The Natural Step and the Twin Ports Early Adopter Project Presentation to Energy in Technology,...

The Natural Step and the Twin Ports

Early Adopter Project

Presentation to Energy in Technology, Nature and Society ClassWITC-Superior

November 13, 2008

Jerry Hembd

State SpecialistCommunity and Economic Development

University of Wisconsin-Extension

Associate Professor of EconomicsDepartment of Business and Economics

University of Wisconsin-Superior

The Natural Step

The Natural Step is an international non-profit research, education and advisory organization that uses a science-based, systems framework to help organizations, individuals and communities take meaningful steps toward sustainability.

Who Uses It?

Swedish Eco-municipalities

City of Madision, WI

The Natural Step Framework

1. A shared science- and systems-based definition for sustainability

2. A decision-making framework and process to help organizations and communities plan for sustainability

3. A compass to help us know if we’re moving in the right direction

Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt

Find fundamental principles of indisputable relevance, and thereafter ask the advice of others on how to apply them.

Why are we talking about sustainability

?

Only One Planet

Our Planet Is in Trouble

Growing Awareness

What is Sustainability?

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

~ The Brundtland Report

“It contains two key concepts: the concept of “needs,” in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”

~ The Brundtland Report

environmenteconomy

society

Dimensions of Sustainability

Society

Economy Environment

Conventional Thinking

Traditionally, we try to understand complex systems by reducing the whole and studying the individual parts.

This is called reductionist thinking.

Systems Thinking

But…

We know that the properties of systems depend on the relationships between the parts as much as the parts themselves.

When you dissect the system, you destroy the pattern of relationships.

We mustWe must

look atlook at

the whole ...the whole ...

… … and notand not

get stuckget stuck

on detailson details

Systems Thinking

Understanding the Sustainability Challenge

The Funnel as a Metaphor

Resource Funnel

Resource Availability and Ecosystem Ability to Provide Vital Services Raw materials, ecosystem services,

declining integrity and capacity of natural systems

SustainabilityMargin for

Action

Societal Demand for Resources

Growth in population, resource requirements as affluence increases, increased demands as technology spreads.

Source: Nattrass, Brian, and Altomare, Mary. The Natural Step for Business. New Society Publishers, 1999.

Supporting

• Nutrient cycling

• Soil formation

• Primary production

Provisioning

• Food

• Freshwater

• Wood and fibre

• Fuel

Regulating

• Climate regulation

• Flood regulation

• Disease regulation

• Water purification

Cultural

• Aesthetics

• Spiritual

• Educational

• Recreational

Ecosystem Services

Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Washington, DC: Island Press.

The Sustainability Challenge

A Systems Perspective

The Earth as a system

What can we agree on?

Closed System with respect to matter

Slow geological cycles - materials from the Earth’s crust

Open System with respect to energy

Sustainability is about the ability of

our own human society to continue

indefinitely within these natural cycles

“Photosynthesis pays the bills”

1) Nothing disappears2) Everything disperses

How we influence cycles

Introduce persistent compounds foreign to nature

2

Physically inhibit ability of nature to run cycles

3

Relatively large flows of materials from the Earth’s crust

1

Barriers to people meeting their basic needs

4

Ways we are un-sustainable

we dig stuff (like heavy metals and fossil fuels) out of the Earth’s crust and allow it to build up faster than nature can cope with it

we create man-made compounds and chemicals (like pesticides and fire retardants in carpets, etc.) and allow them to build up faster than nature can cope with them

we continuously damage natural systems and the free services they provide (including climate regulation and water filtration) by physical means (for example, overharvesting and paving wetlands)

And . . .

we live in and create societies in which many people cannot meet their basic needs (for example, to find affordable housing)

43

2

1

Basic Conditions for Sustainability

concentrations of substances extracted from the earth's crust

concentrations of substances produced by society

degradation by physical means

and, in that society…

people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs.

In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing:

43

2

1

FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS

AffectionProtection

Understanding

Participation

Subsistence

Freedom

Identity Idleness

Creation

Global Human Needs

Sustainability Objective 1

Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the buildup of materials taken from the Earth’s crust. This includes fossil fuels and their associated wastes.

Scarce metals Abundant metals

Fossil fuels Renewables

Inefficient use Efficient use

Dissipative use Tight technical cycles

Sustainability Objective 2

Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the buildup of synthetic substances produced by society.

Dissipative use

Persistent and unnatural

Abundant and breakdown easily

Tight technical cycles

Inefficient use Efficient use

Sustainability Objective 3

Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the ongoing physical degradation of Nature.

Inefficient use of resources and land

Resources from poorly managed ecosystems

Resources from well-managed ecosystems use

Efficient use of resources and land

Sustainability Objective 4

Unsafe working and living environments

Economic barriers

Safe working and living environments

Sufficient resources for livelihood

Political oppression Political freedom

Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people’s ability to meet their basic needs.

“Knowing where we want to go will help us get there”

Key Concepts

Backcasting from Principles and the

ABCD Methodology

Backcasting

...looking ’back’ to the present and designing strategic, step-wise actions...current

reality

time

Backcasting from Sustainability Principles

...looking ’back’ to the present and designing strategic, step-wise solutions...current

reality

time

Generic Planning Framework

“D” Step

Right direction?

Flexible Platform?

Return on investment?

time

Review - Key Concepts

The Funnel

Backcasting

Principles of Sustainability

A Growing Movement

Community stories

An eco-municipality aspires to develop an ecologically, economically, and socially healthy community for the long term, using The Natural Step Framework for sustainability as a guide, and a democratic, highly participative development process as the method.

Swedish Eco-municipalities

What’s Happening in Our Area?What’s Happening in Our Area?

City of Washburn

City of Ashland

City of Madison

City of Bayfield

Town of Bayfield

Douglas County

Johnson Creek

City of Marshfield

City of Manitowoc

City of Neenah

City of Menasha

Town of Cottage Grove

La Crosse

La Crosse County

City Beloit

City of Baraboo

City of Sheboygan

Dunn County

Village of Spring Green

Town of La Pointe

Duluth, MN

Sustainable Twin Ports

Sustainable Twin Ports is dedicated to furthering economic, environmental and social sustainability in the Twin Ports and western Lake Superior

region through education, networking and action.

Twin Ports Early Adopter

Project

Duluth, Minnesota and

Superior, Wisconsin

Early Adopter Project

Early Adopters are respected and representative community businesses

and organizations that make the commitment to provide leadership by

introducing and using The Natural Step Framework in their respective

organizations.

Early Majority

34%

Late Majority

34%

Early Adopters

13.5%Laggards

16% 2.5%

“Critical Mass”

Innovators

Early Adopter Concept

Innovation-Diffusion Model

Recruitment Criteria

• Candidate organizations are recognized community leaders;

• they have an interest in sustainability; and

• they collectively represent the breadth of the community or area.

Early Adopter Project Basics

• Fourteen Early Adopter organizations• Two to five participants per organization • Six days of training over one year• Baseline evaluations• Developing a vision of a sustainable organization• Action planning and implementation• Documentation, peer learning, and sharing with

broader community

Early Adopter Organizations

Public Sector• City of Duluth • Superior Public Schools• Duluth Transit Authority• Douglas County • University of Wisconsin-

Superior

Nonprofit Sector• Challenge Center• Gloria Dei Lutheran Church• Duluth Area Chamber of

Commerce• Duluth-Superior Area

Community Foundation

Private Sector• Inn on Lake Superior, ZMC

Hotels• Glenwood Signs and Awards• Duluth Grill (Embers)• London Road Carwash• Twin Ports Testing

Key strengths

• Development of a shared understanding of and language for sustainability among leading organizations in the community or area

• Creation of local role models and success stories that inspire rest of community about sustainability

Project support

A.H. Zeppa Family Foundation

Duluth Superior Area Community FoundationFund for the Environment

Wildey H. Mitchell Family Fund

Challenges for transition

• We need more accurate models, metaphors, and measures to describe the human enterprise relative to the biosphere.

• It will require a marked improvement and creativity in the arts of citizenship and governance.

• The public’s discretion will need to be informed through greatly improved education.

• It will require learning how to recognize and solve divergent problems, which is to say a higher level of spiritual awareness.Source: David Orr. The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004.

Thank You