5/28/2008
Not in my 1973 Webster's
What the heck is “sustainability?” My 1973 Webster’s doesn’t give me much of a clue. The word really refers to the “sustainability movement;” Wikipedia defines it, “in its environmental usage,” as “the potential longevity of vital human ecological support systems.” Wikipedia describes the modern sustainability movement:
Sustainability discourse is discussion of how to make human economic systems last longer and have less impact on ecological systems, and particularly relates to concern over major global problems relating to climate change and oil depletion.
Whether or not you believe global warming is a real and proven phenomenon, advocates say sustainability makes sense on a purely fiscal basis. And I’m all for that.
Coming Thursday June 19 to our little corner of the earth are some very big hitters in the sustainability movement. The Foth Companies, in conjunction with the Bay Lakes and East Central Regional Planning Commissions are sponsoring the Foth Conference on Sustainability: Balancing People, Planet and Profit.
Leading the full-day symposium (8:00 – 3:00, $50 if before June 12, lunch included; in Appleton at the Radisson Paper Valley) are Sarah James (an American) and Torbjorn Lahti (a Swede), co-authors of The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities & Towns Can Change to Sustainable Practices.
These two are the real thing. As is Bob Willard, the seminar’s third presenter and a “leading expert on the business value of corporate sustainability strategies” who came to the sustainability movement via a 34-year career at IBM Canada.
If you can’t get away for the full-day seminar, the Appleton Library Foundation and Foth are hosting a Workshop the evening before, June 18, 6 – 8 p.m. in a meeting room in the library’s lower level. Lahti and James will be lecturing, and also present will be Fred Schnook, a former mayor of Ashland – and mayor when it become an eco-municipality. From 8 – 9 p.m., Lahti and James will be available for a Networking Reception/Book Signing at the Harmony Café. Fun.
The June 19 seminar is “tailored to chief elected officials, board members and department heads of local and regional units of government, and senior executives, directors and business leaders…” But for sure, we plain ol’ lay folks are as welcome as anybody. Heck, I’d go just to get ‘Torbjorn’ to role off my tongue in a classy way.
One of the state’s first eco-municipalities (those which have committed to adopt the Natural Step framework for sustainability), Ashland has seen sustainability benefit the economic well-being of the community. So many municipalities and citizen groups have requested information on sustainability that the UW Extension has developed A Toolkit for Local Government. That’s when you know it’s time to pay attention.
I like this business of saving money – and wanted to learn more about it. Leslie Taylor is the Fox Valley’s very own sustainability maven. In her day job, she works as a business consultant with CAP Services. In her avocation, Leslie nearly single handedly convinced James and Lahti to take a short side trip to Appleton – and then she convinced a number of sponsors to handle the bulk of the seminar’s costs.
Can sustainability be voluntary, i.e., motivated by economics or yes, idealism? Leslie says yes. Several communities in our area, are working toward a mix of voluntary and encoded eco-municipality standards and sustainability practices. Manitowoc, Neenah, Menasha and the Town of Menasha – are all working to save money by adopting resource-saving practices.
Leslie stresses that sustainability, The Natural Step and eco-municipalities are not an environmental movement, but rather are about good government and sound management principles. I say hurray for that. She goes on to stress that sustainability is about the wise use of taxpayer (and corporate) dollars – now and in the future. More cheers.
Natural Step advocates say the process is all about competency in managing our governments – and not about the values of the left or the right. Is your alderman attending? Call him or her and find out. Ditto, your mayor or administrator. It’s what good government is all about.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Jo - thank you for the nice article to promote the event! Leslie is a wonderful resource to groups and individuals who are interested in sustainable living.
Catherine Neiswender
UW-Extension, Winnebago County
Catherine Neiswender (Wed May 28 08:55:08 2008)
Three cheers for a topic relevant directly to the Fox Valley and local development.
Jo, you've summarized all the issues in a timely and concise way. There's lots to be said about this and I hope it generates some discussion. Leslie Taylor is part of a growing group of individuals and organizations who are looking at a future in which progress (sometimes called 'growth') is tempered by quality of life and how we live as well.
Too often the movement toward localism (which I have written about here in the past) and the larger issues of global warming and ecology are lumped together and seen by the mainstream as those who would limit our 'growth' and that that is a bad thing.
The Oshkosh library has a book I found on the topic of local planning. The author is Ebben Fodor and the book is called "Better Not Bigger." The subject of planning may sound like a dry issue to be pursued by professionals. But what Fodor lays out is a refutation of the notion that growth (read sprawl) is somehow inevitable and followed by the other cliche that we must 'grow or die.' Everyone interested in quality of life here should read it. Municipal elected officials should buy it.
The Natural Step principals described by James and Lahti are the elements of the framework in which communities look at all the impacts of processes and civic and commercial projects which favor long term results over short term gain. The short term gain effects a few while the long term results effect us all. In these times of rapid energy increases (increases which will unlikely ever be reversed) the presentation by Lahti and James in June is propitious. Following the talks here Lahti will keynote the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in Custer, WI which is an annual event.
Lon Ponschock (Wed May 28 12:33:22 2008)
Thanks for mentioning the event at the Appleton Public Library on June 18th. This promises to be a very interesting and informative evening, and is well-suited to most of your audience. And the price is certainly right!
Michael Kenney (Wed May 28 09:01:15 2008)
Kudos to you Jo for supporting sustainability. The greatest part about the concept, outside of the already stated environmental and economic benefits, is the fact that it is so very common sense and basic at its heart.
Adam Delikowski (Wed May 28 16:04:53 2008)
Sustainability starts with the land. WI lost 500,000 acres of farmland between 2000-2005. Another source says 30,000/yr.
Farmland is not mere tillable acres; it includes GRASSLAND. Demand for grassfed animals is increasing; grass grows on land where no other crops will.
Imagine a return to smaller operations, with managed grazing- how much natural resources could be saved: Fuels saved for heating homes, instead of going to make artificial fertilizer, chemicals, or running equipment so big it takes up 2 lanes of the road. Topsoil would not be lost, as happens with yearly plowing to the same depth (the dirt turns into hardpan).
There are farmers going over to pasturing, partly because it saves them work (no more barn scraping in summer). But one big advantage is that it replenishes the soil...a good way to tell how healthy the soil is, is to dig up a square foot and see how many worms are there. I can tell you, when we took over our land, not a worm was to be seen!
What can communities do?
1. Educate. There is a saying, "you can't stop progress"-- BUT progress towards WHAT? Too many farmers and non-farmers are conditioned to thinking only inside the box of Big Agra.
2. Try ideas other states already use. Eg, one Western state PAYS farmers to graze their animals in the ditches along highways. But WE are forbidden! So that the towns can USE UP FUELS, and use taxes to PAY WAGES to employees.
3. Think long & hard re. new developments-once farmland is lost, it's lost forever.
4. Do away w-ridiculous reg's, e.g technically we can't butcher our own animals for our own use! In other words, restore free enterprise.
emily matthews (Thu May 29 20:21:58 2008)
Jo, I don't buy it.
To these eyes, The Natural Step (TNS) framework is simply a slickly-packaged attempt to implement central planning. There is no way to present a substantive counter-argument in a comment on your blog, but I know socialism when I see it.
I examined the TNS web site for which you provided a link. I thought that a couple statements in its oddly-worded (translation difficulty?) "System Conditions" were telling: "Society's health and prosperity depends on the enduring capacity of nature to renew itself and rebuild waste into resources." This is semantic, logical, and social gobblydegook. Whatever happened to "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."? "Rebuild waste into resources"?
Surely, we're already doing that...but to include it in a credo as a major tenet is also surely a sign that somebody is interested in central control over commerce and freedom. And this whole paragraph: "All human beings have intrinsic needs. The goal of the social system is to provide the opportunity for all to meet those needs, as a precondition to a dignified way of life for everyone. 'What' we do and 'how' we do it matters. To make decisions which take us toward this goal, in consideration of any policy, product, marketing or investment, we should always identify in advance the people who are going to be affected, taking the widest possible systems view. We should ask ourselves: 'Would we like to be subjected to the conditions we create?' In addition, the manner in which we make these decisions should allow for participation, be transparent, hold actors accountable and be honest." I would think that Americans, at least, would understand that this is a brazen, bald-faced attempt to destroy property rights, self-government, and individual liberty. It is socialism re-packaged in a sexy new wrapper. I cannot react too strongly to this sort of nonsense. Consider: when TNS says, "We should ask ourselves: 'Would we like to be subjected to the conditions we create?' ", it says that the conditions under which America was created were insufficient and hollow. Those conditions created the most robust, advanced, and wealthy nation in the history of mankind. Now we're supposed to subvert our incredible accomplishments to "rebuild waste into resources"?
With apologies to Patrick Henry (remember him?): Is sustainability so dear, or biodiversity so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of dependence on sustainability "experts" and control by ecosystem mavens? Forbid it, Almighty God!
Steve Erbach, Neenah, WI (Thu Jun 05 06:10:25 2008)
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