Moving toward sustainability is good for people in our community
and the rest of the planet.
It is also good for our community’s bottom line.
We can save energy and dollars in areas such as transportation;
industrial processes; and building operations. At the same time,
we can improve the efficiency of our city’s operations while
protecting our quality of life from pollution and traffic congestion.
Most importantly, we can improve our local economy.
A sustainable community means a healthy society, economy, and
environment now and for the future. Ecological Footprint indexing
provides communities with a measurement of how much of the earth’s
capacity and resources its residents are consuming compared to
the supply available.
Ecological Footprint indexing is an effective tool because it
provides a quantitative justification for moving towards sustainability
on the part of municipalities. It does so in a simple way: by
translating resource use into one easily understood metric –
land area. Ecological Footprint indexing helps local governments
and communities:
• Save money by saving resources
• Communicate progress toward (or away from) sustainability
• Build support for sustainability
• Identify community priorities
Please consider commissioning an Ecological Footprint index for
our community. Redefining Progress, an Oakland, California-based
sustainability think-tank (www.rprogress.org or sustainability@rprogress.org)
can help you learn more about this accounting tool and how best
to apply it in our community.
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