The Natural Step for Communities
One source of of ideas for Sustainable Rusk is the Natural Step Framework. For more info on this see www.naturalstep.org or the book The Natural Step for Communities. Communities all over Wisconsin are using this framework to guide them in sustainable change. The basic environmental principle of the Natural Step framework is that we should not live in a way that causes natural and social damage faster than the Earth can heal it.
In particular:
1)a sustainable community does not overload the Earth with harmful materials taken from the Earth,
2)a sustainable community does not overload the Earth with harmful materials manufactured by people,
3)a sustainable community does not destroy natural systems-land, water, forests, soil, ecosystems- faster than they can heal
themselves,
4)a sustainable community does not subject people to conditions that undermine their capacity to meet their needs.
The Natural Step Framework also offers a method to implement these principles. This method has been worked out in real-life situations in communities just like ours around the world.
The outline of this method is:
A) Raise awareness: introduce and discuss the framework of the four system conditions
B) Scrutinize and take an inventory of the present conditions. Assess the potential in your community. This includes assets and weaknesses in natural resources, economy, transportation, government organizations, physical facilities, etc.
C) Brainstorm visions and solutions to create a positive vision of the desired future where the four system conditions
are met and a list of actions that will help get there.
D) Create an action plan based upon results in step C, and set priorities for actions.
The Four System Conditions for Sustainability
1. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust.
(While there are arguments about what
constitutes toxic levels of heavy metals, minerals
and carbon dioxide, no one argues that natural
systems, including humankind, can withstand
continually increasing these concentrations.)
2. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society.
(Human society has been manufacturing
synthetic substances-chemicals and other
compounds that do not occur in nature faster
that these materials can be broken down; and
these synthetic chemicals are accumulating in
our own bodies.)
3. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by physical means.
(Human activity is breaking down natural
systems-land, water, forests, soil, ecosystems-by
depletion and destruction faster than these
natural systems can renew themselves; these
natural systems are our life support system.)
4. And, in the sustainable society, people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs.
(If people around the world cannot meet their
basic human needs, the first three system
conditions will not be met. Within our
communities, our needs include a means of
livelihood, mobility, equal access, safety,
participation in decisions that affect our lives,
the right to peaceful enjoyment of life, and a
connection with nature.)