Resources for Sustainable Local Communities--Part Two

With this article we con tinue to identify and describe resources for understanding and advancing sustainability in local communities. We invite readers to let us know their reactions to what we recommend as well as their own recommendations for additional resources on this topic which can be shared through this Synapse series.

The four web sites described below can be broken into two groups: the first group describes understandings and tools derived from the experiences of multiple local communities in the U.S.(via the recently established organization, Sustainable America) and in Canada (via the province of Ontario's long established Working Group on Sustainable Communities. The second group of web sites describes work on sustainability going on in specific local communities, namely in Olympia, Washington and the surrounding area of South Puget Sound and in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The one print resource listed in this article focuses on the globalization of the economy and its negative consequences for local communities along with some of the needed responses of local communities desiring to counter their losses.

Sustainable America
http://www.sanetwork.org

The organization with the same name as this site is an important one begun in 1995 and focusing exclusively on the economic and citizen participation elements of community sustainability. Sustainable America is pursuing an important and very challenging vision and mission. This vision is "to create 'new economies' in the United States that incorporate the principles of sustainability, democracy, equity and justice". The stated mission is "to increase the prevalence, effectiveness and the scale of a variety of policy and development strategies&emdash; organized, promoted and implemented by coalitions of citizens' groups and their allies&emdash;that are the building blocks for sustainable economic development models in urban and rural communities in the U.S. This organization focuses more on a single socio-economic sector than most community sustainability projects but at the same time acknowledges and seeks to overcome the extremely difficult barriers to achieving substantial economic changes which include redistribution of economic resources.

By sustainable economic development this group means specifically the capacity to "support the economic needs of families and communities now and in the future in ways that are equitable to all segments of human society, are within the limits of ecological systems and are accountable to democratic processes." Part of its philosophy is, "New economies that serve the public good and meet the needs of ordinary people now and in the future can best be achieved if community organizing is central to these efforts. Community organizing builds a broad consensus for change and the political power to execute the vision.

This organization is a national nonprofit organization with a geographically and racially diverse membership (a wide variety of citizen groups, educators, technical assistance providers, researchers and policy advocates) which is linking groups across disciplines. It intends to create a dynamic forum for the member groups to communicate and integrate insights in the pursuit of greater effectiveness in pursuing economic restructuring that is based on the local work of the membership. This web site includes a list of member organizations along with internet links to several of these organizations which provides readers with a representative cross section of the diversity within Sustainable America: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Natural Resource Defense Council, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Service Employees International Union, Alabama Arise, Environmental Research Fund, Share the Wealth/United for a Fair Economy, Clean Water Action, Montana Association for Community Economic Development, Essential Information and Project South.

This site provides a great deal of specific information about where the work of the organization will be focused along with its organizational goals and objectives.

Also information is provided about the organization's structure, history, philosophy, members of the Board of Directors and staff members' bios as well as internship opportunities in the organization. A particularly valuable feature of this site is that it contains the two newsletters to date of this important organization which provide further information about how it is pursuing this very ambitious mission and related goals.

Sustainable Communities Resource Package (SRCP)
http://www.web.net/ortee/scrp/

This site contains the work of the Sustainable Communities Working Group of the Ontario, Canada Roundtable for Sustainable Development. They describe the contents of the site as "ideas and approaches that any community can use as starting points for pursuing the goal of community sustainability, with a special orientation toward the environmental dimensions of sustainability."

Canada was a major participant in the work of the United Nation's Brundtland Commission on environment and development. During the Reagan years, the U.S. government chose not to participate in this work and thus the U.S. lags behind Canada and many other developed countries in working on sustainability. We can learn from these countries, particularly Canada, which have given earlier and more sustained attention to incorporating sustainability as a major goal and related actions at the national, provincial and local levels.

Beginning in 1993, this multi-stakeholder Sustainable Communities Working Group, with members drawn from community, native and labour groups; municipal and provincial governments; educational institutions and businesses has assisted many local communities in their Province to develop sustainability projects. This group does not prescribe but rather seeks to facilitate community based discussions and decisions. In their approach, sustainability is conceptualized as having four major elements: environmental, economic, social and health. They recognize that this approach to community development is a young and rapidly changing field and that their web site reflects a first stage effort to collect and disseminate useful information.

This site includes two valuable essays on community sustainability which were commissioned by the working group: Nigel Richardson describes dimensions of community sustainability in relation to the 'community ecosystem' and dealing with conflict in developing the will for community redirection and Mark Roseland's describes and analyzes the differing assumptions and understandings of community sustainability commonly held by designers, practitioners, visionaries and activists.

"Profiling the Community" and "Taking Action" are major subsections of this site which describe processes to be used in a community sustainability initiative. The importance of studying one's community as a prerequisite to in depth work on sustainability is a valuable assumption and perspective of the section dealing with profiling. Though given the challenge of this task the contents of the profiling section are somewhat disappointing and could benefit from additional development. The usefulness of these and other parts of this site is enhanced by the ample use of illustrations and case materials from throughout Ontario which are drawn from 21 community projects for sustainability.

This site also provides access to additional resources by means of a bibliography and links to other online resources, e.g. the York University Centre for Applied Sustainability along with other similar centres in Canada and other countries. Many of these resources are Canadian ones which are not found in most related web sites, e.g. "A Guide to Community Sustainability Initiatives in Ontario."

Sustainable Community Roundtable
http://www.olywa.net/roundtable

Staffed entirely by volunteers this Roundtable founded in 1992 is a nonprofit organization which provides education on sustainability to the community of Olympia, Washington and the surrounding area of South Puget Sound. Impetus for founding this organization came from a meeting of 40 invited individuals who were convened by the city of Olympia to discuss community development and sustainability. This independent, nonprofit organization educates by means of facilitating a process of dialogue, vision, action and celebration of successes. It has defined a sustainable community as having:

• A healthy and diverse ecological system that continually provides life sustaining functions and other resources for humans and other species

• A social foundation that provides for the health of all community members, respects cultural diversity, is equitable in its actions, and considers the needs of future generations

•A healthy and diverse economy that adapts to change, provides long-term security to residents, and recognizes social and ecological limits.

As part of their services to the community this organization developed a list of 35 sustainability indicators, collected data in relation to these indicators and has published two reports (1993, 1995) on the state of the sustainability of their community and surrounding area as a basis for ongoing dialogue and action. The most recent of these reports which is online at this site provides many, many exciting examples of actions being taken and progress monitored in the areas of: natural environment, population, resource consumption, transportation, housing, economy, social equity and justice, governance, education, health and spirituality. One notable strength of these reports is their inclusion under the title, "steps in the right direction," of specific examples of actions and accomplishments by organizations, groups and neighborhoods which contribute to local sustainability. Both state of the community reports can be ordered in hard copy versions along with other publications of this organization.

An exciting section of this web site is devoted to the "Sound Hours," the local currency of this community. This information includes the directory of nearly 500 individuals and businesses offering services in exchange for this local currency as well as clear explanations of how this local currency operates and the benefits it provides. It also provides an extensive list of other communities using a local currency or a related but non-monetary means of accomplishing barter within a community.

The other sections of this web site provide valuable information about this extensive sustainability effort. These sections include specific invitations to the community for input on future directions of the sustainability initiative, brief descriptions of the current projects being worked on, announcements of upcoming events, and links to other internet sites which this initiative considers important in relation to its work for sustainability.

Chattanooga Sustainability Page
http://bertha.chattanooga.net/sustain/

Because of the prominence of Chattanooga's work on community sustainability, I expected much more from this site than it currently provides. It gives the impression of being intended more for outsiders than for use by the community's organizations and citizens as they work to advance sustainability. One can hope that the site is still under development.

Having expressed these criticisms, it is important to note that in one section there is extensive and valuable information as of 1995 about the many and diverse initiatives underway in Chattanooga to achieve community sustainability. This section is the briefing the city provided for the President's Council on Sustainability when it visited Chattanooga. Included is a summary of the briefing along with longer sections devoted exclusively to the sustainable initiatives in energy and transportation, natural resources, sustainable agriculture, community participation and affordable housing, industry initiatives and eco-industrial parks and population and consumption.

This site also provides extensive information about environmental education in Chattanooga as well as links to other resources on sustainability. Even these links are not extensive nor particularly reflective of the diverse sustainability work being pursued in Chattanooga.

The Case Against the Global Economy and For A Turn Toward the Local
edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books, 1996. (cost for book $16.00)

This book of 43 chapters provides basic information about the fundamental and often destructive economic changes which are being caused by powerful organizations and individuals creating a global economy. Authors of individual chapters include well known thinkers and advocates for a just and sustainable future like Herman Daly, Susan Meeker-Lowry, Mark Ritchie, Helena Norberg-Hodge, David Morris, Vandana Shiva, David Korten and many others.

Major sections are devoted to "The Multiple Impacts of Globalization," "Panaceas That Failed," "Engines of Globalization," and "Steps Toward Relocalization." The first three sections are necessary reading for literacy on the topic of the emerging global economy which impacts all local communities. The latter section of just over 100 pages consists of 10 chapters devoted to key topics directly encountered by anyone working on sustainable local communities. One example is Ch. 38, "Community Money: The Potential of Local Currency" in which author Susan Meeker-Lowry describes, reviews and critiques different strategies and practices for achieving increased economic and social interdependence among the members of local communities. Other chapters in this section include additional very specific topics like community supported agriculture (Daniel Imhoff), bioregionalism (Kirkpatrick Sales), and Gandhian economics (Satish Kumar) and more general subjects like local interdependence (Helena Norberg-Hodge, Jeannette Armstrong, Edward Goldsmith), conserving and developing communities (Wendell Berry, David Morris), new protectionism and cross-border organizing (Colin Hines and Tim Lang, Mark Ritchie).

An added value to this book comes from the bibliographies which are provided along with the 3 page list of organizations which are active on trade and globalization issues in ways which give primary attention to the well being of local communities and all community members, particularly individuals with less economic and political resources.

Return to the Index of Synapse 42, Winter 1997/98