My organization is seeking to review our policies through a sustainability lens. That is, when our City Council policies and internal administrative policies come up for review, to look at them for how well they address the triple bottom line in addition to just updating information. Some of the policies are clearly related to specific sustainability issues, so we want to see if they go far enough, if they are balanced, etc. Other policies are not so clearly related, but could be screened to see how they might advance our sustainability goals.
One tool we have used for Capital Improvement Projects is the Sustainable Action Map created by the City of Olympia, Washington: http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/?sc_itemid={E4972563-C03D-4172-83D4-CB284A32E96F}. I would be interested to know what other tools are being used, how well they are working, and best practices. Our sustainability policy is based on the triple bottom line and I know some cities are using TBL toolkits. How do these work to review policies?
Any information would be helpful.
Thanks,
Linda Lovett
Sustainability Supervisor
City of Corvallis
United States
http://www.ci.corvallis.or.us/
Seeking Process/Tool for Reviewing Policies for Sustainability
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Hi,
I tried to OPEN the Tool for Reviewing Policies ... at Corvallis - doesn't work.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Donald Costin
President
AC Innovations
Canada
Hi,
I am familiar with SEE-IT and am impressed with it as well. However, we don't have the budget for it right now. We're trying to find something fairly simple that we can implement soon and get people reviewing policies for sustainability as part of the regular review schedule. It would not preclude us from implementing something like SEE-IT in the future but would be something we could work into our SEE-IT program.
Sorry about the link to the Sustainable Action Map tool. If you just google "City of Olympia" and "Sustainable Action Map," it should be the first page that comes up.
Thanks for your help,
Linda
Linda Lovett
Sustainability Supervisor
City of Corvallis
United States
http://www.ci.corvallis.or.us/
Hi Linda,
You may want to look into 'The Natural Step'. It a sustainability framework that has received a lot of praise from several sustainability consultants here in Canada but I actually don't have first hand experience with it.
http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en
Good luck,
Ned
Ned Georgy
Canada
Linda,
Following up on Ned's suggestion about The Natural Step, I do have some direct knowledge of it, and there are groups that use it extensively, one of which is in Oregon:
The Natural Step Network
SW 2nd Ave, Suite 302, Portland, OR 97204
Phone: + 1 503 241 1140
Fax: + 1 503 546 6825
Email: regina[at]ortns[dot]org
Website: www.thenaturalstep.org/usa
Executive Director: Regina Hauser
I only know of Regina by reputation, but some of my colleagues are more familiar with her and the group. You might also contact your state university Cooperative Extension office (I believe there is one in Corvallis) and see if anyone there has anything to offer. The only name I can suggest at Extension in Oregon would be Viviane Simon-Brown.
Good luck!
Darien
darien simon
Community, Natural Resources, and Economic Development Educator
University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
United States
Linda,
We are nearly done with the development of our own Triple Bottom Line (TBL) tool here in Eugene that sounds like it would fit your interests. We have completed some practice work with it and it seems to be very helpful. We will be using it with some internal programs soon and would welcome your participation and input as the tool gets refined.
Matt McRae
Climate and Energy Action Coordinator
City of Eugene
United States
www.sustaineugene.com
Hi Linda,
We've done a number of different sustainability plans - using a number of different processes and tools - including the Natural Step. I would be happy to discuss if you are still interested.
Best,
Liz
Liz Nield
Lura Consulting, www.lura.ca
Canada
www.lura.ca
While I am not using this system yet, I am very impressed with the SEE-IT software from Visible Strategies group in Vancouver, BC, that integrates planning, monitoring, and reporting for any sustainability (or operational) measures an organization or government puts in place. Check it out at http://www.visiblestrategies.com/products.html, and watch the demo. The City of Albuquerque is using it, so it would be interesting to get their feedback on the tool.
Bev Suderman
Land Use Planner
Canada