The Natural Step Canada – Spring 2009 Newsletter

Message from the Executive Director

Our big news in this issue is that we’re launching The Natural Step Learning Network. The Network is a direct response to requests from our partners to connect them to each other to enable learning and collaboration to advance the practice of sustainability across sectors. Twenty organizations have already signed up to be founding members and we’re grateful to The Co-operators for joining as our Founding Partner. To help us find a creative name for the network I’m issuing a challenge: send us your ideas by March 31st and the winning entry will receive a free pass to all of our network launch events in Whistler on June 4th and 5th, and to all our webinars this year. 

Yours sincerely,
Kelly Hawke Baxter

 

Upcoming Events

TNS to Launch Learning Network in Whistler June 4th – 5th

The Natural Step Learning Network for municipal and business sustainability champions will be formally launched on June 4th and 5th in Whistler, BC, prior to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual General Meeting. The Learning Network is for municipal, business and non-profit sustainability champions who want to learn from each other to advance the practice of sustainability. Join us for two days of workshops , dialogues and Whistler site visits around the theme of Working Together for a Sustainable Future. Register your availability here!

Municipal Workshops to be held at CAMA, FCM meetings in June

The Natural Step and the Whistler Centre for Sustainability will be offering a series of workshops during the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators and Federation of Canadian Municipalities AGMS in Whistler in early June. Read more

Sustainability Insights Webinar Series

Beginning in March, The Natural Step is offering a webinar series called Sustainability Insights. The purpose of this webinar series is to provide leaders and learners with an opportunity to explore different tools and concepts for catalyzing sustainability in their own organizations and communities.

Upcoming sessions:
Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSPs): Wednesday, March 25th at 1pm EST, $50 for non-network members.

Green Procurement: Wednesday, May 27th at 1pm EST, $50 for non-network members.  Each webinar will include time for informal discussion and networking.

Pathways to Sustainability Conference

From May 20th to 21st, Cochrane, Alberta will host the Pathways to Sustainability Conference. Designed around a revolutionary new model for learning, networking and relationship building, Pathways to Sustainability is for all those who want to create the healthy, resilient communities that will lead Alberta to a sustainable future.

Highlighting Sustainability Leadership

Over the years, we have worked with extraordinary people throughout Canada who have shown tremendous leadership in mobilizing their organizations and communities toward a sustainable future. They have inspired us with their vision and commitment. We’d like to share their stories. The third story in our leadership series comes from Kathy Bardswick, President and CEO of The Co-operators. Read more.

 

News on the Ground

Corporate Knights Most Sustainable Cities Rankings Released

The Natural Step was the lead advisor to Corporate Knights, a Canadian magazine that promotes responsible business, in developing the magazine’s rankings for this year’s Most Sustainable Cities in Canada ranking. Read more.

Twin Ports

In the fall of 2008, 14 businesses and organizations from the Twin Ports communities of Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota committed to becoming ‘Early Adopters’ of sustainability, using The Natural Step Framework as a guide. Read more.

Saskatoon Best Practices Scan

In 2008, Saskatoon asked The Natural Step to review its internal decision-making and governance practices as well as the best practices of leading municipalities.
For more information on best practices scans or other services offered by The Natural Step, contact info@naturalstep.ca. Read more.

Greening Ottawa NPOs

The Natural Step has partnered with the Ottawa EnviroCentre to provide a free sustainability capacity building program for 25 not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) in Ottawa. If your organization is interested in this program but missed the deadline, contact envirocentre@ottawa.ca to find out if there is still space.

Town of Canmore Celebrates Progress with Community Photo Exhibit

This month, The Town of Canmore is showcasing a photo exhibit and community celebration called ‘What Comes Naturally.’

One Million Acts of Green: The Okotoks-Airdrie Challenge

Since late 2008, the City of Airdrie, Alberta, has been engaged in a good natured competition with the neighbouring Town of Okotoks to see which community can commit to more ‘acts of green’ as part of the CBC’s One Million Acts of Green challenge.

Past Events

Ontario Champions Gather in Markham to hear Whistler Mayor

In early January, decision makers and sustainability champions convened in Markham, Ontario to hear Whistler, BC Mayor Ken Melamed share his lessons learned on the road to community sustainability and discuss Whistler’s plans to host the most sustainable Olympics in history. Read more.

Hallbarhet

In February 2009, an inaugural gathering of emerging sustainability practitioners from around the world took place in Australia. ‘Hallbarhet’ 2009, a Swedish word for sustainability, brought together alumni from the Master of Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability  (MSLS) program, an acclaimed international programme grounded in The Natural Step Framework with a rigorous, whole systems view and a foundation in science. Read more

 

Updates from Around the World

City of Dublin

In November 2008, the City of Dublin held a launch event to celebrate and communicate the sustainability work of Dublin City Council. Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of The Natural Step, gave the keynote address.

Blog Roll

David Cook, Chief Executive Officer of The Natural Step International, discuss
ed the link between the current economic crisis and sustainability at the European Parliament in Brussels. Read his blog about the experience here. Regina Hauser, Executive Director of The Natural Step Network in the United States, recently attended a presentation on Peak Oil. Read her blog here.

Watch our videos on YouTube!

We invite you to visit our YouTube channel, which includes videos featuring The Natural Step founder Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed, and more!

Resources

The Natural Step Guidebooks for Sustainability

The Natural Step has developed two new documents to help individuals and organizations with strategic planning for a sustainable future. The Natural Step Sustainability Primer and Planning for Sustainability: A Starter Guide will be available online for free download in May.

Resources for Choosing Responsible Paper

Most offices in North America continue to rely heavily on paper. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources available to help make more responsible decisions about where this paper comes from. One excellent source is the Environmental Paper Network (EPN)’s "Paper Purchaser’s Toolkit", which features a graphical representation of the hierarchy of environmental impacts and benefits from different paper production modes, along with statistics.

Sustainability in an Economic Downturn

New research has found that 76% of CEOs and senior executives polled in a global survey conducted during the height of the 2008 financial crisis believe that it is important for senior executives to have the necessary knowledge and skills to respond to trends like the low carbon economy, resource scarcity and doing business in emerging markets marked by poverty, corruption and human rights violations. At the same time, fewer than 8% believe that their own organizations are preparing them for this challenge.

The Natural Step eLearning Courses

Sustainability: Step by Natural Step™ and Sustainability 101™ are affordable, interactive on-line courses that provide practical sustainability education. These innovative and award-winning courses are being used by thousands of people in leading organizations around the world – recent clients include Rohm and Haas, Nike, and more than a dozen municipal governments across Canada. Interested in purchasing a course or becoming a distribution partner? Visit www.thenaturalstep.org/canada/elearning or contact elearning@naturalstep.ca

Support The Natural Step

Help us help Canadian communities. The Natural Step is a registered Canadian charity and a registered ‘1% for the planet’ charity. We want to make our tools, materials and presentations as widely available as possible, but we can’t do it without your help.

Please support our work by donating online, or by sending a cheque to our office at:

The Natural Step Canada
355 Waverly Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 0W4
Tel: 613-748-3001

If you have other creative ways to help, want to volunteer with us, or contribute an in kind service, we would love to hear from you. Thank you for your support!