Government

Communities are the building blocks of our society and are therefore an obvious place to begin to address the challenge of sustainability.  Communities are complex systems that comprise a diversity of stakeholders and interests and deliver a multitude of goods and services. 

Numerous municipal initiatives have emerged to address sustainability, such as green building and climate change programs, smart growth, bike paths, renewable energy, and sustainability indicators.  Often, however, there is no clear understanding of whether an initiative is actually moving the community towards sustainability; whether it is simply trading off one unsustainable practice for another; whether one community organization or department is working at cross purposes with another; how to deal with apparent tradeoffs between environmental, social, and economic objectives; and how to make the most strategic use of limited financial resources.  So communities can find themselves caught up in debates and arguments rooted in differing interpretations of sustainability and differing ideas about the priorities for achieving it.

Where to Start?

Un-sustainability is the largest risk facing most communities today, but few communities and businesses are planning for it in a strategic way. 

Where do you start?  Strategic sustainability planning in communities is a group effort that requires the help and skills of many different players.  Although it requires many people to effectively imbed sustainability into a town or city, it only takes one champion to create the conditions for this process to occur.  If history is an indicator, true longterm sustainability has taken root only in communities and regions where local governments have incorporated strong sustainability frameworks within their organizations. 

We are beginning to see visionary cities across Canada and around the world that have made longterm sustainability the vision for their future.  In doing so, they have become innovative and this innovation has led them to the fundamental understanding that unless we re-organize our systems and organizational charts to reflect this new vision, we cannot begin to introduce sustainability principals within all of our departments. 

Offices of Sustainability are now being created to assist local governments in becoming role models and to assist businesses (construction, architects, commercial recycling,  etc.) in education efforts leading to more sustainable practices.

If you are interested in participating in our early adopters program or would like more information, please contact us.