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News : Media Clipping

A Step Forward

by Chad Park and Tamara Lorincz,
The Chronicle Herald (December 16, 2005)

Many of the social and environmental consequences of unsustainable production and consumption are first noticed at the community level, because this is where we live and work. In communities across Nova Scotia, we see first-hand how smog, clearcutting, pesticide runoff, mining, dragnet fishing and factory-farming are contaminating our air, land and water and depleting natural resources, and how homelessness and poverty are causing despair.

Municipal governments are charged with planning our development and managing our waste, water, energy, transportation and social systems. While municipalities are critical players in creating sustainable communities, they cannot do it alone. All groups in a community must be engaged and contributing to sustainable solutions. However, the interests of these groups are so complex and diverse that a clear path toward a sustainable community is often difficult to negotiate.

To overcome this challenge, many communities around the world and in Canada, including the Halifax Regional Municipality, are using The Natural Step. The Natural Step is a framework that provides an elegant, rigorous and scientific understanding of sustainability together with a field-tested planning approach. The framework gives decision-makers a common perspective and a foundation for working together toward sustainability.

Founded in Sweden in 1989, The Natural Step is now an international organization based in 12 countries. The Natural Step has gained international recognition, including The Blue Planet Prize and Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross Millennium Award for International Leadership. The Natural Step Canada was formed in 1996 and supports the growing network of organizations, businesses and communities using the framework for sustainability.

For example, the resort municipality of Whistler, B.C., has adopted the Natural Step framework for its sustainable community planning. At the United Nations-endorsed International Awards for Livable Communities ceremony in Spain last month, Whistler was awarded first place in the Planning for the Future category for its long-term sustainability plan entitled Whistler 2020: Moving toward a Sustainable Future.

The Whistler plan charts a course that is compelling both in its visionary integration of social, ecological and economic factors, and in its practical action plan that involves all the major stakeholders in the community, not just the municipal government. More information about Whistler’s plan can be found atwww.whistler.ca.

Communities in Nova Scotia can use The Natural Step to start their journey toward sustainability as well. To envision a sustainable future for our province, the Genuine Progress Index Atlantic and the Nova Scotia Environmental Network are holding a free public presentation on The Natural Step, today (Dec. 16) from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 1028, Rowe Management Building, Dalhousie University, 6100 University Ave.

Chad Park is a sustainability adviser withThe Natural Step Canada, and
Tamara Lorincz is co-ordinator of the Nova Scotia Environmental Network.

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