Thinking Forward

I recently received notice of an interesting article through my colleagues at LinkWISCONSIN, a statewide initiative to promote the availability and sustainable adoption of broadband internet access, through the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.  The article highlights a system in Chattanooga, Tennessee, against the backdrop of our situation in Wisconsin around internet access.  http://bit.ly/z8Lm8N

I can only imagine…

What role does connectivity play in creating sustainable communities?  Can we build sustainable communities without connecting them to the wider world?  In years past, we recognized that communities would stagnate without connecting via railroads, roads and telephone lines. Now we have moved on to using the internet to connect people. 

I ran across a very interesting article concerning the current debate about appropriate roles for the public and private sectors. What is the common property when it comes to the internet?  Communication and information are also intimately tied to the practice of democracy. I found this worth pondering…

From the Sustainable Cities Collective…

Broadband access in the United States is an issue fraught with strong opinions on topics from speed to funding to net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) backed by the support of the Obama Administration is pushing a variety of initiatives to increase broadband access nationwide in order to close the technology infrastructure gap between the US and much of the developed world. Yet, these initiatives have faced push-back from state legislatures and incumbent private sector providers, leading some supporters of broadband to push the idea that broadband is more or less a public utility.  

http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/nextamcity/27049/making-broadband-right-lesson-states

I noted today that the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) has issued a position statement on climate change. I appreciate that my agronomist friends are old hands at understanding the carbon and nitrogen cycles. It seems they are encouraging practices that mitigate effects as well as practices that allow agriculture to adapt to our changing environment.

Who is the SWCS?  From their website:

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will be the site of an upcoming workshop on Planning for Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region.  Climate change is already impacting the US Midwest with higher average temperatures, more frequent heavy downpours, decreased Great Lakes ice cover, and more frequent heat waves. Projected future climate changes in the region include a likely rise of another 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, continued increases in winter and spring precipitation, decreased summer precipitation, and a possible drop in Great Lakes water levels.

Save_the_Date_-_Northeast_Wisconsin_Climate_Workshop[1]

This workshop is aimed at planners and other professionals addressing land use, public health, stormwater, emergency preparedness and natural resource management isues.  The workshop in Green Bay will include:

• Summary of climate change science and impacts, especially in northeast Wisconsin
• Climate adaptation planning processes and strategies
• Tools, data and resources for climate adaptation planning
• Regional examples of climate planning
• Introduction to assessing climate vulnerability for your community

 While climate impacts will vary regionally, it is at the state and local levels where critical policy and investment decisions are made for the systems most likely to be affected– water, land use, energy, transportation and public health and natural resources, as well as important economic sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, manufacturing, and tourism. By factoring a changing climate into planning decisions today, communities and agencies can avoid future costs.

More than 25 Wisconsin communities have declared themselves to be “ecomunicipalities”, embracing sustainability principles intended to guide them to make decisions which build community, provide for people’s needs, and at the same time, safeguard the natural systems on which we depend. At the level of city, county and region, people have come together to talk about the future.

What is their motivation? What do community members want to see happen? What changes have they made?  The UW-Extension Sustainability Team has captured a few of those stories on video.

Firesouls on the Chequamegon Bay: Passion and Partnerships for Sustainability

Sustainable Marshfield

What is going on in your community?

The Steiner Seminar, Järna, Sweden.

Banks in the headlines again, and the headlines are critical, not just in the U.S.  The Royal Bank of Scotland reports a loss of 3.6 billion pounds, but gives out 1.3 billion pounds in bonuses. The recent credit crisis has made people acutely aware that much of the control over their money is out of their hands.  Where does my money go after I deposit it in my savings account? What is it doing in the world?

In August I met Kristoffer Luhti, an executive of Ekobanken Sweden.  Lühti addressed the Sustainable Sweden tour at the Steiner Seminar, Järna, Sweden. Ekobanken grew from a foundation, doing what foundations do: granting funds for organizations to do good in society.  It also grew from questions.  Is there a difference between money that is earned, or borrowed, or given? What more good can be done?  Loans create the future; what kind of future do we want?

With those intentions, Gemeinnützige Treuhandstelle began in Germany in 1974, which inspired some people in Sweden to start a similar fund in Sweden in 1980. The bank, which started its business in 1998, is member driven. Becoming a customer allows one to choose different accounts and interest levels, similar to what I am familiar with in the United States. But the kinds of accounts are quite different. Members can influence where their money goes based on the account they designate.  If I were a member, I would be able to choose between ecological, health care, children/youth or culture accounts for my deposits.  This deposit money is then made available to those different sectors promoting community development.

And transparency is BIG to them. As part of the loan application process, the staff is required to ask if the bank will be able to publicize their involvement, if they want to be associated with the project. They ask, what the project will do to build the community, beyond the economy or a job count.

I began to wonder, what is the current definition of profit within my banking system?  I’m going to guess that it is simply stockholder return.  What if we expanded the definition of profit to include healthier people, healthier economy, healthier environment?  What if I could find out what my money cultivated in my community? What if I could learn about what good is being done? What if my bank could help me create the future I wanted for my community? How does my bank think they know that now? Isn’t it my money?

What do you know about financial systems that create community?

Sometimes I grow fond of the most peculiar things. When I got back to Wisconsin last August, I missed quite a few things about Sweden.  But one thing I was reminded of every day: toilet paper.  Everywhere I went in Sweden, the TP was gray in color – a lovely, pale, recycled paper gray. When I got home, all the bright white toilet paper seemed just a little too garish.

Does this relate to my learning about the efforts to create sustainable communities? Oh, my, yes.

Torbjörn explains the connections between products from the forest resource.

For  those of us on the tour, Torbjörn Lahti explained a central concept of sustainability that they strive to apply to every product that people use, a concept of the next best use. The idea of “waste” is essentially redefined. In this model, waste is always considered an input for the next stage.

Torbjörn used the example of products from the forest industry, a giant industry in Sweden.  The parts of the harvested trees left over from building material manufacture becomes input for writing papers; those leftovers are put into newspaper production; newspaper becomes endearing gray toilet paper.  And all along the way, energy is extracted from the materials that cannot be cycled into the next product. .

(click on the photo below for a closer look) 

Tour participants enter the Halleförs sewage treatment plant.

Little man, tour mascot, gets a view of sewage coming into the plant.

We made a tour stop at a plant that many of us might consider the last use. But in nature, there is no last; there is just the next.

Annie Jones and Little Man describe the odor at the intake.

We visited the sewage treatment plant (that’s avloppsreningsverk for those of us boning up on our Swedish) for the community of Halleförs. We can picture how this closes the loop in this way: the sewage sludge (in its essence, organic matter and nutrients) becomes food for the next  generation of trees, the next round of forest products,  and the water becomes clean enough to return to the environment.

Sewage plant outflow is clear and definitely not odorous.

It all comes back around.  Some cycles take longer than others, so they are hard for us to see because the experience may bridge generations, or even eons.

A change in awareness can reshape our relationship with the environment, upon which we depend for our existence, from a TAKE > MAKE > WASTE mentality to a BORROW > USE > RETURN attitude.

(For a long  – 49 minutes – but extremely informative video that covers this in more detail, consider viewing Waste=Food. )

Where do you see people closing the loop in the world where you work?

Where do you see people missing opportunities to close the loop?

How does this affect our ability to create sustainable systems?

Wisconsin has a new recycling law.  You can learn about more opportunities for you to personally close the loop locally by visiting the Marathon County Solid Waste website.

Tobjörn Lahti explains the community dynamic involved in creating community vision.

Torbjörn Lahti,  master färdledare of the Sustainable Sweden Tour and co-author of The Natural Step for Communities, has served as a project leader in several communities seeking to incorporate sustainability principles into their community development efforts.

During the introductory session of the Sustainable Sweden Tour last August, he shared a perspective for framing different roles municipalities play. (A reminder: a municipality in Sweden covers a geographic area comparable to a county in Wisconsin.)

The first, perhaps most basic role for a municipality, is that of the AUTHORITY. It’s a top-down approach, “what the state tells us to do.” Municipalities serve as regulators and enforcers to ensure that certain minimum standards are met for the safety and welfare of the residents. Often this is to keep residents out of each others’ hair.  ‘Thou shalt not steal your neighbor’s goods or the authorities will prosecute.’

Relationship between government and resident is enforcer to potential violator; relationship between residents is potential perpetrator to potential victim. The leader’s role is to keep people in line.

A second role Torbjörn described was that of SERVICE AGENCY. The municipality provides a smorgasbord of services demanded by the market, like street maintenance, water delivery or emergency services.

Relationship between government and resident is vendor to purchaser; relationship between residents is hardly required, as co-consumers. The leader’s role is to keep a finger on the pulse of people’s needs, and provide these services at reasonable cost.

The third role is that which Torbjörn termed DYNAMO. In the long history of civil society, this one is relatively new in which municipalities play a role in developing territorial vision. This requires a different level of engagement between community members.  The government plays a role of catalyst in participatory democracy.

Relationship between government and resident is more like listener to participant; relationship between residents is partner to partner.  The leader’s role is to find a way to facilitate a conversation involving the entire community system, so they can build this vision together.

This might be my very long answer to Andy’s question in response to my last blog entry. I think a healthy community has all these leaders, but we tend to have too few of the DYNAMO leaders.  It takes a very different skill than we learn throughout most of our schooling: dialogue.

Sometimes I fear that we, in our society shaped by consumer-dominated language, are stuck in the model of my municipality = my vendor. It is far too easy to speak of government as merely a menu, and one that is never enough and always too expensive. Well, we can’t import water from China.

I wonder, what kind of relationship do we want with our fellow community residents? I hope it goes beyond bulk purchasing.

What kind of relationship do you think people want between their leaders and themselves? between the residents? What is a desirable relationship, in your opinion? How does that happen?

It’s funny how things bump into each other. Conversations I’ve had recently took me back to Hällefors, Sweden. [see: Moving from steel to meals, previous blog entry]  A number of these conversations were sparked by a newspaper article in the Wausau Daily Herald. It was not only the content of the article that started some grumbling, also that the newspaper reported on an event that they created.

In a nutshell, the newspaper invited a number of people they had identified as community leaders to discuss ideas to better the community. The twenty or so who showed up were guided through a discussion process by Dr. Eric Giordano, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. The ideas included making government more efficient, marketing the area, developing infrastructure and working on social issues. They tagged this list Agenda 2010.

In the community conversations following, there was much speculation about what shapes the output of such a meeting: who was (or wasn’t) at the table, current events, discussion format, etc. I was intrigued by the purposeful EXclusion of elected officials.

Even more interesting to me was that much of the reaction seemed to be about the process rather than the output.  Different groups, different individuals, same themes, and echoed in some comments I saw on the newspaper’s weblog. The themes I heard:

• Who said these are our leaders?
• What was the newspaper trying prove or accomplish by holding this meeting?
• Don’t they know we’re working on building community?

Underneath much of it I heard – “I have something to say, too.”

I contrasted that with Hällefors, where a process was designed to include as many people as possible, in the conversation about what kind of community they wanted for their future.  In Hällefors, they used a process based on The Natural Step. [Video: How does The Natural Step work? Karl-Henrik Robert, founder, The Natural Step]

So I’m wondering…
Whose job IS it to decide for any community, what  it should be 20 years from now?
Whose job is it to decide what parts of the community system are represented at the table?
Whose job is it to pull people together to talk about the future of an entire community?
Who are your leaders, and how do you know?  What does a leader do?

As part of the Sustainable Sweden tour, we spent several days in the municipality of Hällefors. Hällefors kommun is today an ecomunicipality of about 7500 inhabitants, 950 square kilometers (370 square miles) in area with 450 lakes. It may help the story to understand that municipalities in Sweden are a little bit different than the cities, villages and towns in Wisconsin. There is a little town (generic use of the word) called Hällefors within the larger municipality, Hällefors kommun, like there is a village called Marathon within Marathon County. Hällefors kommun is almost exactly the size of Green Lake County, or about one-fourth of the size of Marathon County, where I live.

In the early part of the 20^th century, Hällefors was a center of iron, wood and paper production.  The Svartån (Black River) was a working stream, generating electricity and carrying logs to the mills. Times were changing for Hällefors in the latter part of the 1900’s, culminating with the sale of the local steel mill in 1993 to the Chinese.  During the tour, our hosts grabbed my attention with the story of how the town inhabitants watched as their steel mill was dismantled, piece by piece, to be shipped to China.  Each day during the deconstruction, Chinese workers filed through the town from their lodgings to the mills, morning and evening. Roughly 1000 people lost their jobs at the mill.  The population in the municipality before 1993 had reached 10,000. Loss of the mill started a massive exodus.

In response, the community, in the broadest sense of the word, began a year-long process around the framework of The Natural Step.  They set out together to discover what it would mean to be an ecomunicipality, asking the question, what do we want our future to look like? They were keen to address all four system conditions of the Natural Step, seeking to meet human needs without violating the other three conditions.

Working with a process facilitator, the community started a conversation about their future which involved all sectors: elected, business, schools, youth, public entities. Through this process, the community came together around the five K’s (if you speak Swedish): kultur, kreativitet, kommunikation, kompetens, kunskap.  In English: culture, creativity, communication, competence, and knowledge.  But how to move this forward?  “We start with the children.”

The strategy in the municipality revolved around education, with a three-prong approach. They analyzed what they had going for them to build upon and focused on cultural, culinary and technology education. Culture is considered a need, not a want. A major shift took place to expand and make cultureschool compulsory after a survey revealed that children already exposed to cultural opportunities were taking the greatest advantage of the existing curriculum. They wanted every child to benefit from the offerings. Lars Wieselgren summarized the story, “Culture opens to other knowledge, a way to discover what else you have in you. As we moved this forward, we knew it not only in our heads, but also our stomach and our heart.” They chose to reach beyond the prevailing industrial mindset.

What have they now? An expanded culinary school at the local university at Örebro. Stable population. Increasing enrollments as students from outside the municipality request to attend at Hällefors. The largest private collection of Swedish sculpture masters in Sweden.  Permission to think forward.