Natural Step

Swedish Dr. Karl-Henrick Robert, founded the Natural Step, a scientific, internationally acclaimed framework for sustainability. In his Forward for 'The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, Ecology, and The Evolutionary Corporation', co-authored by the co-founders^[5] of The Natural Step Canada^[6] , he documented:

"My earliest ideas about the Natural Step began in the late 1980's when I was working as a medical doctor and cancer-treatment researcher. During those years, I saw many things that confused me about how we as human beings take care of our habitat. On one hand, messages from mass media and the general public made it sound as if people were interested in getting richer and driving their cars faster than in preserving our environment for the sake of their children's future. On the other hand, I saw an endless stream of concerned parents come into the hospital with their cancer-diseased children. And these parents were prepared to do anything for their children. So, something was wrong here: how could both of these descriptions of human nature be true? Despite this deep concern for our children's well-being and futures, we seemed to handle the problem of maintaining our environment by fighting instead of cooperating. Was there some way, I asked myself, that we could learn to reach some consensus on how to change?"

It is exciting to witness evidence of that consensus being reached in regions the world over - our own included. Reaching such consensus, as it did for Dr. Robert, comes by asking some very difficult questions.

 

Probing Questions

These policies must probe far beyond the reasons why we spend so much time in our cars getting from here to there. As we all wrestle with the implications of sustainability in light of our indebtedness to future generations, I would pose a few questions intended to provoke deeper thought, stronger commitments and the kind of comprehensive solutions needed.

• Just what is it that needs to be sustained, given the gamut of social, fiscal and ecological threats to our communities and residents?^[7]
• For how much longer will our natural ecosystems - and taxation systems - continue feeding civilization's insatiable hungers for comfort, convenience and luxury?^[8]
• For how much longer might the whole of humankind escape the consequences of our crippling Nature's ability to sustain life?^[9]

 

Answering the Challenge

In his 1992 book, 'The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration for Sustainability,' Paul Hawken knits together two very compelling challenges in answer to such questions; the need for creating restorative economies wherein all of our human activities mesh consistently with, even emulate Nature's closed-loop, no waste, systems. In 'Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution'^[10] (pub. 1999), Hawken together with Amory and Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute,^[11] revealed encouraging evidence of that starting to happen via McDonough's revolution. Governments, corporations and organizations the world over were coming around to ensuring that the well-being of future generations becomes a top priority. Furthermore, Natural Capitalism showed that that focus could actually result in some very significant social, fiscal and ecological profits.

Upon reading Hawken's Ecology of Commerce in 1994, one industrialist's foreboding epiphany spurred him on to revolutionizing how his company manufactures and 'leases' carpets.

"Thinking about it, 'the death of birth,'^[12] " a phrase Hawken used to entitle an earlier chapter, ""was a spear in my chest." … Reading the book in bed, Anderson cried. He read passages to his wife. She cried. "It invaded my soul.""^[13] "I had a revelation about what industry is doing to our planet. I stood convicted as a plunderer of the earth...In the future, people like me will go to jail," ^[14] he confessed to CEOs from half a dozen of the world's largest companies gathered at the U.S. Embassy in London.^[15]

Four years later, committing the world's first corporation striving toward sustainability, Interface had doubled its revenue and almost its employment. Profits had tripled.^[16] Anderson, profiled in Natural Capitalism, is now stewarding Interface on to becoming the world's first restorative corporation.

 

Planning Reform, Greenbelt and Sustainability

Since both the Policy Reform and Greenbelt study acknowledge the sustainable imperative I feel confident that the forthcoming recommendations will be given serious consideration.

To suggest in part that the greenbelt become a[n ecosystem^[17] that "sustains and nurtures the region's agricultural sector," misplaces the legacy value to be assigned the greenbelt. Agriculture thrives within these regions firstly because of the ecosystems - not the other way around. The greenbelt must be viewed as more than an enhancement to our urban and rural areas, given that 'enhancements' are easily discarded once they are considered luxuries.

As this paper has already shown, there are valid reasons for sustainability suddenly becoming the 21st Century's greatest challenge. It is quite evident that the Greenbelt - and Planning Reform - discussion papers grapples with that challenge. The Greenbelt's Vision however, falls just short of rising to it.

 

The Vision Rewritten

The Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt will be a permanent and sustainable legacy for future generations. ['Current generations' was dropped since it remains incumbent upon us to begin a restoration of the legacy we will leave behind.] The greenbelt will sustain our urban and rural areas by continuous and connected ecosystems that:

• Restores and ensures continued life-essential services for our seventh generation;
• Sustains and nurtures vibrant regional agricultural sectors; and;
• Continues to provide regions with significant, renewable natural resources and recreational opportunities. [I intentionally dropped 'tourism' from here, and will address why I have isolated it. ^[18]

 

Only one major alteration to the Goals would seem in order. "The greenbelt will ensure continued life by serving an array of essential functions to the Golden Horseshoe region and residents." Otherwise for the most part, the goals would seem to support the Vision.

 

Designing for Sustainability

For this greenbelt to become a truly "permanent and sustainable legacy", key mitigating factors -and trends - must be acknowledged and earnestly addressed from the outset:

1. "Designing for sustainability requires awareness of the full short and long-term consequences of any transformation of the environment. Sustainable design is the conception and realization of environmentally sensitive and responsible expression as a part of the evolving matrix of nature."^[19] "Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled."^[20]
2. The irreplaceable value of ecosystems to the sustainment of all life makes it our most important resource. A persistent use of the term 'restoration' would better capture and foster the mentality shift needed to successfully accomplish the arduous tasks ahead.
3. The need to find our place within Nature and develop sustainability requires a full cost accounting of our wasteful and destructive human activities - and the reduction, and control of ecological footprints^[21] .
4. "High-performance" buildings, by intent and design, minimize their environmental impacts by maximizing all resources. Proving to be one of the Next Industrial Revolution's horseless buggies, these green buildings employ the nine Hannover Principles, which begins by "[i]nsist[ing] on the rights of humanity and nature to exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition."^[22]
   
   The Ecologically sustainable vision for Hannover at the edge of the millennium is motivated by the fear of a devastated planet, with a desire to show that we have a real chance to saved it and continue the evolution of our species at the same time." - excerpt from the Hannover Prinicples' closing paragraph
5. Planning reform policies must enable greater creative models of urban intensification. Residential developments above existing parking lots, malls and grocery stores^[23] significantly increase growth potential within urban boundaries. Such developments also maximize infrastructure investments and contribute to reducing auto dependencies. Crowned with vegetative rooftops, they partially restore to the asphalt jungles lost eco-services^[24]; with solar paneling, they put otherwise wasted space to productive use.
6. Sooner, rather than later, the sustainable imperative will affect the import, and export, of produce (and goods). This will mean that regional/community sustainability must:
   • Increase the self-sufficiency of individual regions;
   • Reinforce and reinstate the importance, and viability of strengthening local economies;
   • Encourage the mining and processing of 'above-ground resources' over fresh resource extraction and processing.

For Our Own Children's Sake

The Background and Context of the Greenbelt Discussion Paper claims that, the challenges of increasing gridlock, threatened water quality, infrastructure costs, and compromised environments, undermine quality of life, threaten regional competitiveness and the ability to attract wealth-generating industries. I would argue that moribund industrial age models of regional competition and attracting industries into regions are completely out of sync with emerging realities. Rather than compete with every other North American region trying to attract sparse industrial-age saviors, like Chattanooga Tennessee our focus should be on making our regions destinations of choice for our own children. As reflected within the proliferation of material published over the last decade, developing sustainability and undertaking restorative initiatives generate new job and market opportunities needed to replace lost industries, cleanup the messes of the past and start ensuring the well-being of future generations - for legacies' sake.

How ironic all this talk of (the need for smart) growth while our social, fiscal and ecological systems suffer from ill health, depleted employment, benefits, and natural resources, now in dire need of repair. And yet, as reflected within Chattanooga's stunning 16-year urban renewal, healthy, natural environments often become the benefactors when human activities are focused on socioeconomic sustainability,^[25] for legacies' sake.

In 1984, the city once labeled by the American Environmental Protection Agency as America's dirtiest, envisioned a revitalized city that residents wanted for their children graduating from high school in 2000. Even though creating a tourist industry was not the intent of their focus, by 2000 tourism annually contributed over $500 million to local coffers. Making their city appealing enough for their own grown children first and foremost resulted in giving Chattanooga that competitive edge over other regions and the creation of their own wealth-generating industries to obtain non-existing 'green' products and services by which to revitalize and sustain their city. "[T]he city built its own electric trolleys^[26] for downtown--and doing whatever else it takes to attract environmental businesses."^[27]

In the case of Curitiba Brazil, a city that experienced explosive growth "from about 300,000 in 1959 to 2.1 million in 1990" [and another million expected by 2020] ²⁸ ... the "result of its commitment to providing a high quality of life [has made it] a favored site for new industries of local and foreign origin."^[29]

Taking Bold Steps Toward Sustainability

The Province can 'protect public interest' by mandating the parameters and providing the incentives, and disincentives, likely to stimulate restorative corporations, the adaptation and implementation of LEED™ certification, sustainability reporting^[30] and ecological footprinting across all sectors.

Directly and indirectly, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) certification guidelines for buildings^[31] address at least 14 of the 27 goal statements and six of the nine policy areas listed within the Policy Reform discussion paper.

Based on findings within the 'Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California's Sustainable Building Task Force'^[32] released October 2003, New York City saw fit earlier this year, to amend the City's administration code by adding a new chapter dedicated to: Green Building Standards; Definitions; Requirements; Evaluations; and Enforcement.^[33]

Like New York City mandating 'high-performance' design for all publicly owned and funded buildings from 2006 on, the Province can most definitely show similar stewardship - and long-term fiscal and environmental responsibility.

While green building premiums currently range from 0.7% for Level One Certification to 6.8% for Platinum, these are dropping quickly as experience in green design and construction increases. Regardless, upfront costs are quickly recovered through:

• Reduced energy use and costs;
• Reduced hazardous emissions;
• Water conservation (and purification!);
• Waste reduction through a high percentage of recycled building materials; and
• Increased health and productivity experienced by building occupants and staff.

As reported by California's Task Force, financial benefits translated into as much as "10 times larger than the average 2 percent cost premium (about $4[US] per square foot) for the 40 green buildings analyzed."^[34] Therefore, in order to justify accepting higher bids, tenders are often accompanied by cost-recovery schedules.

The Californian Task Force's findings may well focus on the cost and financial benefits of green buildings, but given Canadian commitments to the Kyoto Accord, and improved health strategies, in the broader spectrum LEED™ certification offers immediate and profound comprehensive solutions to more than just the myriad objectives of the Greenbelt Study and Provincial Policy Reform. Mandating green design would stimulate technological and application advancement in areas such as passive energy, closed-loop systems and water collection, purification and conservation - even for housing developments. Furthermore, due to their whole-systems approach, LEED™ certification criteria would also address many of the objectives set out by of the Greenbelt Task Force. With respect to future encroachments into the greenbelt, developments should strive for no less than LEED's highest (Platinum) rating. Gold certification should be the minimum requirement for developments nearing greenbelt fringes.

And just so that it is not overlooked in the long list of sustainable design spin-off benefits, the impact on strengthening regional economies would assuredly be profound as new 'green' products, materials, and above ground resource recovery methods would be regionally, and globally required.

Full Cost Accounting

Other emerging tools that would prove highly effective in providing comprehensive solutions to the interrelated objectives of the Policy Reform and Greenbelt are 'sustainability reporting' and the Natural Step™ framework.^[35] These tools are quickly taking root and succeeding internationally since beyond their spin-off impacts and influences both up-and-downstream, they tend to:

• Eliminate the need for environmental compliance;
• Promote awareness for healthier, more sustainable living by all participants;
• Address the imperative for reducing and controlling ecological footprints; and
• Encourage the kind of proactivity needed in overcoming the arduous tasks of sustainability.

Since first initiated in 1997 by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) ^[36], major corporations and organizations worldwide have joined in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) ^[37]. Through their trial and error processes, these voluntary participants have been helping to set the international guidelines and standards for reporting the social, economic and environmental performances and impacts of their operations.

For smaller businesses, the preparation of these sustainability reports however, can be financially formidable and in the absence of incentives, participants are excluded from what could ultimately benefit their businesses - and a broader public's interest over time.

Ecological Footprinting

In fulfilling these policy objectives, we must begin taking a proper accounting of the real costs to the products we produce and consume. Doing just that, ecological footprinting attempts to answer the question, "What is the rate at which and manner in which the world can sustain the human population that exists and is growing?"^[38]

Eco-footprinting forces us to confront the pressures that our human activities - consumption in particular - are placing on the earth's natural ability to meet our most basic needs for shelter, fuel/energy, water and substance. The most conservative estimates of the day strongly indicate that our North American way of life is likely to exhaust our planet's fixed carrying capacity well before the seventh generation's birth.

In 'Ecology of Commerce,' Paul Hawken claims that "[t]he word 'sustainability' can be defined in terms of carrying capacity of the ecosystem, and described with input-output models of energy and resource consumption. Sustainability is an economic state where the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations. It can also be expressed in the simple terms of an economic golden rule for the restorative economy: Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do." ^[39]

As a standalone tool-or as part-and-parcel to sustainability reporting, or the Natural Step-ecological footprinting offers an additional potential for disarming urban intensification's greatest enemy, the NIMBY syndrome. Eco-Footprinting could also play a strong role in justifying the creation for, and the long-term existence of any greenbelt.

Development Rights and the British Model

At the heart of the greenbelt issue seems to be non-agricultural development versus agricultural related development. According to Michael Bunce^[40] , "[m]ost evidence suggests general resistance from farmers' groups to significant restrictions on their development rights … [leaving] us with the question of whose interest [farm preservation] really serves?"

The British model, originally embodied by the 1937 Greenbelt Corridor and Home Countries Act, excludes any development rights within the greenbelt.

"In Britain, development permission is not a right, and its denial does not entail compensation. Thus, geenbelts or agricultural preservation policies are immune from claims for compensation" (Alterman, 1997, p.228; see also Brussard, 1991).

When land is acquired, it is usually at its existing use value. This is a result of the limited development potential, the stronger and clearer separation of urban and nonurban uses, and the generally lower inherent expectations that rural land will be permitted to be converted to developed uses. Thus when land is purchased by European municipalities or other government authorities, it is typically at its farm or rural land value and not at a higher speculative development value." ^[41]

But then the challenge in part, turns to better enable farm preservation by increasing the regional viability and profitability of farming.

Regional Self-Sufficiency

In Switzerland, "agricultural land is preciously guarded . . . closely tied to national security - a feeling that Switzerland must be prepared to be self-sufficient to the furthest extent possible. Protecting farmland is viewed as one way to do this (Ringli, 1989⁴²)." ^[43]

Long-term, precautionary planning should follow the Swiss example. But while national, or even regional security is not at issue, regional self-sufficiency may well soon be - if it is not already.

"A local economy might be compared to a bucket that the community would like to keep full. Business recruitment and community expansion are attempts to pour more money into the bucket. While these strategies may have succeeded in the past, today they often fail or generate more costs than benefits to the community.

Focusing entirely on more ways to fill the bucket ignores vast opportunities for "plugging leaks." Economic buckets invariably have holes through which pounds or dollars leak every time local resources are used inefficiently." ^[44]

Sustainable Communities and Regions

In the Hannover Principles' commentary McDonough wrote that, "[f]or a nation to create a sustainable economy, it must step back from the global economy." If however, we think national and act local, in order for a region to create a sustainable economy, it must step back from the national economy.

Global trends related to developing sustainable communities/regions are fortunately gaining momentum as regional buckets are leaking and the battles against climate change are heating up. Incentives, disincentives and an elimination of governmentally subsidized markets are all anticipated weapons to be used in mitigating the causes of struggling economies, stressed social systems, and degraded air and water quality - and quantities. These double-edge swords will slay sacred cows and dub knights of the seventh generation. Irrelevant markets and industries will collapse, but newer ones dedicated to 'plugging the leaks', restorations and sustainability will spring up to replace them.

Full cost accounting, and sustainability reporting could significantly affect, for the better, local demands for regionally grown produce and manufactured goods, thus restoring the regional value of our existing greenspace, manufacturing and agricultural bases.

"[W]hat hurts the transition to sustainable and restorative businesses more than any other single factor is artificially low prices that do not fully incorporate the true costs of a product or service, especially when those low prices are the result of cost internalization, subsidies, or tax breaks." ^[45]

Existing external forces such as rising fuel and insurance costs will affect import and export sectors. When viewed in an additional light of declining wage levels, and personal debt-loads in these times of spasmatic economies, these market altering externalities are already influencing an increasing popularity of programs such as: auto/bike sharing; above ground resource recovery and registries; and auto-dependency reduction trends - which by the way, call into question the need for any future major transportation infrastructures, yet increase the viability of public transit substantially.

A Wild Card Worth Playing

And in the interest of sustainable regions, industrial hemp is a wild card, which could very easily be played to revitalize regional agriculture and stimulated diversified manufacturing bases. If, as I have suggested, LEED™ certification is adopted as a comprehensive solution, then the viability of hemp building materials could add enormous value to the greenbelt's objectives. Industrial hemp's extreme versatility of use could easily create a playground for ecopreneurs - and their investors.

Destructive Creativity on the Rise

In dealing with a realization of changing energy demands, many oil and petroleum companies are shifting their core competencies. Following British Petroleum's lead, they are beginning to view themselves as being energy providers. To follow such leadership revealed in other sectors:

"Japan's raw materials industry has been turning to recycling businesses in response to the enactment of various recycling laws, heightened citizens' awareness on waste issues and the shortage of landfill sites in recent years. The industry mainly consists of businesses that deal with iron and steel, nonferrous metals, chemicals, ceramics, rock and soil, paper and pulp, fabrics, and petroleum and coal. They supply materials for architecture, construction, processing and assembling industries.

Materials play an important role in resource cycles. Companies in the raw materials industry have launched recycling businesses for their own survival during the current long-lasting economic slump. The resources they find in waste are known as "above-ground resources," a new term coined to recognize the value in industrial waste and byproducts as resources above the ground, as opposed to resources buried in the ground".^[46]

Mineral Resources of the Natural Resources section of the discussion paper reports there to be "significant aggregate resource deposits in the Golden Horseshoe region that directly supply housing and manufacturing industries." Here is where above-ground resources display particular relevance. Were strict limitations to be placed on mining practices, above ground resources would likely gain value over below-ground resources, encouraging greater recycling and reuse, thus stimulating further economic opportunities.

In Closing

Taking bold steps toward sustainability, for legacies' sake, afford regions doing so, endless opportunities. This paper has shown only a piece of sustainability's iceberg tip, so rather than ramble on any further, I will just leave off with as profound a parting thought as I can muster.

Nature is what seems to have set this planet apart from any others we know. Whether by divine intent or by some abnormal happenstance, life thrives within, upon and above our Earth's surfaces. Species come, and species go. If we Homo sapiens value our continued existence, we will admit to our needing Nature and re-establish our connections with her. That is what will lie at the heart of our arduous struggle to achieve sustainability. ^[47] For legacies' sake, that must now reside within the soul of the Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt and Provincial Planning Reform.

 

Second HTML submission begins at Tools for Planning Policy Reform ~ [Download Word Version]

1. Bernie Slepkov, 2004; For Legacies' Sake: Taking Bold New Directions Toward Sustainability (a work in progress)

2. Co-Author of Cradle-to-Cradle and profiled in Time Magazine's "Special Report: How to save the earth" Aug. 26, 2002

3. Good News For a Change, David Suzuki, Holly Dressel, Stoddart 2002

4. Ibid

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

6. http://www.naturalstep.org/canada

7. Bernie Slepkov, Do We Need Nature? (2003 Shell/Economist Prize Competiton entry; http://sustainableniagara.ca/musings/nature.php )

8. Ibid

9. Ibid

10. http://www.natcap.org

11. http://www.rmi.org/rmi/

12. First coined by Harvard Biologist, E. O. Wilson to capture the impact of disappearing species.

13. In the Future, People Like Me Will Go to Jail: Ray Anderson is on a mission to clean up American businesses--starting with his own. Can a Georgia carpet mogul save the planet? Fortune Magazine, 05/24/1999 - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/05/24/260285/index.htm ~ link updated, Sept. 2011

14. Ibid

15. Ibid

16. Natural Capital, 1999, pb pg. 168

17. '[A] continuous and connected system of open space'

18. It should be recognized however, that realizing any tourism objective exasperates ecological and carrying capacity stresses on the region. Sustainability calls for as great a diversification of socioeconomic activity as is possible to achieve.

19. The Hannover Principles: A Design for Sustainability; Prepared for EXPO 200 by William McDonugh and Partners - http://www.mcdonough.com/principles.pdf

20. Ibid; Eighth principle: Understand the limitations of design

21. Eco-footprint measures the area of land and water required to produce the resources and absorb the waste needed to sustain an individual at a particular standard of living. Canada's 2004 national eco-footprint of 8.56 per global hectares per capita, is third highest of all nations. - Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy http://www.unnaturallaw.com

22. The first Hannover Principle

23. Seventy-five Percent; Harvard Design Magazine, Fall 2000, Number 12, Ellen Dunham-Jones (link to article removed Sept. 2011)

24. Vegetation Systems Atop Buildings Yield Multiple Environmental Benefits: Roofing Technology Developed in Germany is Starting to Take Root in North America; Architectural Record 03.03

25. Bernie Slepkov; Sustainability's Challenge To Niagaran Communities - http://sustainableniagara.ca/musings/challenge.php

26. Since no zero-emission buses were available to serve Chattanoogans, they created Electric Transit Vehicle Institute to design, manufacture and sell them - http://www.etvi.org

27. in Earth's Company, Carl Frankel, New Society Publishers, 1998

28. Natural Capitalism; Chapter 14: Human Capitalism - http://www.natcap.org/images/other/NCchapter14.pdf

29. The Hannover Principles

30. Once called Environmental Reporting, but now includes various aspects which affect the sustainability of doing business.

31. http://www.gbapgh.org

32. http://www.gbapgh.org/Related%20Links.asp#BenefitsGB or http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/News477.pdf

33. Int. No. 324; By the Speaker (Council Member Miller) and Council Member Gennaro. http://www.cap-e.com/Capital-E/POLICY_DEVELOPMENT_Engagements_files/Int%200324-A.pdf ~ link updated Sept. 2011

34. Are Green Buildings Cost-Effective? By Greg Kats; Green@Work magazine, May/June 2004

35. http://www.naturalstep.org/canada ~ link updated Sept. 2011

36. http://www.ceres.org

37. http://www.globalreporting.org/Home

38. The Ecology of Commerce; Paul Hawken, hardcover pg. 203

39. Ibid, pg. 139

40. Michael Bunce, 1998; Thirty Years of Farmland Preservation in North America: Discourses and Ideologies of a Movement; Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 2

41. Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities, Timothy Beatley, 2000

42. Ringli, Hellmut. 1989. "Spatial Planning in Switzerland" in International Society of City and Regional Planners, Planning in the Host Country, Basel, Bulletin, 1989/2

43. Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities, Timothy Beatley, 2000

44. Grappling with Growth: What to Do When You Want a Strong Economy and a Great Place to Live; The Rocky Mountain Institute - http://www.rmi.org/rmi/Library%2FER01-24_GrapplingWithGrowth ~ link updated Sept. 2011

45. The Ecology of Commerce; Paul Hawken

46. Raw Materials Industry Recycles 'Above-Ground Resources'; March 2004 Newsletter #019, Japan for Sustainability http://www.japanfs.org/en_/newsletter/200403.html

47. Bernie Slepkov, Do We Need Nature? - http://sustainableniagara.ca/musings/nature.php