Sustainability??? The Natural Step?

Sustainability is a buzz word that pops up in many conversations but is very poorly understood. The fact that people are talking about it indicates that it is important but some people are actually making fun of it because they don't understand it.

On the other hand, if you ask people if they think that the forests are disappearing faster than they are being replaced or if they are worried about farmland disappearing, then they intuitively say yes. There is an obvious link between their worries and the concept of sustainability.

Two people who have done a great deal of thinking about sustainability were at Sheridan College today for the kick off of Sheridan's Sustainability Week and appear in the photo. On the left is Mayor Ken Melamed of Whistler, B.C. and beside him, the founder of The Natural Step, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert. Dr. Robert was the guest speaker to a full house of students, faculty and community leaders.

Dr. Robert is a very engaging speaker who attempts to explain this very complex topic in a manner that can be understood by lay people such as myself. The Natural Step was founded in 1989 in Sweden and was first used to help businesses analyse their business model in terms that would sustain them over the long haul. The principles have now been applied more broadly and have been embraced by communities such as Whistler.

I attended the lecture because I am one of those people who worry about running out of farmland. I see the population going up and up and up whereas I understand that resources are limited. To me, when there is an apparent endless abundance of resources then we use them with abandon. However, when resources are perceived as limited then an entirely different mindset kicks in. We have only to look at the cod fishery to see what happens when we think only of today and fail to manage our resources with the future in mind. To me, sustainability is simply about good management with a long term vision of what we want the world to be like in the future. The actions we take today must match the vision we have for the future.

Dr. Robert has provided the world with a framework to help us to think about the future and to help us figure out how to manage our resources so that we can both prosper today and improve our environment for the future. In the coming term of council this will be a theme that will be heard regularly as we attempt to manage our piece of the planet, the Town of Halton Hills.