Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

If you want to become a green business, organization or community- you need a plan to get there. And you need to have a common definition of sustainability that everyone can agree upon. Many businesses here in Hawaii are taking the first steps towards sustainability, picking the low hanging fruits (conserving energy, waste, water), but few are looking into the future. How can planning for sustainability help you to take advantage of new markets? How can planning for sustainability help you avoid future resource problems? How can you communicate sustainability to your customers, your suppliers?


I was a part of a group of 30 sustainability leaders on Hawaii Island who were trained in how to use The Natural Step framework for strategic planning for sustainability. The Hawaii County Resource Center and the Kohala Center partnered to bring The Natural Step senior trainers Sarah Brooks and Mike Purcell to Hawaii to train us.


Now a group of us are working to localize The Natural Step for Sustainability Primer, highlighting local examples of sustainable practices.

I am looking for a few Sustainability Business Leaders who would like apply The Natural Step framework in their businesses.


I was recently part of a group of 30 sustainability leaders on Hawaii Island who were trained in how to use The Natural Step framework for strategic planning for sustainability. The Hawaii County Resource Center and the Kohala Center partnered to bring The Natural Step senior trainers Sarah Brooks and Mike Purcell to Hawaii to train us. Following are snippets from the training in which we applied the Natural Step framework towards sustainability issues in our County.


Mike Purcell, Natural Step Senior Trainer

Sarah Brooks, Natural Step Senior Trainer

Lynn VanLeuwan

Stefan Kropidlowski

Kathy Pomeroy

Ryan Peters

I attend a lot of green meetings and events, and at every single one, after sheepishly uttering the word sustainability, someone says:


“I hate using the word sustainability, we need a new word.” or “Sustainability is just so overused, we need a new word.” or “I am going to say sustainability, but really we need a new word.”


However-rarely does anyone offer a new and better word. So here we go!


If you have a better word for sustainability please let me know and I will post the list of new words on my blog! Then we can all vote on the best new word for the “concept formerly known as sustainability.”


For the record- I don’t think we need a new word. I think we need to actually start behaving in alignment with existing definitions. And here are the ones that work for me:


“Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable–to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”- Brundtland Commission Report


“Sustainability consists of harmonizing the ecological, social, and economic aspects of human activity in such a way that economic growth is consistent with long-term ecological activity.”- Brian and Mary Nattrass, Consultants and Authors of The Natural Step for Business


In my work with businesses, I am using The Natural Step definition for sustainability:
In a sustainable society:
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust. (Think of the rapidity with which we extract fossil fuel and the contribution to global warming.)
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society. (Think of synthetic substances, like dioxin or plastic, that our natural environmental systems have no way of processing.)
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by physical means. (Think of clear cutting a forest, draining wetlands, blowing off a mountain top.)
• …and in that society people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs. (Think of people displaced or living in war zones because of oil acquisition, people working in sweatshops, villages polluted with electronic waste.)


Can’t wait to hear what you guys come up with! If you are reading this on Facebook- please post your responses to my blog.