Portions of this post are reprinted from presskontakt.se and from the Swedish Sustainable Economy Foundation’s blog.

Shutterstock photo of Gotland, Sweden

Last month, the Swedish Sustainable Economy Foundation and a consortium of scientists and sustainability practitioners, including The Natural Step and Natural Step partners in Finland, submitted a project proposal to study the island of Gotland as a Sweden in miniature, using it as a test case to create a circular, emission-free economy.

The proposal is designed to address the dual concerns of rising unemployment and pollution of the Baltic, resulting from the leakage of money and jobs from the import of fertilizers and the leakage of nutrients from the soil into the sea. Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic.

The Foundation is concerned that the ecology of the Baltic will collapse if phosphorous emissions are not brought under control. At the same time they feel that it is high time to address the risks associated with the potential depletion of phosphorus supplies that may give us as little as 30 years to change practices to recycling rather than mining as our main source of fertilizers.

We already have all the knowledge we need to answer this question, and efforts are under way to do just that. Have a look at this clever response to Joel Makower's GreenBiz article "What Is Sustainability Anyway?", co-authored by The Natural Step Canada board member Bob Willard (the well-known author and sustainable business guru) and The Natural Step Canada executive director Chad Park. 

At The Natural Step International, we are working hard to craft TNS 2.0 with an inspiring business and organizational strategic direction. We’re very excited as we look forward!  At the same time, we celebrate the excellent work TNS offices, associates and partners are already doing around the world. This issue of Stepping Stones is dedicated to all the practitioners doing good work—within TNS and in the broader FSSD community. As we look towards the future, it is good to know we are resting on such a solid and valuable foundation.

Beyond Sustainability

Soon we will announce a subtle but powerful change to the way we talk about our mission. We want to make it clear that “sustainability” in itself is not the endgame. Rather, we think of sustainability as simply forming a set of baseline design constraints that we can all use to create exciting, positive futures together. Getting the design constraints right is of course critical, and this is where the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD, a.k.a. The Natural Step Framework) can help. But the goal is a great world, not a merely sustainable one—that’s something people can get excited about. And when we say it’s something we do together, that’s because we know that in complex systems the kind of shifts we hope to see can only happen through collaboration.

Compiled by Scott Perret and Kelly Baxter

In this issue of Stepping Stones, we celebrate our Natural Step family by presenting a snapshot review of our latest projects.

With a network of offices, associates and strategic partners that spans the globe (13 countries and counting), sometimes it's hard to keep track of the full scope and rich detail of all the great work everyone in our TNS network is doing. From tackling sustainable beef to defining a gold standard for sustainable business, to translating strategic sustainable development for the indigenous Māori context, the breadth and depth of collaborative engagement our people have with all sectors of society is breathtaking.

We hope you'll enjoy this sampling from the field as much as we enjoyed assembling it for you!