Introduction to Sustainable Development
Content
Introduction to Sustainable Development
Sustainability is related to the quality of life in a community -- whether the economic, social and environmental systems that make up the community are providing a healthy, productive, meaningful life for all community residents, present and future. How has the quality of life in your community changed over the last 20 or 40 years?
How has your community changed economically? o Are there fewer or more good-paying jobs -- are people working more and earning less or are most people living well? o Is there more or less poverty and homelessness? o Is it easier or harder for people to find homes that they can afford? How has your community changed socially o Is there less or more crime? o Are people less or more willing to volunteer? o Are fewer or more people running for public office or working on community boards? How has your community changed environmentally? o Has air quality in the urban areas gotten better or worse? o Are there more or fewer warnings about eating fish caught in local streams? o Has the water quality gotten better or worse?
These are traditional measures of communities. We use numbers to show progress: "Unemployment rose 0.4 percent in January," or "The economy grew 2% last year." However, the traditional numbers only show changes in one part of the community without showing the many links between the community's economy, society and environment. It is as if a community were made of three separate parts -- an economic part, a social part and an environmental part that do not overlap like the picture below:
A view of community as three separate, unrelated parts: an economic part, a social part and an environmental part.
However, when society, economy and environment are viewed as separate, unrelated parts of a community, the community's problems are also viewed as isolated issues. Economic development councils try to create more jobs. Social needs are addressed by health care services and housing authorities. Environmental agencies try to prevent and correct pollution problems. This piecemeal approach can have a number of bad side-effects:
Solutions to one problem can make another problem worse. Creating affordable housing is a good thing, but when that housing is built in areas far from workplaces, the result is increased traffic and the pollution that comes with it. Piecemeal solutions tend to create opposing groups. How often have you heard the argument 'If the environmentalists win, the economy will suffer,' and its opposing view 'If business has its way, the environment will be destroyed.' Piecemeal solutions tend to focus on short-term benefits without monitoring long-term results. The pesticide DDT seemed like a good solution to insect pests at the time, but the long-term results were devastating.
Rather than a piecemeal approach, what we need is a view of the community that takes into account the links between the economy, the environment and the society. The figure below is frequently used to show the connections:
A view of community that shows the links among its three parts: the economic part, the social part and the environmental part.
Actions to improve conditions in a sustainable community take these connections into account. The very questions asked about issues in a 'sustainable' community include references to these links. For example, the question 'Do the jobs available match the skills of the available work force?' looks at the link between economy and education. Understanding the three parts and their links is key to understanding sustainability, because sustainability is about more than just quality of life. It is about understanding the connections between and achieving balance among the social, economic, and environmental pieces of a community.
As the following page shows, however, we can make an even better picture of a sustainable community than the three partially connected circles shown above.
A better view of sustainable community
Rather than the three partially connected circles shown on the previous page, a better picture of a sustainable community is the circles within circles shown below:
A view of community as three concentric circles: the economy exists within society, and both the economy and society exist within the environment.
As this figure illustrates, the economy exists entirely within society, because all parts of the human economy require interaction among people. However, society is much more than just the economy. Friends and families, music and art, religion and ethics are important elements of society, but are not primarily based on exchanging goods and services. Society, in turn, exists entirely within the environment. Our basic requirements -air, food and water -- come from the environment, as do the energy and raw materials for housing, transportation and the products we depend on. Finally, the environment surrounds society. At an earlier point in human history, the environment largely determined the shape of society. Today the opposite is true: human activity is reshaping the environment at an ever-increasing rate. The parts of the environment unaffected by human activity are getting smaller all the time. However, because people need food, water and air to survive, society can never be larger than the environment. Sustainability requires managing all households -- individual, community, national, and global -- in ways that ensure that our economy and society can continue to exist without destroying the natural environment on which we all depend. Sustainable communities acknowledge that there are limits to the natural, social and built systems upon which we depend. Key questions asked in a sustainable community include: 'Are we using this resource faster than it can be renewed' and 'Are we enhancing the social and human capital upon which our community depends? Sustainability is an issue for all communities, from small rural towns that are losing the natural environment upon which their jobs depend, to large metropolitan areas where crime and poverty are decreasing the quality of life. Indicators
measure whether a community is getting better or worse at providing all its members with a productive, enjoyable life, both now and in the future. This web site is about ways to measure and strengthen a community's long-range economic, environmental and social sustainability. If you want to know more about sustainability in general, you can follow the related links below.
Definitions of Sustainability
There may be as many definitions of sustainability and sustainable development as there are groups trying to define it. All the definitions have to do with:
Living within the limits Understanding the interconnections among economy, society, and environment Equitable distribution of resources and opportunities
However, different ways of defining sustainability are useful for different situations and different purposes. For this reason, various groups have created definitions of:
Sustainability and sustainable development Sustainable community and society Sustainable business and production Sustainable agriculture
If you know of a definition that would be useful, please let us know and we will add it as time allows.
Traditional vs. sustainability indicators
The tables below compare traditional indicators with sustainable community indicators.
Economic Indicators Traditional Indicators
Median income Per capita income relative to the U.S. average Unemployment rate Number of companies Number of
Sustainability Indicators
Number of hours of paid employment at the average wage required to support basic needs
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
What wage can buy Defines basic needs in terms of sustainable consumption Resilience of the job market Ability of the job market to be flexible in times
Diversity and vitality of local job base Number and variability in size of companies Number and variability of industry types Variability of skill
jobs size of the economy as measured by GNP and GDP
levels required for jobs Wages paid in the local economy that are spent in the local economy Dollars spent in the local economy which pay for local labor and local natural resources Percent of local economy based on renewable local resources
of economic change Local financial resilience
Environmental Indicators Traditional Indicators
Ambient levels of pollution in air and water Tons of solid waste generated Cost of fuel
Sustainability Indicators
Use and generation of toxic materials (both in production and by end user) Vehicle miles traveled
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
Measuring activities causing pollution
Percent of products produced which are durable, repairable, or readily recyclable or compostable Total energy used from all sources Ratio of renewable energy used at renewable rate compared to nonrenewable energy
Conservative and cyclical use of materials Use of resources at sustainable rate
Social Indicators Traditional Indicators
SAT and other standardized test scores Number of registered voters
Sustainability Indicators
Number of students trained for jobs that are available in the local economy Number of students who go to college and come back to the community Number of voters who vote in elections Number of voters who attend town meetings
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
Matching job skills and training to needs of the local economy
Participation in democratic process Ability to participate in the democratic process
Characteristics of effective indicators
An indicator is something that points to an issue or condition. Its purpose is to show you how well a system is working. If there is a problem, an indicator can help you determine what direction to take to address the issue. Indicators are as varied as the types of systems they monitor. However, there are certain characteristics that effective indicators have in common:
Effective indicators are relevant; they show you something about the system that you need to know. Effective indicators are easy to understand, even by people who are not experts.
Effective indicators are reliable; you can trust the information that the indicator is providing. Lastly, effective indicators are based on accessible data; the information is available or can be gathered while there is still time to act.
An example of an indicator is the gas gauge in your car. The gas gauge shows you how much gasoline is left in your car. If the gauge shows the tank is almost empty, you know it's time to fill up. Another example of an indicator is a midterm report card. It shows you whether a student is doing well enough to go to the next grade or if extra help is needed. Both of these indicators provide information to help prevent or solve problems, hopefully before they become too severe. Indicators can be useful as proxies or substitutes for measuring conditions that are so complex that there is no direct measurement. For instance, it is hard to measure the 'quality of life in my town' because there are many different things that make up quality of life and people may have different opinions on which conditions count most. A very simple substitute indicator is 'Number of people moving into the town compared to the number moving out.' Examples of familiar measurements used as indicators in everyday life include:
Wave height and wind speed are indicators of storm severity Barometric pressure and wind direction are indicators of upcoming weather changes Won-lost record is an indicator of player skills Credit-card debt is an indicator of money-management skills Pulse and blood pressure are indicators of fitness
Note that these are all numeric measurements. Indicators are quantifiable. An indicator is not the same thing as an indication, which is generally not quantifiable, but just a vague clue. In addition to being quantifiable, effective indicators have the four basic characteristics noted above. These characteristics are: Relevant An indicator must be relevant, that is, it must fit the purpose for measuring. As indicators, the gas gauge and the report card both measure facts that are relevant. If, instead of measuring the amount of gas in the tank, the gas gauge showed the octane rating of the gasoline, it would not help you decide when to refill the tank. Likewise, a report card that measured the number of pencils used by the student would be a poor indicator of academic performance. Understandable An indicator must be understandable. You need to know what it is telling you. There are many different types of gas gauges. Some gauges have a lever that moves between 'full' and 'empty' marks. Other gauges use lights to achieve the
same effect. Some gauges show the number of gallons of gasoline left in the tank. Although different, each gauge is understandable to the driver. Similarly, with the report card, different schools have different ways of reporting academic progress. Some schools have letter grades A through F. Other schools use numbers from 100 to 0. Still other schools use written comments. Like the gas gauge, these different measures all express the student's progress or lack of progress in a way that is understandable to the person reading the report card. On the other hand, a gas gauge that showed the number of BTU's left in the tank would probably not be very useful to you in deciding when to fill up the tank. Likewise, a report card that gave grades in ancient Greek script would be a mystery to most people. In order for you to know when action is needed, you must be able to understand what an indicator is telling you. Reliable An indicator must be reliable. You must trust what the indicator shows. A good gas gauge and an accurate report card give information that can be relied on. A gas gauge that shows the tank is empty when in fact it is half full would make you stop for gasoline before it is needed. A gas gauge that shows the tank is half full when in fact it is empty would cause you to run out of gas in an inconvenient place. Similarly, if a student's grade were reported wrong, an honors student could be sent for remedial work and a student who needs help would not get it. An indicator is only useful if you know you can believe what it is showing you. Reliability is not the same as precision. When your gas gauge registers empty, you know there is still a gallon or so of gasoline left as a reserve. The gas gauge reliably under-reports the amount of gasoline. An indicator does not necessarily need to be precise; it just needs to give a reliable picture of the system it is measuring. Accessible Data Indicators must provide timely information. They must give you information while there is time to act. For example, imagine a gas gauge that only gave you the amount of gasoline in the tank when the engine was started. After you have been driving for several hours, that reading is no longer useful. You need to know how much gasoline is in the tank at each moment. Similarly, a report card distributed a week before graduation arrives too late to give a student remedial help. In order for an indicator to be useful in preventing or solving a problem, it must give you the information while there is still time to correct the problem. One of the biggest problems with developing indicators of sustainability is that frequently the best indicators are those for which there is no data, while the indicators for which there is data are the least able to measure sustainability. This has led many communities to choose traditional data sources and measures for indicators. There are several advantages to traditional indicators. First, the data is
readily available and can be used to compare communities. Second, traditional indicators can help to define problem areas. Third, traditional indicators can be combined to create sustainability indicators. However, there is a real danger that traditional data sources and traditional indicators will focus attention on the traditional solutions that created an unsustainable community in the first place. It may be tempting to keep measuring 'number of jobs,' but measuring 'number of jobs that pay a livable wage and include benefits' will lead to better solutions. Discussions that include the phrase 'but you can't get that data' are not going to lead to indicators of sustainability. In fact, if you define a list of indicators and find that the data is readily available for every one of them, you probably have not thought hard enough about sustainability. Try to define the best indicators and only settle for less as an interim step while developing data sources for better indicators.
Sustainable community indicator checklist
The sustainable community indicator checklist consists of the following 14 questions: 1. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the natural resources -renewable and nonrenewable, local and nonlocal -- that the community relies on? 2. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services upon which the community relies, whether local, global, or from distant sources? 3. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of esthetic qualities -- the beauty and life-affirming qualities of nature -- that are important to the community? 4. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the community's human capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people in the community? 5. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's social capital -- the connections between people in a community: the relationships of friends, families, neighborhoods, social groups, businesses, governments and their ability to cooperate, work together and interact in positive, meaningful ways? 6. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's built capital -- the human-made materials (buildings, parks, playgrounds,
infrastructure, and information) that are needed for quality of life and the community's ability to maintain and enhance those materials with existing resources? 7. Does the indicator provide a long-term view of the community? 8. Does the indicator address the issue of economic, social or biological diversity in the community? 9. Does the question address the issue of equity or fairness -- either between current community residents (intra-generational equity) or between current and future residents (inter-generational equity)? 10. Is the indicator understandable to and useable by its intended audience? 11. Does the indicator measure a link between economy and environment? 12. Does the indicator measure a link between environment and society? 13. Does the indicator measure a link between society and economy? 14. Does the indicator measure sustainability that is at the expense of another community or at the expense of global sustainability? These questions are discussed in detail on the following page.
The checklist questions in more detail
1 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the natural resources -renewable and nonrenewable, local and nonlocal -- that the community relies on? This question addresses the carrying capacity of all the natural resources on which the community depends. The types of natural resources that a community measures will depend upon the community. A community in the Pacific Northwest may rely on its forests for raw material and for jobs. An indicator that measures the rate of timber harvest relative to the renewable harvest rate would get one point for this question. Similarly, a community in the southwestern U.S. may rely on water that is piped hundreds of miles. Although outside the local area, that water is an important part of the community's natural resource base. An indicator that shows whether the water is being used sustainably would get one point for this question. An industrial community may rely on metals that come from mines in another country. If the material from the mines is vital to the community's economy, that resource is part of the natural resources on which the community depends. An indicator of cyclical use of this nonrenewable resource would get one point for this question.
2 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services upon
which the community relies, whether local, global, or from distant sources? This question addresses the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services that the community uses. This would include indicators of the sustainable use of wetlands, farmlands and fisheries. For example, a farming community might measure the percent of farm acreage that is sustainably managed. This indicator would get one point for addressing ecosystem services.
3 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of esthetic qualities -- the beauty
and life-affirming qualities of nature -- that are important to the community? This question addresses the carrying capacity of the natural beauty of a community. A coastal community that relies on tourism for part of its economy might have an indicator that measures the number of tourists that can be served by the area without destroying its natural beauty. This indicator would get one point for this question.
4 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the community's human
capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people in the community? This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's human capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people. An indicator that measures rates of graduation from high school or the dropout rate would get one point for human capital because it is a measure of the education level of the community.
5 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's social capital -the connections between people in a community: the relationships of friends, families, neighborhoods, social groups, businesses, governments and their ability to cooperate, work together and interact in positive, meaningful ways? This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's social capital. The essence of social capital is the ability of a community to work together. An indicator that measures the voting rate or the amount of volunteerism would get one point because it is a measure of the connections between people in the community.
6 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's built capital -the human-made materials (buildings, parks, playgrounds, infrastructure, and information) that are needed for quality of life and the community's ability to maintain and enhance those materials with existing resources?
This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's built capital. Built capital is a product of natural capital and social capital, because raw materials have to come from somewhere and human skills, abilities, and cooperation are needed to produce manufactured or built objects. An indicator that measures the amount of waste generated gets one point for built capital. However, the money used to value built capital is never a measure of sustainability in and of itself -- monetary value needs to be measured in relation to other aspects of the community. For example, measuring the dollars spent disposing of waste is not a good measure of sustainability. Measuring the percent of a community's budget spent on waste disposal, however, would be a measure of sustainability if that amount were a measure of the true, long-term costs of waste disposal. Note that an indicator can get multiple points for community capital. Consider the indicator "Number of new housing starts." This indicator measures built objects. Out of the six possible points for community capital, it would get one point for built capital. However, if the indicator was "Number of new housing starts that use sustainably produced building material" it would get one point for built capital and one for natural resources. If the indicator was "Number of new housing starts using sustainably produced building material that are affordable on a typical family's income," it would get one more point because it measures whether families can afford to live in the houses. Note that it is difficult to develop a measurable indicator that incorporates all six elements of community capital. Therefore, very few indicators will get all six points for carrying capacity.
7
Does the indicator provide a long term view of the community?
This question relates to the long term view of the community: is there a long-term goal that can be defined for the indicator that fits a sustainable view of the world? An indicator of sustainability should help measure progress toward that long term goal. One way to test whether an indicator provides a long term view is to consider what the indicator trend would show after 20 years and whether that would be consistent with, or relevant to, a sustainable community. For example, an indicator of "the number of jobs paying adequate wages' does not provide a good long term view of the community. How many jobs are enough -- a hundred? a million? The number of jobs is only important when compared to the number of people who need jobs. A measure with a long term view would be "percent of the population that has jobs paying adequate wages,' because a goal could then be set as a percentage of the total population or the number of people who need jobs.
8 Does the indicator addresses the issue of economic, social or biological diversity in
the community? This question addresses the issue of diversity in a community. An economic, social or environmental system that is diverse usually withstands stress better than a homogenous system. A community whose economy relies mainly upon a single type of industry will be less stable and less sustainable than one whose economy is diversified. A mono-culture forest is less able to withstand disease and environmental stresses than a forest that has a diverse types of trees and plants. If the indicator is a measure of diversity, it gets one point for this
question. Note that the terms 'economic diversity,' 'social diversity,' 'cultural diversity,' and 'biodiversity' are not sustainability indicators. They are issue areas or categories for which indicators can be developed but they are not indicators. Examples of indicators of diversity include 'number of different industries in the community,' 'number of jobs at different wage levels,' and 'number of birds in the annual bird count.'
9 Does the question address the issue of equity or fairness -- either between current
community residents (intra-generational equity) or between current and future residents (inter-generational equity)? This question addresses the issue of equity. An indicator earns a point for measuring either intra-generational equity (equity among people living now) or inter-generational equity (equity between today's generation and future generations). One measure of current or intra-generational equity is 'the difference in income of the 20% of the population at the top of the income scale and the 20% of the population at the bottom of the income scale.' One measure of future or inter-generational equity is 'the percent of farmland remaining in the county' since future generations will need land to produce food and if we use it up now for roads or housing, they will not have as much opportunity as we have.
10 Is the indicator understandable to and useable by its intended audience?
This question has to do with whether or not the community at large can understand an indicator. If an indicator is only understood by experts, it will only be used by experts. If it is only used by experts, it will not change the behavior of people in the community. If people in the community cannot understand and use an indicator, then the indicator cannot help them decide what actions to take.
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Does the indicator measure a link between economy and environment? Does the indicator measure a link between environment and society? Does the indicator measure a link between society and economy?
These questions address the linkages between a community's economy, environment, and society. Traditional indicators tend to be one-dimensional measures that only look at one aspect of a community, such as water quality or number of jobs. However, sustainable community indicators highlight links among different areas of a community. One example of an indicator that links economic and social aspects would be "the number of jobs paying a living wage that include educational benefits.' This indicator would earn one point for the social-economic link. An example of an indicator that links economy and environment is "the number of tourists that can be supported by the local environment.' This indicator would get one point for the
economic-environmental link. The indicator 'the percent of households using xeriscaping (xeriscaping is a type of landscaping that uses native plants that do not require high maintenance in the form of water or fertilizers and pesticides) is an indicator that links the environment with social behaviors. It would get one point for the environmental-social link.
14 Does the indicator measure or set a goal for sustainability that is at the expense
of another community or at the expense of global sustainability? This is the most important question on the checklist. It does not have any points because it's the "show stopper" question. Does the indicator focus on local sustainability at the expense of global sustainability? Any indicator that says "we are going to be better off by making someone else worse off" is automatically disqualified. This does not mean that one community cannot be better than another community. There will always be communities that succeed while others fail. It just means that it is not possible for a community to be sustainable if it is making another community unsustainable. For example -- the indicator and goal 'local median income that is 110% of the US median income' sets a goal that is at the expense of other communities -- some communities will have to be below the median for this goal to be accomplished. In addition, the goal isn't really a meaningful goal in terms of sustainability because it doesn't matter how much money a person makes. What matters is how income compares to the cost of living. A better indicator and goal would be 'local median income that is 110% of the local cost of living.'
Sustainability is related to the quality of life in a community -- whether the economic, social and environmental systems that make up the community are providing a healthy, productive, meaningful life for all community residents, present and future. How has the quality of life in your community changed over the last 20 or 40 years?
How has your community changed economically? o Are there fewer or more good-paying jobs -- are people working more and earning less or are most people living well? o Is there more or less poverty and homelessness? o Is it easier or harder for people to find homes that they can afford? How has your community changed socially o Is there less or more crime? o Are people less or more willing to volunteer? o Are fewer or more people running for public office or working on community boards? How has your community changed environmentally? o Has air quality in the urban areas gotten better or worse? o Are there more or fewer warnings about eating fish caught in local streams? o Has the water quality gotten better or worse?
These are traditional measures of communities. We use numbers to show progress: "Unemployment rose 0.4 percent in January," or "The economy grew 2% last year." However, the traditional numbers only show changes in one part of the community without showing the many links between the community's economy, society and environment. It is as if a community were made of three separate parts -- an economic part, a social part and an environmental part that do not overlap like the picture below:
A view of community as three separate, unrelated parts: an economic part, a social part and an environmental part.
However, when society, economy and environment are viewed as separate, unrelated parts of a community, the community's problems are also viewed as isolated issues. Economic development councils try to create more jobs. Social needs are addressed by health care services and housing authorities. Environmental agencies try to prevent and correct pollution problems. This piecemeal approach can have a number of bad side-effects:
Solutions to one problem can make another problem worse. Creating affordable housing is a good thing, but when that housing is built in areas far from workplaces, the result is increased traffic and the pollution that comes with it. Piecemeal solutions tend to create opposing groups. How often have you heard the argument 'If the environmentalists win, the economy will suffer,' and its opposing view 'If business has its way, the environment will be destroyed.' Piecemeal solutions tend to focus on short-term benefits without monitoring long-term results. The pesticide DDT seemed like a good solution to insect pests at the time, but the long-term results were devastating.
Rather than a piecemeal approach, what we need is a view of the community that takes into account the links between the economy, the environment and the society. The figure below is frequently used to show the connections:
A view of community that shows the links among its three parts: the economic part, the social part and the environmental part.
Actions to improve conditions in a sustainable community take these connections into account. The very questions asked about issues in a 'sustainable' community include references to these links. For example, the question 'Do the jobs available match the skills of the available work force?' looks at the link between economy and education. Understanding the three parts and their links is key to understanding sustainability, because sustainability is about more than just quality of life. It is about understanding the connections between and achieving balance among the social, economic, and environmental pieces of a community.
As the following page shows, however, we can make an even better picture of a sustainable community than the three partially connected circles shown above.
A better view of sustainable community
Rather than the three partially connected circles shown on the previous page, a better picture of a sustainable community is the circles within circles shown below:
A view of community as three concentric circles: the economy exists within society, and both the economy and society exist within the environment.
As this figure illustrates, the economy exists entirely within society, because all parts of the human economy require interaction among people. However, society is much more than just the economy. Friends and families, music and art, religion and ethics are important elements of society, but are not primarily based on exchanging goods and services. Society, in turn, exists entirely within the environment. Our basic requirements -air, food and water -- come from the environment, as do the energy and raw materials for housing, transportation and the products we depend on. Finally, the environment surrounds society. At an earlier point in human history, the environment largely determined the shape of society. Today the opposite is true: human activity is reshaping the environment at an ever-increasing rate. The parts of the environment unaffected by human activity are getting smaller all the time. However, because people need food, water and air to survive, society can never be larger than the environment. Sustainability requires managing all households -- individual, community, national, and global -- in ways that ensure that our economy and society can continue to exist without destroying the natural environment on which we all depend. Sustainable communities acknowledge that there are limits to the natural, social and built systems upon which we depend. Key questions asked in a sustainable community include: 'Are we using this resource faster than it can be renewed' and 'Are we enhancing the social and human capital upon which our community depends? Sustainability is an issue for all communities, from small rural towns that are losing the natural environment upon which their jobs depend, to large metropolitan areas where crime and poverty are decreasing the quality of life. Indicators
measure whether a community is getting better or worse at providing all its members with a productive, enjoyable life, both now and in the future. This web site is about ways to measure and strengthen a community's long-range economic, environmental and social sustainability. If you want to know more about sustainability in general, you can follow the related links below.
Definitions of Sustainability
There may be as many definitions of sustainability and sustainable development as there are groups trying to define it. All the definitions have to do with:
Living within the limits Understanding the interconnections among economy, society, and environment Equitable distribution of resources and opportunities
However, different ways of defining sustainability are useful for different situations and different purposes. For this reason, various groups have created definitions of:
Sustainability and sustainable development Sustainable community and society Sustainable business and production Sustainable agriculture
If you know of a definition that would be useful, please let us know and we will add it as time allows.
Traditional vs. sustainability indicators
The tables below compare traditional indicators with sustainable community indicators.
Economic Indicators Traditional Indicators
Median income Per capita income relative to the U.S. average Unemployment rate Number of companies Number of
Sustainability Indicators
Number of hours of paid employment at the average wage required to support basic needs
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
What wage can buy Defines basic needs in terms of sustainable consumption Resilience of the job market Ability of the job market to be flexible in times
Diversity and vitality of local job base Number and variability in size of companies Number and variability of industry types Variability of skill
jobs size of the economy as measured by GNP and GDP
levels required for jobs Wages paid in the local economy that are spent in the local economy Dollars spent in the local economy which pay for local labor and local natural resources Percent of local economy based on renewable local resources
of economic change Local financial resilience
Environmental Indicators Traditional Indicators
Ambient levels of pollution in air and water Tons of solid waste generated Cost of fuel
Sustainability Indicators
Use and generation of toxic materials (both in production and by end user) Vehicle miles traveled
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
Measuring activities causing pollution
Percent of products produced which are durable, repairable, or readily recyclable or compostable Total energy used from all sources Ratio of renewable energy used at renewable rate compared to nonrenewable energy
Conservative and cyclical use of materials Use of resources at sustainable rate
Social Indicators Traditional Indicators
SAT and other standardized test scores Number of registered voters
Sustainability Indicators
Number of students trained for jobs that are available in the local economy Number of students who go to college and come back to the community Number of voters who vote in elections Number of voters who attend town meetings
Emphasis of Sustainability Indicators
Matching job skills and training to needs of the local economy
Participation in democratic process Ability to participate in the democratic process
Characteristics of effective indicators
An indicator is something that points to an issue or condition. Its purpose is to show you how well a system is working. If there is a problem, an indicator can help you determine what direction to take to address the issue. Indicators are as varied as the types of systems they monitor. However, there are certain characteristics that effective indicators have in common:
Effective indicators are relevant; they show you something about the system that you need to know. Effective indicators are easy to understand, even by people who are not experts.
Effective indicators are reliable; you can trust the information that the indicator is providing. Lastly, effective indicators are based on accessible data; the information is available or can be gathered while there is still time to act.
An example of an indicator is the gas gauge in your car. The gas gauge shows you how much gasoline is left in your car. If the gauge shows the tank is almost empty, you know it's time to fill up. Another example of an indicator is a midterm report card. It shows you whether a student is doing well enough to go to the next grade or if extra help is needed. Both of these indicators provide information to help prevent or solve problems, hopefully before they become too severe. Indicators can be useful as proxies or substitutes for measuring conditions that are so complex that there is no direct measurement. For instance, it is hard to measure the 'quality of life in my town' because there are many different things that make up quality of life and people may have different opinions on which conditions count most. A very simple substitute indicator is 'Number of people moving into the town compared to the number moving out.' Examples of familiar measurements used as indicators in everyday life include:
Wave height and wind speed are indicators of storm severity Barometric pressure and wind direction are indicators of upcoming weather changes Won-lost record is an indicator of player skills Credit-card debt is an indicator of money-management skills Pulse and blood pressure are indicators of fitness
Note that these are all numeric measurements. Indicators are quantifiable. An indicator is not the same thing as an indication, which is generally not quantifiable, but just a vague clue. In addition to being quantifiable, effective indicators have the four basic characteristics noted above. These characteristics are: Relevant An indicator must be relevant, that is, it must fit the purpose for measuring. As indicators, the gas gauge and the report card both measure facts that are relevant. If, instead of measuring the amount of gas in the tank, the gas gauge showed the octane rating of the gasoline, it would not help you decide when to refill the tank. Likewise, a report card that measured the number of pencils used by the student would be a poor indicator of academic performance. Understandable An indicator must be understandable. You need to know what it is telling you. There are many different types of gas gauges. Some gauges have a lever that moves between 'full' and 'empty' marks. Other gauges use lights to achieve the
same effect. Some gauges show the number of gallons of gasoline left in the tank. Although different, each gauge is understandable to the driver. Similarly, with the report card, different schools have different ways of reporting academic progress. Some schools have letter grades A through F. Other schools use numbers from 100 to 0. Still other schools use written comments. Like the gas gauge, these different measures all express the student's progress or lack of progress in a way that is understandable to the person reading the report card. On the other hand, a gas gauge that showed the number of BTU's left in the tank would probably not be very useful to you in deciding when to fill up the tank. Likewise, a report card that gave grades in ancient Greek script would be a mystery to most people. In order for you to know when action is needed, you must be able to understand what an indicator is telling you. Reliable An indicator must be reliable. You must trust what the indicator shows. A good gas gauge and an accurate report card give information that can be relied on. A gas gauge that shows the tank is empty when in fact it is half full would make you stop for gasoline before it is needed. A gas gauge that shows the tank is half full when in fact it is empty would cause you to run out of gas in an inconvenient place. Similarly, if a student's grade were reported wrong, an honors student could be sent for remedial work and a student who needs help would not get it. An indicator is only useful if you know you can believe what it is showing you. Reliability is not the same as precision. When your gas gauge registers empty, you know there is still a gallon or so of gasoline left as a reserve. The gas gauge reliably under-reports the amount of gasoline. An indicator does not necessarily need to be precise; it just needs to give a reliable picture of the system it is measuring. Accessible Data Indicators must provide timely information. They must give you information while there is time to act. For example, imagine a gas gauge that only gave you the amount of gasoline in the tank when the engine was started. After you have been driving for several hours, that reading is no longer useful. You need to know how much gasoline is in the tank at each moment. Similarly, a report card distributed a week before graduation arrives too late to give a student remedial help. In order for an indicator to be useful in preventing or solving a problem, it must give you the information while there is still time to correct the problem. One of the biggest problems with developing indicators of sustainability is that frequently the best indicators are those for which there is no data, while the indicators for which there is data are the least able to measure sustainability. This has led many communities to choose traditional data sources and measures for indicators. There are several advantages to traditional indicators. First, the data is
readily available and can be used to compare communities. Second, traditional indicators can help to define problem areas. Third, traditional indicators can be combined to create sustainability indicators. However, there is a real danger that traditional data sources and traditional indicators will focus attention on the traditional solutions that created an unsustainable community in the first place. It may be tempting to keep measuring 'number of jobs,' but measuring 'number of jobs that pay a livable wage and include benefits' will lead to better solutions. Discussions that include the phrase 'but you can't get that data' are not going to lead to indicators of sustainability. In fact, if you define a list of indicators and find that the data is readily available for every one of them, you probably have not thought hard enough about sustainability. Try to define the best indicators and only settle for less as an interim step while developing data sources for better indicators.
Sustainable community indicator checklist
The sustainable community indicator checklist consists of the following 14 questions: 1. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the natural resources -renewable and nonrenewable, local and nonlocal -- that the community relies on? 2. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services upon which the community relies, whether local, global, or from distant sources? 3. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of esthetic qualities -- the beauty and life-affirming qualities of nature -- that are important to the community? 4. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the community's human capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people in the community? 5. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's social capital -- the connections between people in a community: the relationships of friends, families, neighborhoods, social groups, businesses, governments and their ability to cooperate, work together and interact in positive, meaningful ways? 6. Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's built capital -- the human-made materials (buildings, parks, playgrounds,
infrastructure, and information) that are needed for quality of life and the community's ability to maintain and enhance those materials with existing resources? 7. Does the indicator provide a long-term view of the community? 8. Does the indicator address the issue of economic, social or biological diversity in the community? 9. Does the question address the issue of equity or fairness -- either between current community residents (intra-generational equity) or between current and future residents (inter-generational equity)? 10. Is the indicator understandable to and useable by its intended audience? 11. Does the indicator measure a link between economy and environment? 12. Does the indicator measure a link between environment and society? 13. Does the indicator measure a link between society and economy? 14. Does the indicator measure sustainability that is at the expense of another community or at the expense of global sustainability? These questions are discussed in detail on the following page.
The checklist questions in more detail
1 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the natural resources -renewable and nonrenewable, local and nonlocal -- that the community relies on? This question addresses the carrying capacity of all the natural resources on which the community depends. The types of natural resources that a community measures will depend upon the community. A community in the Pacific Northwest may rely on its forests for raw material and for jobs. An indicator that measures the rate of timber harvest relative to the renewable harvest rate would get one point for this question. Similarly, a community in the southwestern U.S. may rely on water that is piped hundreds of miles. Although outside the local area, that water is an important part of the community's natural resource base. An indicator that shows whether the water is being used sustainably would get one point for this question. An industrial community may rely on metals that come from mines in another country. If the material from the mines is vital to the community's economy, that resource is part of the natural resources on which the community depends. An indicator of cyclical use of this nonrenewable resource would get one point for this question.
2 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services upon
which the community relies, whether local, global, or from distant sources? This question addresses the carrying capacity of the ecosystem services that the community uses. This would include indicators of the sustainable use of wetlands, farmlands and fisheries. For example, a farming community might measure the percent of farm acreage that is sustainably managed. This indicator would get one point for addressing ecosystem services.
3 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of esthetic qualities -- the beauty
and life-affirming qualities of nature -- that are important to the community? This question addresses the carrying capacity of the natural beauty of a community. A coastal community that relies on tourism for part of its economy might have an indicator that measures the number of tourists that can be served by the area without destroying its natural beauty. This indicator would get one point for this question.
4 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of the community's human
capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people in the community? This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's human capital -- the skills, abilities, health and education of people. An indicator that measures rates of graduation from high school or the dropout rate would get one point for human capital because it is a measure of the education level of the community.
5 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's social capital -the connections between people in a community: the relationships of friends, families, neighborhoods, social groups, businesses, governments and their ability to cooperate, work together and interact in positive, meaningful ways? This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's social capital. The essence of social capital is the ability of a community to work together. An indicator that measures the voting rate or the amount of volunteerism would get one point because it is a measure of the connections between people in the community.
6 Does the indicator address the carrying capacity of a community's built capital -the human-made materials (buildings, parks, playgrounds, infrastructure, and information) that are needed for quality of life and the community's ability to maintain and enhance those materials with existing resources?
This question addresses the carrying capacity of a community's built capital. Built capital is a product of natural capital and social capital, because raw materials have to come from somewhere and human skills, abilities, and cooperation are needed to produce manufactured or built objects. An indicator that measures the amount of waste generated gets one point for built capital. However, the money used to value built capital is never a measure of sustainability in and of itself -- monetary value needs to be measured in relation to other aspects of the community. For example, measuring the dollars spent disposing of waste is not a good measure of sustainability. Measuring the percent of a community's budget spent on waste disposal, however, would be a measure of sustainability if that amount were a measure of the true, long-term costs of waste disposal. Note that an indicator can get multiple points for community capital. Consider the indicator "Number of new housing starts." This indicator measures built objects. Out of the six possible points for community capital, it would get one point for built capital. However, if the indicator was "Number of new housing starts that use sustainably produced building material" it would get one point for built capital and one for natural resources. If the indicator was "Number of new housing starts using sustainably produced building material that are affordable on a typical family's income," it would get one more point because it measures whether families can afford to live in the houses. Note that it is difficult to develop a measurable indicator that incorporates all six elements of community capital. Therefore, very few indicators will get all six points for carrying capacity.
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Does the indicator provide a long term view of the community?
This question relates to the long term view of the community: is there a long-term goal that can be defined for the indicator that fits a sustainable view of the world? An indicator of sustainability should help measure progress toward that long term goal. One way to test whether an indicator provides a long term view is to consider what the indicator trend would show after 20 years and whether that would be consistent with, or relevant to, a sustainable community. For example, an indicator of "the number of jobs paying adequate wages' does not provide a good long term view of the community. How many jobs are enough -- a hundred? a million? The number of jobs is only important when compared to the number of people who need jobs. A measure with a long term view would be "percent of the population that has jobs paying adequate wages,' because a goal could then be set as a percentage of the total population or the number of people who need jobs.
8 Does the indicator addresses the issue of economic, social or biological diversity in
the community? This question addresses the issue of diversity in a community. An economic, social or environmental system that is diverse usually withstands stress better than a homogenous system. A community whose economy relies mainly upon a single type of industry will be less stable and less sustainable than one whose economy is diversified. A mono-culture forest is less able to withstand disease and environmental stresses than a forest that has a diverse types of trees and plants. If the indicator is a measure of diversity, it gets one point for this
question. Note that the terms 'economic diversity,' 'social diversity,' 'cultural diversity,' and 'biodiversity' are not sustainability indicators. They are issue areas or categories for which indicators can be developed but they are not indicators. Examples of indicators of diversity include 'number of different industries in the community,' 'number of jobs at different wage levels,' and 'number of birds in the annual bird count.'
9 Does the question address the issue of equity or fairness -- either between current
community residents (intra-generational equity) or between current and future residents (inter-generational equity)? This question addresses the issue of equity. An indicator earns a point for measuring either intra-generational equity (equity among people living now) or inter-generational equity (equity between today's generation and future generations). One measure of current or intra-generational equity is 'the difference in income of the 20% of the population at the top of the income scale and the 20% of the population at the bottom of the income scale.' One measure of future or inter-generational equity is 'the percent of farmland remaining in the county' since future generations will need land to produce food and if we use it up now for roads or housing, they will not have as much opportunity as we have.
10 Is the indicator understandable to and useable by its intended audience?
This question has to do with whether or not the community at large can understand an indicator. If an indicator is only understood by experts, it will only be used by experts. If it is only used by experts, it will not change the behavior of people in the community. If people in the community cannot understand and use an indicator, then the indicator cannot help them decide what actions to take.
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Does the indicator measure a link between economy and environment? Does the indicator measure a link between environment and society? Does the indicator measure a link between society and economy?
These questions address the linkages between a community's economy, environment, and society. Traditional indicators tend to be one-dimensional measures that only look at one aspect of a community, such as water quality or number of jobs. However, sustainable community indicators highlight links among different areas of a community. One example of an indicator that links economic and social aspects would be "the number of jobs paying a living wage that include educational benefits.' This indicator would earn one point for the social-economic link. An example of an indicator that links economy and environment is "the number of tourists that can be supported by the local environment.' This indicator would get one point for the
economic-environmental link. The indicator 'the percent of households using xeriscaping (xeriscaping is a type of landscaping that uses native plants that do not require high maintenance in the form of water or fertilizers and pesticides) is an indicator that links the environment with social behaviors. It would get one point for the environmental-social link.
14 Does the indicator measure or set a goal for sustainability that is at the expense
of another community or at the expense of global sustainability? This is the most important question on the checklist. It does not have any points because it's the "show stopper" question. Does the indicator focus on local sustainability at the expense of global sustainability? Any indicator that says "we are going to be better off by making someone else worse off" is automatically disqualified. This does not mean that one community cannot be better than another community. There will always be communities that succeed while others fail. It just means that it is not possible for a community to be sustainable if it is making another community unsustainable. For example -- the indicator and goal 'local median income that is 110% of the US median income' sets a goal that is at the expense of other communities -- some communities will have to be below the median for this goal to be accomplished. In addition, the goal isn't really a meaningful goal in terms of sustainability because it doesn't matter how much money a person makes. What matters is how income compares to the cost of living. A better indicator and goal would be 'local median income that is 110% of the local cost of living.'
