARTIAL, GROWING LIST OF TNS ADOPTERS
(JUST WITHIN THE US AND CANADA)
A Sustainability Vision for the Automotive Services Industry
Alcoa, Canada
Antigonish Sustainable Development, Canada
Ashforth Pacific, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA
Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI)
Axis Performance Advisors, Portland, Oregon, USA
Bathurst Sustainable Development, Canada
BOORA Archietcts, Portland, Oregon, USA
Brazil Project
City of Airdrie, Canada
City of Madison, Wisconsin
City of Santa Monica, California, USA
College Housing Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA
Collingwood Region, Canada
Community Foundations of Canada
District of North Vancouver, Canada
Electrolux
Eugene Water and Electric Board, Eugene, Oregon, USA
Gerding/Edlen Development Company, LLC, Portland, Oregon, USA
Groupe Millet
Guidebook on Municipal Sustainability Planning, Canada
Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada
Halifax Shambhala Centre, Canada
Hot Lips Pizza, Portland, Oregon, USA
Hydro Polymers Limited
IKEA
Interface, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
J.M. Bygg Construction, Sweden
Morbegno 2020
Nike
Nike, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon, USA
Norm Thompson, Portland, Oregon, USA
North American Eco-Muni Network
OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon,
USA
Organically Grown Company, Eugene, Oregon, USA
Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand
Panasonic
Portfolio 21 Investments, Portland, Oregon, USA
Pret a Manger, United Kingdom
Rejuvenation, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA
Resort Municipality of Whistler, Canada
Riello
Rio Tinto Alcan, Australia/Canada
Santropol Roulant
Scandic Hotels
Scandic Hotels, Sweden
SERA Architects, Portland, Oregon, USA
ShoreBank Pacific, Ilwaco, Washington, USA
Sokol Blosser Winery, Dundee Hills, Oregon, USA
South Africa Project
Sustainable Dublin, Ireland
The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
THE NATURAL STEP: CONDITIONS FOR A
SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing:
3
4
2
1
concentrations of substances
extracted from the earth's crust
2
concentrations of substances
produced by society
3
degradation by physical means
and, in that society…
4
1
people are not subject to conditions
that systematically undermine their
capacity to meet their needs.
THE SYSTEM CONDITIONS RE-FRAMED
Develop policies and practices that ultimately . . .
1
Eliminate our community’s contribution to fossil fuel
dependence and to wasteful use of scarce metals and
minerals;
2
Eliminate our community’s contribution to dependence on
persistent chemicals and wasteful use of synthetic
substances;
3
Eliminate our community’s contribution to encroachment
upon nature (e.g. land, water, wildlife, forests, soil,
ecosystems);
4
Create conditions that increasingly develop and improve
the capacity of people to meet their needs.
TNS RESOURCE FUNNEL
Source: www.naturalstep.org
STRATEGIC PLANNING FRAMEWORK
A = AWARENESS
Develop awareness among all
Viterbo community members
(stakeholders) about what
sustainability is and why it matters.
This includes education about The
Natural Step.
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B = BASELINE
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Baseline mapping and analysis of the current
reality.
 What
does Viterbo look like today with respect to
the four System Conditions?
 What are we doing that either supports or does not
support each System Condition
C = CLEAR & COMPELLING VISION
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Creating scenarios of how
Viterbo might look in a
sustainable society that is
meeting the System
Conditions
D = DOWN TO ACTION
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Set priorities for actions and manage them toward the
goal of the Compelling Vision in alignment with the
System Conditions
Decide what strategies will be used and which tools
and actions we will use to implement the strategies.
Determine which metrics and systems will be used to
measure progress, keeping the four System
Conditions as a “compass”.
Ask the following 3 questions…
STEP D:
3 QUESTIONS FOR ACTIONS
1.
Does this action or investment move us in the
right direction with respect to sustainability
(i.e. does it move us towards meeting all 4
S.P.’s).
STEP D:
3 QUESTIONS FOR ACTIONS
2.
Does this action or investment provide a stepping-stone to
future investments - i.e. is it a flexible platform? This speaks
to the fact that no single investment will get us to
sustainability, just like no single move will get a chess player
to checkmate. Knowing this, we want to prioritize those
investments that give us the greatest degree of flexibility for
future moves, rather than tying up capital in moves or
technologies that are dead ends or that are so costly that they
make it difficult to invest in improvements later.
STEP D:
3 QUESTIONS FOR ACTIONS
3. Does this action provide an adequate return on investment?
This speaks to the idea that it doesn’t do anyone any good if an
organization that is trying to become sustainable goes
bankrupt. We need to maintain economic sustainability today
and through every step of working towards ecological and
social sustainability. This speaks to, as a rule of thumb,
investing in the “lowest hanging fruit” earliest, those actions
that generate a return on investment that can be used to
fertilized more difficult moves later. Often, these early moves
are efficiency improvements that generate savings - some of
which can then be invested in more challenging measures later.
The Natural Step Resources: Books
E-FRAMEWORK GUIDEBOOK
 http://www.naturalstep.org.nz/downloa
ds/TNSFrameworkGuidebook.pdf
THE NATURAL STEP WEB RESOURCES:
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http://www.naturalstep.org/
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http://www.naturalstep.org/en/learningorganization-evaluating-universitycanterburys-strategic-transition-towardsustainability
REFERENCES
Nattrass, B., Altomare, M., 1999, The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, Ecology, and
the Evolutionary Corporation, New Society Publishers: Canada
Nattrass, B., Altomare, M., 2002, Dancing with the Tiger,
New Society Publishers: Canada
Gipps, T., Presentation at Viterbo University on February 4, 2009
http://www.gpiatlantic.org/, January 26, 2009