• Introduction and definitions
   
  
• Indicators
   
  
• What are they for?
   
  
• What makes a good indicator?
   
  
  • Measure what you want to be
     
    
  • Make measures that speak to people
     
    
  • Measure cause as well as effect

• Make sure indicators are really measuring the right things
   
  
• Make sure they allow people to see how they can help
   
  
• Measure the pressures, not just states and responses

So far we have discussed the idea that indicators are for measuring progress, but they also help motivate, educate, and focus communities on sustainability issues. We have also discussed the characteristics of a good indicator. A good indicator of sustainability:

• Considers carrying capacity
   
  
• Is relevant, understandable, and usable by a community
   
  
• Has a long term view of a community (20 to 50 years, not 5 or 10)
   
  
• Highlights the linkages among different areas of a community
   
  
• Is not at the expense of another community's sustainability

Finally, we have talked about how to make indicators better indicators by making sure that the indicator measures what we really want to be, is understandable to people, that it speaks to people, and that we include in our set of indicators measures of the causes as well as the effects, the pressures as well as the states.