The City of Duluth recognizes the issues of global warming, sustainability and the economy.

This video clip addresses the citizens of Duluth reaction to the issue of global warming and shares what the legislature are doing to increase awareness and decrease Duluth’s carbon footprint. The non-profit organization, Sustainable Twin Ports, has been regarded highly by Don Ness, the mayor of Duluth, for all of their hard work in introducing the Natural Step Framework to thirteen businesses around Duluth and the surrounding area. The scientific-based strategy of The Natural Step Framework has influenced many cities, states and countries around the world, only to produce remarkable results. Officials in Duluth recognized how beneficial and valuable the Natural Step Framework could be and decided to educate and promote the framework throughout the town. This all around support of Duluth legislatures for sustainable practices helps in publicizing the need to protect the environment, thus promoting an activism for environmental causes.

In 2001, Done Ness, brought forward a proposal for the Private Protection Program”, soon after, Duluth became one of the first 100 cities in the United States to commit. In the seven years following the program, what they found was by reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption it was not only beneficial to the environment but also saved tax payers money. According to business developer Heidi Timm-Bjold, “The main challenge that we face in becoming sustainable is to get different systems to work together and not just give lip service”. There needs to be an initiative for businesses and individuals to work together and to make sure things are getting done. The next step in this process is to implement the policies that will provoke change and to continue building leaders that will keep this movement going.

Sustainable Twin Ports started off with a vision for consumers and corporations to become more environmentally friendly and made it their mission to introduce and assist companies in Duluth to the Natural Step Framework. So far, thirteen businesses are undergoing the process and it has inspired many other companies and citizens to take action. The City of Duluth recognizing the issue of global warming and promoting sustainable practices is helping to push this movement forward. Hopefully, after the results of the thirteen businesses become publicized the Natural Step can become implemented at a statewide level.

Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce Utilizing the Natural Step Framwork

Link to the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce Poster
Utilizing the Natural Step; Past, Present, and Future Goals

The Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce is one of the many businesses in Duluth that is involved with Sustainable Twin Ports and that is using the Natural Step Framework. The Framework was broken down and placed strategically to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their business. The first step in deciding how to rearrange a business around sustainable practices is by examining what part of the business could improve. Then mid-term goals are implemented that overall help to fix the problem and next long-term goals are laid out so the business knows what they want to strive for.

Some examples of The Duluth Area’s Chamber of Commerce short term goals were to recycle, compost, set up double sided printing, turning the computers off at night, using reusable dishes, carpooling more often, and to walk to those in walking distance. All of these goals can be completed by tweaking a few different things in the way the business and the people operates. There is not an excruciating amount of input needed to complete these goals, just a little time and energy. The mid-term goal take a little more effort to complete and the includes tasks such as changing to energy efficient light bulbs, utilize solar panels for energy, education for members, and putting coffee pots on timers. These goals can also be accomplished by investing money for more efficient and environmental friendly products, which in the long run will help save the business money. Lastly, the long term goals for The Chamber of Commerce are asking vendors to employ reusable items, using computer servers as a heat source, and to develop a carbon footprint measurement for Duluth. The Chamber of Commerce developed this list with the help of Sustainable Twin Ports in order to showcase that it is easy, beneficial, and cost-effective to modify existing structures in business to becoming sustainable practices.

The road towards becoming environmentally considerate

 In the past few years, there has been a notable shift in attitude towards becoming more environmentally friendly.  The wake of Hurricane Katrina sparked a lot of debate on why natural disasters were becoming so prevalent and The Nobel Prize and Academy Award-winning Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, gave scientific facts of a troubling condition.  Global climate change became recognized as a real phenomena and actions towards preventing such disasters intensified. The widespread media attention that followed the disaster opened people’s eyes to the realization that human actions are affecting the planet. This public outcry gave wave for community organizations and activism to flourish in hopes of making the earth become sustainable. The ImagePower Green Brands survey released May 1, 2007 by WPP, one of the world’s largest communications services groups, revealed that Americans across all socioeconomic and ethnic groups display increasing degrees of green attitudes and behaviors.[1] According to the study, 34% of Americans are “active green,” meaning they identified with the idea that taking care of the environment is society’s responsibility. This group is doing everything they can to make a long-term positive impact on the environment. The awakening of sustainable practices seemed to rank high on the agenda.

Today, environmental issues are taking the backseat to economic concerns. The 2009 ImagePower Green Brands Survey found that in the US, 77 percent of consumers communicated deeper concern for the economy than the environment.[2] Despite the fact economic concerns are a main priority of Americans, the study also finds a global agreement when asking consumers how important it is that companies be “green”. At least 77 percent of consumers in all countries say it’s somewhat or very important. 2  “While reducing toxics heads the list of consumer priorities the data also show that the public holds companies accountable for good environmental behavior across the board,” said Dan Esty, chairman of Esty Environmental Partners.  “Consumers expect companies to recycle, use energy efficiently, reduce packaging, and pursue green innovation. The data shows that even though  a vast number of other issues are prevalent in the U.S, consumers desire for sustainable practices is putting pressure on companies to act “green”.  The 2009 greenest U.S brands are IKEA, Burt’s Bees, Wal-Mart, Disney, Dove, Toyota and Green Works.  There are still a lot of advances to make towards the end goal of sustainability, but it can only be accomplished by keeping the idea of change on the global radar.   

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[1] Terry Gips, “Sustainability and the Natural Step Framework:

Creating a Win-Win-Win for Business, Communities and the Earth,”   (2008), December 09, 2009 <http://www.sustainabilityassociates.com&gt;.

[2] Cohn and Wolfe, “Despite Global Economic Meltdown, Consumers Have Increased Appetite for Green ”   (2009), December 09, 2009 theCSRfeed/Despite-Global-Economic-Meltdown-Consumers-Have-Increased-Appetite-Green>.

The Natural Step History

The Natural Step (TNS) movement was first introduced in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert, a Swedish oncologist, and Dr John Holmberg, a physicist. It was used in every school in Stockholm, Sweden as a way to sustain life on the planet. Today, The Natural Step has offices in eleven countries around the world, including the United States. 

The Natural Step Framework has a scientific foundation and is based on systems thinking. This is where one part of the system affects every other part. The systems approach ensures that the root causes of un-sustainability is the focus, rather than dealing only with the symptoms. The scientific part of the guiding sustainability principles is based on the laws of thermodynamics and natural cycles. 

There is a five level framework that The Natural Step introduces for a clear vision towards sustainability. The first step is to have a concise understanding of how the biosphere works. This is called the systems level and at its base is the idea that we are currently operating in a “funnel”. A metaphor that is used to visualize the economic, social and environmental pressures that are growing on society as natural resources and ecosystem services diminish and the population’s number and consumption grows[1]. The walls of the funnel are the increasing pressure on society. These pressures include a growing demand for resources and the declining capacity of the earth to provide those, stricter governmental laws and consumer pressure, and the social tensions surfacing from abuses of power and inequality. 

The success level is next in the framework. The end goal is for sustainability. According to The Natural Step, sustainability means that nature is not subject to systematic increases in concentrations of substances from the Earth’s crust, concentrations of substances produced by society, degradation by physical means, and, in that society, people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs[2]. The strategic level then offers guidelines for organizations to follow in using the framework. The term backcasting is often used, where organizations focus on where they want to be in the future and use that information to create a stepping-stone guide on how to get there. The action level then defines the path in which the organization will take to get to sustainability. Lastly, the tools level offers assistance and guidance from other organizations to further implement and increase sustainability practices.

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[1] Cook, D. (2009). “The Natural Step.”   Retrieved November 10, 2009, from http://www.thenaturalstep.org/. 

[2] Robert, K.-H. (2002). The Natural Step: Seeding a Quiet Revolution, New Society Publishers.

The Early Adopters Documentary

Duluth Filmmaker Chani Becker has been documenting the Early Adopter process to share the stories of the Early Adopters as they struggle with the challenges and rewards of becoming more environmentally and socially responsible (Sustainable Twin Ports). Thirteen businesses in Duluth, ranging from the Duluth Transit Authority to The Duluth Grill, have been working with Sustainable Twin Ports. Each business utilizes The Natural Step program to lower the negative influences their businesses have on the earth and ecosystem. This involves changing to environmentally friendly materials and supplies, installing energy-efficient products, lowering waste consumption, and many other tactics that benefit the earth, employees, and consumers. The Duluth businesses will undergo this project for a year. They will be working closely with Sustainable Twin Ports and documenting their results to show how easy, yet rewarding, it is to become environmentally and socially responsible.

Early Adopter Documentary

The Weather Makers

“The truly pressing issues that threaten the ecosystems and biodiversity are overgrazing, degradation of waterways, logging of forests, and pollution of our water and atmosphere, according to Tim Flannery’s national bestseller, The Weather Makers, (2005, pp. 2).” The problem when trying to solve such issues is that they get brushed away as not being immediate problems. Humans have played a crucial role in bringing about climate changes through the burning of fossil fuels and unsustainable living practices. Not a lot of policymaking is taking place to fix these problems because it is long-term and global issue. As a society we need to find sustainable ways to operate so we can protect the earth for future generations.  The Weather Makers has five sections where it looks at how the world works, the current and future impacts of climate change, the barriers that society faces when addressing climate change and potential solutions to climate change.

The novel looks deeply at the impact human beings and technology are having on the natural world. Tim Flannery did an excellent job at presenting the facts while letting the reader decide the data’s importance and what steps to take next. His claims had backing of several strong grounds for support and his warrants are reasonable and relevant. It was a very informative about the future impacts of climate change and brought in every aspect of life on Earth. This gave a relativism that climate change is a global issue and that there are ways to go about fixing the problem.

I found the section on the solutions to climate change most interesting because it dealt with the most internationally contested protocol, The Kyoto Protocol.  It is calling to reduce CO2 emissions by allowing industries cost-effective methods to reducing emissions. The major industrial nations pledged to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012. There have been many criticisms to the treaty, mainly, because it is trying to tackle a big problem without looking at the smaller more important problems. Countries, such as the U.S and Australia, are not ratifying the treaty for economic and political reasons. The cost of changing the infrastructure would be hefty, but in all actuality, the cost of reducing carbon emissions is small compared to the amount of money needed to fix the damages that climate changes produce. The problem is that countries like the U.S and Australia ground themselves on a myth of limitless growth and private ownership. They fear that the system would  interrupt the economy and do not want to deal with such drastic changes because the signs of climate change are still minor.

Flannery, T. (2005). The Weather Makers, Grove Press.

Minnesota- Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region

This article outlines how changes in the climate are impacting Minnesota communities and ecosystems. It was written by Lucinda Johnson and Stephen Polasky and was published in 2003, by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Ecological Society of America.

The article lists the present signs of climate change throughout the Great Lakes region and then highlights the potential impacts of these changes on agriculture, wildlife, forests, water sources, human health, and recreation and tourism. The signs in Minnesota that climate change is present according to Johnson and Polasky, are the average temperatures are increasing, severe rainstorms are becoming more frequent, winters are getting shorter, and Lake Superior’s ice cover is drastically decreasing.

The article shares how the chnaging climate in Minnesota does not only affect the weather and ecosystem but everything on earth.  Plants and animals will have to move north because they are unable to adapt to the warmer weather and in some cases it is impossible for this to take place. Extinctions of many plants and animals will be the result.  One great consequence to climate change that the authors points out was on human health. With such extreme variations in the weather, more disease and airborne illness will come about. The H1N1 is a great example of a new illness that could spiral out of control with variations in the weather.

Lucinda Johnson and Stephen Polasky outlined many steps that ordinary people can take to reduce the potential impacts from climate change. First, by reducing heat-trapping gas emissions. This could be accomplished with the increase in energy-efficient products, investing in renewable energy sources, and through clean transportation choices. Another step is to minimize pressures on the environment by improving air quality and protecting fresh water sources. Lastly they state that we need to be well prepared for the impacts that cannot be avoided.

I find this argument convincing because I have noticed a change in Duluth’s weather, especially how warm it has been at the start of November. I feel like changes need to take place immediatley and Lucinda Johnson and Stephen Polasky did a good job at outline steps that could be taken towards fixing this problem. It is unrealistic to say that everything can be fixed and the authors accept this by saying we must prepare for what cannot be avoided. Protecting the fresh water sources and ensuring clean air should be the primary focus. If these sources are destroyed all life on earth will perish. This article outlines what will happen if changes are not made making the claim that the vital resources on earth need protection.

Johnson,L &  Polasky, S. (2003). Minnesota:Confronting climate change in the great lakes  region. Accessed 21, October. http://www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes

Project status report

Human systems exceed the carrying capacity of the planet, diminishing the planet’s ability to support life. We must turn towards sustainable development to create a healthy environment and to ensure human beings can meet their needs without compromising the needs of future generations. In developing a sustainable future, the inefficient systems that are currently in place have to be revisited. This will require global action and participation towards developing alternative solutions.

The most abundant greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, or CO2. The Keeling curve has shown that the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have doubled in the past fifty years to 384 parts per million. CO2 is not solely responsible for climate change rather it triggers an increase of water vapor. It does this by heating the atmosphere just a little, allowing it to take up and retain more moisture, which then warms the atmosphere further (Flannery, 2005, pp. 28). Humans are responsible for the increase in CO2 primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. In order to stabilize CO2 emissions the levels have to be lowered to 350 parts per million.  To carry out this, we have to subdue the exploit of fossil fuels for energy and fuel by using alternative, clean methods. Also, the destruction of forests, agriculture lands and waterways have to be prevented.  Addressing  these issues individually and at a global scale  are the only way for sufficient change to occur.

Sustainable Twin Ports is a global not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering economic, environmental & social sustainability in the Twin Ports through education, networking and action. In their claimsmaking process they developed a “Natural Step Framework”. This framework offers guidelines which facilitate businesses and corporations in making strategic decisions towards resource management. Currently, fourteen businesses in Duluth, Minnesota are undergoing The Early Adopter Project utilizing the Natural Step Framework. Each business receives intensive training and coaching to show that it is possible and economically advantageous to increase sustainable practices.

My action plan towards sustainable resource management and development is through education programs implemented in schools, business, and the government. I need to simultaneously address social, economic, and environmental development and stride towards long-term goals, rather than just treating the symptoms of the problem. The most important principles towards a sustainable living, outlined in Daniel Chiras book ‘Environmental Science’,  are; population stabilization, growth management, renewable energy use, and sustainable resource management. By focusing on these interrelated systems and tackling them as a whole, there could be great strides made towards the goal ensuring the world to future generations.

Chiras, D. (2009). Environmental Science. Sudbury, MA : Jones and Bartlett.

Flannery, T. (2005). The Weather Makers. New York: Grove Press.

 http://www.sustainabletwinports.com

Ecological Footprint