• Resource Use
   
  
  • Cost of solid waste disposal
     
    
  • Number of people recycling
     
    
  • Pounds of material recycled
     
    
  • Number of products made from recycled material
     
    
  • Number of products made to be recycled, repairable, compostable

• Which of these indicators address carrying capacity?
   
  
• What types of capital are being addressed?
   
  
• Which are measuring pressures, states or responses?
   
  
• Which take a long-term view?
   
  
• Which address links within the community?

For example, the "cost of solid waste disposal" is purely a financial measure. Although it is an environmental measure, it is only tangentially linked to the environment. "Number of people recycling" and "pounds of material recycled" are linked more closely to society and to the environment; however, they do not really address "carrying capacity." "Number of products made from recycled material" links the production process to the disposal of solid waste and so addresses carrying capacity. The "number of products made to be recycled, repairable, compostable" also addresses carrying capacity and links disposal to the production process.

(If there is time, ask the participants for additional ideas for better indicators.)