Shining a Light on Sustainability is an introductory video from the Australian Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability at Macquarie University, Sydney.

This video introduces the concept of sustainability and explains our current situation even before any potential challenges from climate change are involved.

Secure your spot today!

The Natural Step Canada is convening this conference because we keep hearing increasing calls for greater collaboration to solve complex sustainability challenges. But collaboration is not easy. Many of us are used to addressing problems and issues at an organizational scale and do not have experience engaging diverse groups and being effective contributors to multi-stakeholder change processes.

We are not the only group who recognizes this challenge. Most of the organizations we work with mention that they can only go so far on their sustainability journeys before they run up against barriers – policy, market, financial, and so on – that require them to work with organizations they are not used to working with.

The ACCELERATE: Collaborating for Sustainability conference is designed so that participants will have the chance to learn about collaboration from experts and practitioners but also, importantly, to experience collaboration

Congratulations to the Landmark Group of Builders for winning the Award for Corporate Environmental Excellence at the 11th annual GLOBE-Net Awards for Environmental Excellence! To read more about how The Natural Step has helped Landmark embed sustainability into every aspect of the company please visit www.naturalstep.ca/landmark-group-of-builders.

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Do you want to join or help build a more cohesive, global Community of FSSD-related Change Makers? Registration of interest is ongoing. Join our growing crowd of people who want to be kept posted on our progress, or the “Helpful Collective” of those willing to contribute time and skills on an occasional basis, as needs arise and time permits. There will be plenty of opportunities as we move forward.

In this video, created in cooperation with our friends at DeLaval, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Founder of The Natural Step, touches upon the challenges we as humanity face today and the role businesses can play. To enable seeing the big picture of the sustainability challenge and turning this into opportunities. He gives examples and methods of how this journey is possible and encourages all to start designing the future by identifying boundary conditions for a sustainable future.

Calling all change makers!

Do you want to join or help build a more cohesive, global Community of FSSD-related Change Makers? Here is a link with different options to register your interest. The deadline to volunteer for the Launch Team is January 31, 2013, so act fast!

Tactics Shifted

Last month, in December 2012, I wrote a post entitled “Name It and Come Together”, in which I described the two project proposals I believed were the highest priority leverage points for disseminating the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD, also known as The Natural Step Framework) more broadly, and fostering a more cohesive community of FSSD change makers. These were:

1.  NAME IT:  Build the Base for the FSSD Brand by

a.  articulating its Unique Value, and
b.  giving it a New Name that is easy to say and remember, globally

2.  COME TOGETHER:  Build an Online Sharing Platform for the broader FSSD Community of Change-Makers

Several of you replied, raising your hands to let us know you’d like to be involved, which has been very exciting!

Shortly after writing that post, however, I received a raft of excellent feedback on what should still be considered and done before launching the call to form task forces around these projects. Sifting through this feedback, at first I felt a bit overwhelmed. But, taken as a whole, it made me realize something important, that has caused me to shift tactics in my efforts to help get our happy community off the ground.

(Le texte français suit)

INTRODUCTION

Young people care deeply about the fate of the planet, its people, and their future. Given the opportunity, youth have great power to influence positive change in their communities. The IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training program is a call to passionate, motivated youth who are looking for an opportunity to make a difference.

The Co-operators and The Natural Step Canada are partnering to offer the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training across Canada.

The Opportunity

By the early 2000s, the District of North Vancouver had initiated a number of projects in response to residents’ concerns about sustainability. However, with the creation of a bold vision in 2005 ‘to be among the most sustainable communities in the world by 2020’, the District began to realize that it needed to approach sustainability in a more holistic, systematic and robust way in its own operations.

29-31 januari 2013 Linköping, Sweden

Det Naturliga Steget is an Endorsing Partner of this event and will participate and highly recommend our friends and parterns to join in.

The year 2050 we will be 9 billion on Earth. 80% of us will live in cities. The cities are expanding in a way that will force longer transports of what we grow for food. At the same time the land suitable for cultivation will not suffice. We are approaching a future where serious conflicts regarding food as a resource is close at hand. D.S.

Dear Friends,

Almost one month ago I joined The Natural Step (TNS) as Secretariat Director of TNS International, and I am very happy to have the opportunity of introducing myself to the community of Natural Step followers and friends.

Let me tell you a bit about me: I am Italian, and I have lived in many different countries over the last twenty years. I currently live in Copenhagen with my husband Leonardo and my two children, Tea and Nico.

I come from a blend of scientific, business and non-profit backgrounds. My formal education is in physics and business. I worked in non-profit emergency relief for a number of years, then switched to the business environment, where I spent the last fifteen years helping companies to develop and implement their organizations, strategies, businesses and operations, both as a line manager and as a consultant.

It is a very busy and exciting moment for us here at TNSI. During 2012 TNSI committed itself to three strategic objectives, all with the aim of accelerating change towards sustainability: