Plan and coordinate sustainable initiatives, engage community members in ongoing education, dialogue, and campaigns, and adopt and share outcome measures for GreenStep and other city sustainability efforts.
Sean Gosiewski, Resilient Cities & Communities: 612/250-0389, sean@rccmn.co; www.rccmn.co
- In themselves, none of these planning, measuring and reporting actions produce direct sustainability benefits. However, the experience of communities that engage residents and publicly report on progress is very powerful: this accountability drives more action faster than if the government's plans and activities are mostly developed and discussed by only staff and elected officials.
- For those conducting education and action campaigns to effect specific behavior changes, don't miss the annual Eco Experience at the MN State Fair where staff typically share expertise on:
- Reusing consumer products.
- Preventing junk mail, recycling, composting.
- Decreasing use of fossil fuels and using more renewably generated energy.
- Using less natural gas, electricity and water.
- Decreasing car use and increasing car efficiency.
- Buying durable goods and maintaining them.
- Planting trees and native vegetation.
- The Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan produces two-page data- and graphic-rich fact sheets showing patterns of use and life cycle impacts covering topics including energy, water, food, waste, buildings, materials, and transportation systems. For 2-3 page summaries of 100 global solutions for reversing global warming, each modeled with the climate impact, and financial costs and benefit out to 2050, see Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed for this compendium of the global sustainability actions. For data and approaches to global population growth, see World Population Balance based in Minneapolis.
The Environmental Quality Board regularly updates the Environment and Energy Report Card in an effort to tackle complex environmental issues with innovative approaches and cross-sector collaboration to ensure a clean, healthy environment for all Minnesotans.
Minnesota's Climate Action Framework focuses on the impacts faced across our state and sets a vision for how we will address and prepare for climate change. It identifies immediate, near-term actions we must take to achieve our long-term goal of a carbon-neutral, resilient, and equitable future for Minnesota.
Step 3 Recognition Best Practice for Category A, B and C cities
Category A cities: implement this best practice by completing actions 1 and 2.
Category B cities: implement this best practice by completing action 1 and any one additional action.
Category C cities: implement this best practice by completing action 1.
What's measured matters. Or put another way: if it matters, measure and report it. Adoption of a comprehensive set of sustainability indicators (that may have been developed as part of a sustainability plan) provides one vehicle for a local or Tribal government to report on accomplishments of multiple (and often interlinked) goals, programs and projects, including GreenStep best practices and comprehensive plan goals. This transparency and accountability to community members about local sustainability work fits well with educating and engaging community members as partners in envisioning and building a more sustainable community. The point of public participation in governmental affairs is that by adding the value-rich perspectives of community members to the information-rich perspectives of government staff, we can create wiser public policy.* In total, actions to implement this best practice result in:
- A commitment to achieve specific outcome measures based upon a vision for the community, developed through robust engagement.
- Educating community members about a vision and desired outcomes so that these become shared.
- Engaging residents, businesses and institutions to change their practices to help meet local goals.
- Reporting on accomplishments each year.
- Coordinating this work efficiently, across the many stakeholders and priorities.
* from Daniel Yankelovich: The Magic of Dialogue (2001)
Metric # 17 and # 18: Climate and Additional Metrics/Social Vitality