Media Clipping — June 4, 2007, Energy Evolution

Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative Kicks Off

A Halifax-based organization that subscribes to the belief there's more to economic growth than -- well -- economic growth, has launched a program it hopes will eventually help all of Atlantic Canada develop in a way that assures its future in a world of scarce and expensive resources.

Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic is working with the Nova Scotia Environmental Network, which is a coalition of green groups, to develop a model for a more sustainable Atlantic region.

Just what "sustainability" means in this case is more clearly defined than is often the case when that catch-all word is used, according to Clare Levin, managing director of GPIAtlantic and the co-ordinator of the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative.

“The assumption is, people will be faced with hitting the wall,” says Levin. “The majority of our ecosystems are in decline and, because of climate change, it's important to take action now. That's especially the case because we're a coastal region [where global warming might have its greatest impact].”

She says the resource-dependent Atlantic region, with a reliance on the fishery, mining and forestry, needs to pay special attention to the implications of global warming.

"We have a prime example of the impact of pressure on resources in the collapse of the cod fishery," she says.

These underlying concerns led to the decision to establish the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative, she notes.

Specifically, the idea of launching the project, which now involves 15 partners, ranging from the City of Saint John to the University of Prince Edward Island, emerged from a conference held two years ago in Halifax around the theme "Rethinking Development," which involved experts on community development from throughout the world.

Speakers at that conference included experts involved in the Natural Step movement and Natural Step Canada is now a core participant.

Natural Step is a concept developed by Swedish cancer researcher Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert, who created the program based on his belief there is a direct link between environmental contaminants and human health.

He and 50 of his scientific colleagues developed what they thought should be the guiding principles of a sustainable, healthier society.

That led to the founding of Natural Step in 1989 and since then the principles developed by it have been used by thousands of decision-makers in corporations, municipalities, government agencies and educational institutions worldwide.

In Canada, the Ottawa-based The Natural Step (TNS) decided to target municipalities and it has now agreed to work with the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative.

TNS, which has developed successful programs in the fast-growing tourist and mountain resort communities of Canmore and Whistler, launches its programs by doing a "sustainability analysis" of an area, followed by workshops with municipal employees, councillors and community groups. In the case of Whistler, for instance, TNS developed a 100-page document.

That resulting document is used as a guide for community leaders, with each decision based on its environmental and social sustainability.

In the case of Whistler, for instance, council rejected plans for a natural gas pipeline that would have been routed nearby the community and for the planned filming there of a Bombardier Inc. seadoo TV commercial because both would encourage the continued use of fossil fuels. Moving away from a reliance on fossil fuels is a key tenet of the Natural Step philosophy.

Meanwhile, Whistler has developed a number of environmentally-friendly initiatives, such as a local transit system that provides mostly free rides to the public (financed by fees charged for the use of its landfill site), a chemical-free weed- and pest-control program, the capture of nutrients from its wastewater treatment plant, and an award-winning pedestrian-friendly town design.

Levin says what makes the Atlantic Canada project different is its scope, with plans to cover all four Atlantic provinces.

"The challenge is we're dealing with four different provinces, all with different needs and priorities," she says.

So far, Newfoundland-Labrador hasn't endorsed the project, but New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have. The Nova Scotia government, which recently passed a new Environmental Goals and Sustainability Act (which Levin says doesn't go far enough), is the strongest supporter of the initiative.

GPIAtlantic is a logical organizer of the sustainability project. The 10-year-old organization uses an index called the genuine progress indicator (GPI) to measure economic growth. But, unlike the well established gross domestic product (GDP) measure, which just tracks economic statistics, it attempts to gauge social and environmental factors as well.

Based on an index developed in 1995 by three California researchers, it assigns explicit value to environmental quality, population health, security, equity, free time, educational attainment and other factors.

The Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative will be a one-year project, with three key milestones towards its development.

The first took place from May 14-16 in Halifax, with a dinner and a workshop to kick off the project.

That will be followed by consultation between participants and Natural Step coaches, followed by a workshop this November. A regional sustainability summit is planned for next April, at which time participants will share success stories and talk about how the Natural Step principles will be maintained in their decision-making.

"Each organization will develop its own sustainability action plan," Levin says.

Those actions could range from such things as increasing the purchase of recycled products, to moving ahead with energy-efficiency retrofits, to implementing a policy to support only ethical businesses, she says.

It's only logical that most of the support for the program so far comes from Nova Scotia, Levin says, since that's where GPIAtlantic's office is located.

"But I don't think it reflects a lack of interest from the other provinces," she says. "The challenge for Newfoundland-Labrador will be the expense of travel [to the mainland]."

Levin says the eventual plan is to set overriding goals for Atlantic Canada.

However, she says one goal has already been achieved -- that of creating more awareness of the issue of sustainability.

"The whole idea is to encourage individuals to take action, as well as organizations," she notes. "Whether it's about an individual driving a more fuel-efficient car or specific action at an organizational level, it's about building awareness and capacity."

Some participants are already well along the way towards building a sustainable future, she adds.

For instance, the government of P.E.I. has a policy that requires the province to move towards a 100% reliance on renewable energy in the future and the Regional Municipality of Halifax is developing its own wind power and is planning to develop other renewables.

It will cost $400,000 for the sustainability initiative, with funding coming from the partners and from other sources.

Levin says it is being viewed as a pilot project, which could be emulated elsewhere.

"It's about seeing how successful we can be creating change on a regional scale," she says.

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