Sustainable Communities
Network Case StudiesSustainable Communities
Network Case Studies
Contact: Dorothy Craig
Sustainable Community Roundtable
2129 Bethel Street, N.E.
Olympia, WA 98506
Tel/Fax: (360) 754-7842
E-Mail: dpcraig@igc.apc.org
Scope: Urban & Rural
Project type: Broad community initiative modeled after Seattle
The city of Olympia, Washington is currently facing problems common to
many rapidly growing urban areas: loss of agricultural land and wildlife
habitat, pollution of watersheds and city drinking water, suburban sprawl,
traffic congestion, job competition, violence and homelessness on the streets,
and increased costs for services and property. In response to these developments,
Olympia, the state capitol of Washington decided to accept a challenge from
the State Department of Ecology to help define the path for becoming a sustainable
city.
The city chose Earth Day 1991 as the time to introduce its residents to
the concept of sustainability through a mass mailing of a newsletter and
a day long community event. Later that year, the citizens of Olympia formed
the Sustainable Community Roundtable with the purpose of establishing "a
community network for dialogue, vision, action and celebration to help create
sustainable community in the South Puget Sound" (State of the Community
1995, i). The Sustainable Community Roundtable gained nonprofit organization
status in 1992, and is currently open to participation by all, with the
purpose of developing and supporting on-going processes of communication,
learning, and decision-making. The core group of the Roundtable includes
individuals, governments, businesses, and civic organizations, and meets
regularly to coordinate activities by task forces around social, environmental
and economic issues.
The Roundtable is a relatively small group of people, with an annual budget
of only $4,000. These funds come from the city of Olympia, the neighboring
city of Lacey, and various individuals and private businesses in the region.
In 1995 the Roundtable won grants totalling $16,000 for specific projects,
but finding funding for its work continues to be a challenge.
The Roundtable carries out a number of projects, including sponsoring a
series of community forums and discussions on topics relevant to sustainability,
such as: environment and development, sustainable economics, air quality,
and lessons learned through international conferences. It also sponsors
evening presentations called "Nights of the Roundtable," which
use diverse topics, like voluntary simplicity, socially responsible investing,
edible landscaping, essential peacemaking, cohousing, and international
models of sustainability to the community, to engage the community in dialogue,
thought and planning.
One of the most successful projects of the Roundtable is the State of the
Community report - essentially "an invitation to each individual and
organization in the South Sound region to join in the effort to realize
this ideal community as our own" (State of the Community 1993, 4).
The report introduces readers to the Sustainable Community Roundtable and
the issues the Roundtable addresses. Questions and answers which are relevant
to sustainability in the community are raised throughout the report with
the purpose of producing dialogue and action around the topics which will
be published in future reports. The first report, prepared by a small citizens'
committee, was released on Earth Day in 1993 and distributed at community
gatherings and by mail to hundreds of citizens. Over the next 18 months,
about 200 people took part in discussions, workshops, and roundtables on
specific issues, which lead to the publication of another State of the Community
report in 1995. The report is one of the first of its kind, and has been
used both nationally and internationally as a model sustainable community
initiative.
The State of the Community report is divided into sections according to
issue. Each section addresses three fundamental questions: "What is
sustainable community?", "Why are current trends unsustainable?",
and "How can we make the transition to sustainable community?"
The fundamental questions addressed in the State of the Community reports
are based on two principles of the Roundtable: (1) it is part of an ongoing
process of community visioning, incorporating earlier visions and open to
revision along the way, and; (2) the process of having people express their
values (found through the visioning process) often reveals more commonalities
than differences. Though people frequently get caught up in their "favorite
aspects," such as environmental issues or economic development, sustainable
community development is interdependent by nature, care must be taken to
focus on the long term vision that bonds the community members together.
Recognizing the need for collaboration as well as the need for expertise
in a number of areas, various categories were chosen for assessing the sustainability
of the South Sound region. These categories are: resource consumption,
natural environment, economy, social equity and justice, education and culture,
health, transportation, housing, governance, population, and spirituality
. In the report, each of these areas is described by the vision of how citizens
would like the future to be and contrasted with the current reality of today.
As in many community sustainability initiatives, a number of indicators,
which are also present in the report, were identified to measure the progress
over time. The Roundtable tried to select indicators that reflect at least
one aspect of the basic long-term health of the community, can be easily
understood as a valid sign of more or less progress towards sustainability,
are measurable in the region, can be analyzed alongside data from other
communities, and have an interest and appeal to the local media for monitoring,
reporting and analyzing trends. The Roundtable found that they could not
simply use lists of indicators that had been developed by their neighbors
in Seattle (a similar sustainable community project which served as the
inspiration for the South Sound region) and authentic inquiry and exploration
of their community was necessary to find indicators specific to the South
Sound situation.
Each category in the report, therefore, addresses the vision, the current
reality, and the indicators for measuring sustainability, as well as provides
an important section entitled "Making the Transition." This final
section looks at who's doing what in the community that contributes to sustainability,
identifies a "next step" that can be taken as a community, and
gives concrete suggestions of what individuals can do to work toward the
goal.
For example, the category of the natural environment looks
at the trends in biodiversity to indicate sustainability, with the acres
of protected space as a measurement for determining the natural health of
the ecosystem for human, animal and plant life. Working toward land use
policies that account for open space, creating wildlife corridors, revegetating
destroyed areas, and purchasing additional open space are all ways that
will increase habitats for wildlife and contribute to preserving biodiversity.
Groups and organizations that are working towards biodiversity protection,
such as the Sierra Club's Naturescaping Program (which advocates the use
of native plants in gardening and landscaping), the Capitol Land Trust (which
negotiates conservation easements), and the Lake Lois Habitat Preserve,
(a 13 acre wetlands area which was created by a series of grants, and municipal
and citizen support), are all actions that are being taken in the natural
environment category. The report advocates performing an estimate of the
carrying capacity as a concrete "next step" for the community,
listing ways to do this, and then identifies a number of actions individuals
can take to work towards protection and conservation of the natural environment.
The resource consumption category was divided into water, energy,
raw materials, and food. Indicators are: water consumption, measured by
the gallons of water used per day in urban areas; energy consumption, measured
by the amount of electricity from fossil fuels and hydropower; solid waste
generated, measured by the total waste sent to the landfill; and regionally
and locally produced food, measured by the Olympia Farmer's Market sales.
These indicators were designed to determine whether the community was moving
towards a balance between resource consumption and resources assimilated
by the ecosystem. Measurements would signal a move away from or toward habits
of consuming faster than resources are renewed, producing excess waste that
natural systems cannot process, and relying upon distant sources for basic
needs.
The social equity and justice category strives to meet the
basic needs of the people of the community, working towards active participation
in political and cultural life, equity, cooperation and mutual respect.
Attention is given to whether social circles or social hierarchies prevail
in the community. By measuring the violent crime rate, it hopes to assess
the real indicator - level of social harmony.
The economy category strives for a diverse economy which supports
its members through satisfying productive work and emphasizes quality and
development rather than quantity and growth. Methods such as value-added
manufacturing (developing and adding value to resources while they are still
in the community), buying locally to ensure that profits stay within the
community, and equalizing wage distribution were cited as means of working
toward a sustainable economy. Sustainable economies encompass two important
assumptions: the local economy is part of the global economy and ecosystem;
and the economy is part of an incredibly complex system which also includes
social, political and human, and natural elements. The indicator, people
whose basic needs are met, is roughly measured by the number of jobs paying
less than the average wage.
Education and culture , essential to community development,
is indicated by the fulfillment of learning potential. The Roundtable is
struggling with a way to measure this indicator. Respect and responsibility,
positive praise, freedom from prejudice, diversity in learning environments,
flexibility and choice, whole system thinking, cooperation and consensus,
community involvement, and democratic decision making are goals for sustainability
education, yet measuring the quality of learning that is being achieved
through educational opportunities is a difficult task. The Roundtable is
considering using a survey to evaluate the learning success of all types
of citizens, including students, teachers, parents, workers, employers and
others.
The other categories, health, transportation, housing, governance,
population, and spirituality , are all portrayed in the State of
the Community report in a similar manner. The 1995 report will be used as
a springboard for further discussion, analysis, and action towards a sustainable
community in the South Sound region and the Roundtable will be updating
the 1995 indicators and publishing a summary in the spring of 1996. Sustainability
indicators for the City of Olympia in the area of community policy and programs
are also currently being developed.
The current strategy of the Roundtable involves building partnerships with
other community organizations to learn how sustainability interfaces with
their goals and priorities, and how they can work towards sustainability.
Through a small grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Roundtable
has begun working with eight organizations, including the local transit
employees, a lumber company, a church, a refugee center, the downtown business
association, and a school site-based council.
Furthermore, Roundtable members are also working with other regional sustainable
community groups to for a bioregional Cascadia Sustainable Communities Network,
to create a unified regional plan for community development, trade and transportation.
Citizens in the Olympia area have a strong sense of commitment and hope
that their efforts will continue to progress forward because of the remarkable
success and the strong participatory nature of the Roundtable process. The
recurring themes that stress equity and balance among the community, the
environment, and the economy in the South Sound region bind its citizens
together. This union is the starting place for sustainable planning and
action.
Special thanks and credit go to Dorothy Craig of the Sustainable Community
Roundtable for her assistance and for use of the State of the Community
reports, 1993 and 1995.
Case Study Source: Sustainability
in Action: Profiles of Community Initiatives Across the United States--
American Forum for Global Education. 1995
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URL: http://www.sustainable.org/