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This page lists many projects where people are working to make communities more sustainable and to measure the results. The types of projects range from small groups of volunteers to city and county agencies to large collaborative partnerships of nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies. The projects also range in scale from neighborhoods and individual towns and cities to metropolitan regions and multinational efforts. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, although we have tried to include examples of a variety of sustainability efforts. Some projects provide data on indicators the communities have developed, with detailed charts and graphs showing the trends in the indicators over a number of years. Other reports provide information to help people lead more sustainable lives. Since the emphasis of Sustainable Measures is on indicators, we have tended to favor projects that have indicators that are updated on some regular basis. In addition, because the emphasis of Sustainable Measures is on sustainability, we do not include on this page those community indicator projects that are not specifically focused on sustainability. This includes "quality of life" or "economic development" projects. Because some of those projects are very instructive for groups just beginning to work on indicators, we have included what we consider to be the best examples of other types of community indicator projects on the next page Communities doing other indicator projects. If you know of community sustainability projects that should be added, please let us know. |
| USA |
Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators
Personnel from 12 federal agencies worked cooperatively to select 40 indicators for monitoring sustainability in the United States. This site describes the framework for the indicators, lists the indicators, and solicits comments on the proposed indicators and the framework. The site also has an inventory of Sustainable Development Indicators proposed or used by other federal and international agencies.
President's Council on Sustainable Development
The PCSD was a product of the Clinton Administration and is no longer active, however, their report, Sustainable Communities Task Force Report, includes a number of indicators for measuring national sustainability.
State of the Nation's Ecosystem -- Heinz Center Report
A nonpartisan, comprehensive report on the condition of the lands, waters, and living resources of the US. First report was in 2002 with updates in 2003 and 2005 and a fully updated second report in 2007. Includes 10 Core National Indicators and many indicators in the areas of Coasts and Oceans, Farmlands, Forests, Fresh Waters, Grasslands and Shrublands, and Urban Areas.
Coconino County Sustainable Economic Development Inititative
A collaborative effort involving state, local and tribal government agencies, NGOs, educational institutions and business - that has developed regional sustainability goals and strategies for five issue areas: energy, green materials and products, tourism, resource-based development, home-based industries, and workforce development. No indicators.
Sustainable Arizona Resource and Education Council
Sustainable Arizona Resource and Education Council is a volunteer organization working on sustainability issues in Arizona and the Southwest. No indicator report as yet but a good source of information about sustainability activities in state and region.
Sustainable Tucson
Coalition of 100+ organizations and individuals in the Tucson area interested in and working on sustainability issues. No indicators yet.
Energy and Sustainability Office, City of Berkeley
Web site for the city's Energy and Sustainability office includes a Sustainability Assessment, Sustainability Goals, a Sustainable Community Inventory (2003), and a draft set of indicators (2005). The areas of concern include: Arts & Culture and Recreation, Civic Engagement, Community Safety, Economy and Employment, Health, Housing, Education, Transportation, Urban Design & Planning, and Environment
Sustainable Berkeley
A collaborative effort including civic, private sector, university, and community leaders created in 2006 to improve coordination among Berkeley's sustainability and local economic development efforts. The group is an outgrowth of a three-year series of meetings to support the implementation of community-wide sustainability efforts in the immediate and long-term. Have goals but no indicators
Sustainable Fairfax
A nonprofit organization active in Marin County since 1999 focused on education and outreach on sustainability issues. No indicators. .
Sustainable Marin
Grass roots organization focused on education, outreach and collaboration related to sustainability. No indicators.
Sustainable Novato
Grass roots organization working on education and outreach on sustainability issues. No indicators.
Pasedena Green City Program
The city of Pasadena has a Green Action Plan with goals in 7 areas: Energy, Transportation, Waste Reduction, Environmental Health, Urban Design, Water, and Urban Nature. Plan, published in 2006, lists initial status.
Sustainable Petaluma
Grass roots network focused on education and outreach on sustainability issues. No indicators
San Diego Sustainable City Program
The San Diego Sustainable City Program has a list of indicators dated 2004 but doesn't have a report on how they are doing relative to those indicators.
San Francisco Commission on the Environment
A community collaborative effort in 1996 to set goals for future environmental, economic, and societal well being. Report included10 topics of environmental concern, 5 topics of concern spanning many issues, and over 50 indicators.
Santa Monica Sustainable City Program
In 1994 Santa Monica’s City Council adopted a Sustainable City Program, which was updated in 2003 with expanded goals, indicators and targets. The issue areas covered include Resource Conservation, Environmental and Public Health, Transportation, Economic Development, Open Space and Land Use, Housing, Community Education and Participation, Human Dignity. The plan covers both the city government and the community at large.
Boulder City/Boulder Valley Sustainability Indicators Project
The Planning and Development Services Department of the City of Boulder is heading up a project to develop a program for annually evaluating the community’s success in achieving Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) goals. The end result will be a Sustainability Indicators for the Valley with annual report cards.
Greater Orlando
The Healthy Community Initiative in the Greater Orlando/Orange County region of central Florida did a sustainability report for the region in 2000 using the AtKisson Compass framework for the indicators. They have done several indicator reports since but they aren't called 'sustainability' reports.
see Washington -- Cascadia Scorecard
Cape Cod Center for Sustainability
The Pulse of Cape Cod: Measuring Progress for a Sustainable Community is a list of indicators for measuring progress towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle on Cape Cod.
Sustainable Lansing
Sustainable Lansing is a coalition of citizens, businesses, local government, and community and environmental groups concerned to shape a sustainable future for the greater Lansing area.
Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative
Launched in 2003, the Minneapolis Sustainability Initiative is reporting on progress towards specific goals relating to Housing, Health and Safety, Equity, Learning, Connected Communities, Arts and Culture, Environment, and Economy.
Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative
A collaboration of business, government and civic interests to promote policies, institutions and actions that ensure Minnesota's long-term environmental, economic and social well-being. It is administered by the Environmental Quality Board.
New Jersey Sustainable State Institute
This organization took over the work that was started by New Jersey Future. Their website lists 11 goals and 41 indicators for the state of New Jersey.
Sustainable Cincinnati Project
Website features reports and a short list of indicators related to 8 counties in the Cincinnati region in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
see Washington -- Cascadia Scorecard
Sustainable Oregon
Oregon has been on the cutting edge of indicators with the Oregon Progress Board and has been active in sustainability work since 2000.
Beaverton
Primarily focused on a heating and cooling plant that will allow energy efficient redevelopment of the center city area, the web site uses an interesting web-based visualization tool to show progress.
Sustainable Eugene
The city created an Office of Sustainability and a Sustainability Commission in 2007 and has a minimal indicators report available on line.
Portland Office of Sustainable Development
The city has a vision and a strategic plan with sustainable development goals and is currently working on indicators.
Sustainable Pittsburgh
Indicators report from 2004, other reports and publications about sustainability issues in the Pittsburgh area.
Austin Sustainable Community Initiative
The city of Austin has compiled information and resources on 11 categories of actions that readers can take to promote sustainability. They also have some background information about sustainable development and specific examples in the Austin area.
Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project
Includes a large list of indicators in 8 different categories, annual reports about these indicators and sustainability issues in the central Texas area, including the five counties of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson and the city of Austin.
Cascadia Scorecard
The Cascadia Scorecard monitors key trends in the Pacific Northwest, a region that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. Has 7 indicators (Health, economy, population, energy, sprawl, forests, pollution). Maintained by Sightline Institute (formerly Northwest Environment Watch).
Olympia, see Sustainable Community Roundtable
City of Seattle, Office of Sustainability & Environment
The city's Green Ribbon Commission produced a report in 2006 with recommended actions and indicators targeting climate change issue in the areas of transporation, energy, and land use.
Sustainable Seattle
Sustainable Seattle was one of the first organizations to produce sustainable community indicators. First report was in 1993, latest available is 2005 although a 2007 report is in the works. Highly recommended reading. The organization is also working hard on neighborhood level activities.
Sustainable Community Roundtable of South Puget Sound
Founded in 1991, the Sustainable Community Roundtable was one of the nation’s first grassroots organizations promoting the vision and principles of sustainability. With Sustainable Seattle, the Roundtable pioneered the development of citizen-initiated indicators of sustainable community. Website features an Indicators Project Page with explanations of how their indicators were selected and detailed descriptions of all of their indicators.
City of Sydney
A city program to develop a vision, goals and strategies in the areas of Environment, Transport, Economy, City Design, Culture, Community and Governance.
Brisbane City Council - Clean and Green city
Website features many different environmental and sustainability sections and projects, many of which contain indicators. Many of these sections focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Sunnybank
A local community organization with a list of indicators that apply to their local area.
City of Melbourne
Website has a section on environmental sustainability primarily related to water use and climate change with a number of environmental indicators in the areas of air quality, biodiversity, buildings, litter and transport.
Victoria Community Indicators Project
Wellbeing indicators for all the local governments in the state of Victoria with a really nice interactive map feature that allows one to easily select a community that you want to look at with a list of indicators and graphs for each community. There is also a section explaining how each indicator is defined and the data sources. Exemplary indicators web site.
Victoria Sustainability and Environment
Sustainability Action Statement 2006 plan has 5 different sections with indicators related to environmental sustainability with objectives and goals of what the government plans to do to achieve their goals.
City of Gosnells Sustainable Development Initiative
Environmental Management Plan 2006-2009 has objectives with measurable indicators with planned actions and timeframes for achieving these objectives in 7 different environmental categories
Sustainable Calgary
Inspired by Sustainable Seattle, this group has published several "State of Our City" reports with sustainability indicators, the last in 2004.
Alberta Treasury
Although no longer active, the Alberta Round Table on the Environment and Economy produced a report, Creating Alberta's Sustainable Development Indicators (September 1994) which provides an excellent description of the process of developing indicators. The indicators themselves are published in the Report of the Alberta Round Table on Environment and Economy (May 1993). The Report provides very clear descriptions of the indicators chosen and a goal-indicator matrix that should the interconnections between the different issues of concern in Alberta. The work of this group has been taken over by the Alberta Treasury Department, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Treasury produces an annual report Measuring Up, which includes a number of the indicators developed by the Round Table. The annual business plan for the province also discusses sustainable resource management.
see Washington -- Cascadia Scorecard
Fraser Basin Council
A nonprofit organization working on sustainability for the Fraser River Basin area in British Columbia. Latest sustainability indicators report produced in 2003.
Whistler2020
The Vision 2020 program of the city of Whistler has core and strategic indicators displayed in an interesting interactive web site format.
Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Council
The Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Council adopted a set of goals and actions for sustainable development called Vision 2020. The report, Hamilton-Wentworth Sustainability Indicators, includes 29 indicators covering 11 different areas such as natural areas and corridors, air quality, energy use, agriculture, and livelihood.
Auckland Regional Council
The Regional Council has developed a Sustainability Framework for the region which includes eight goal areas and indicators for measuring progress
Waitakere Eco City
In 1993, the Waitakere City Council adopted Agenda 21 and wrote a mission statement for the city to be "sustainable, dynamic, and just." Greenprint Waitakere is a report on what needs to be done to move the city in that direction. The city has a set of indicators with ambitious targets for making the city a model of sustainability. Highly recommended web site and document.
Scotland
Web site for the Scottish government work on sustainability with links to local and regional efforts.
Sustainable Scotland Network
Network of local communities in Scotland working on sustainable development, some of which have produced reports on their local ecological footprint.
Fife Regional Council, Fife House
Sustainability Indicators for Fife lists a number of indicators and shows trends for a variety of categories including economy, environment, housing, and quality of life. Nicely written report. Does not appear to be available on line.
Environmental Performance Index (EPI)
The EPI measures the performance of 133 countries on progress in two areas of environmental sustainability: reducing environmental stresses on human health and protecting ecosystem vitality. There are 16 indicators tracked in six categories: Environmental Health, Air Quality, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Sustainable Energy. The Pilot 2006 report and the underlying data are available for download.
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)
The ESI measures the progress of 135 countries on 21 indicators in 5 categories of environmental sustainability: Environmental Systems;Environmental Stresses; Human Vulnerability to Environmental Stresses; Societal Capacity to Respond to Environmental Challenges; and Global Stewardship. The report and underlying data are available for download.
Millenium Development Goals (MDG) Indicators
The web site with the official data, definitions, methodologies and sources for the 48 indicators to measure progress towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals, one of which is environmental sustainability and includes energy use and deforestation. Other goal areas are hunger/poverty, primary education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, aids/malaria, global partnership for development.
Millenium Goals - World Bank Interactive Map
An interactive world map of the current values for each of the Millennium Development Goals Indicators for all countries in the world. Maintained by the World Bank from their World Development Indicators database. Provides an interesting visualization of some of the world’s development challenges by translating data into maps designed for a lay audience.
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Sustainable Measures P.O. Box 370502 West Hartford, CT 06137-0502 |
P: 860-808-7487 contactus at sustainablemeasures.com |
Copyright © 1998-2006, Maureen Hart. All rights reserved. Web site design by Subject Matters. |