Det Naturliga Steget har ambitioner att växa, att synas och höras mer. För att göra det måste vi genomföra ett lyft gällande vår webb, våra informationsunderlag och vår närvaro inom sociala medier. Vi behöver också bli bättre på att formulera oss mot olika målgrupper.

Det Naturliga Steget har valt att fokusera på ett par sektorer som är viktiga för en hållbar samhällsutveckling. De utvalda är kemianvändning, mat, turism, byggande & bostäder samt innovation & design.

The Natural Step in Sweden has decided to focus on a few sectors that are important for sustainability. The selected ones are chemical management/use, food, tourism, construction & housing, and innovation & design. The use and development of chemicals is an area to which The Natural Step has been connected for several years. We have a number of well-established partnerships in Europe and a number of contacts in the U.S. We are now looking to enhance our strength and influence towards the chemical industry, chemical users and stakeholders.

Det Naturliga Steget har valt att fokusera på ett par sektorer som är viktiga för en hållbar samhällsutveckling. De utvalda är kemianvändning, mat, turism, byggande & bostäder samt innovation & design.

Inom sektorn byggande och bostäder har vi ett antal pågående samarbeten och etablerade relationer med flera av de stora svenska aktörerna. Nu vill vi ta nästa steg för att driva sektorn mot hållbart byggande och hållbara bostäder.

Det Naturliga Steget har ett förnyat fokus på att utveckla den svenska verksamheten och att öka vårt bidrag till en hållbar utveckling i samhället. Detta skall ske genom att dels höras och synas mer i debatten men framförallt genom att bistå fler företag och organisationer i deras strategiska utveckling mot hållbarhet.

Generalsekreteraren är den främsta/e företrädaren och ”ambassadören” för Det Naturliga Steget. Hon/han skall representera och i varje läge sätta norm och standard för organisationens ambitioner och värderingar.

Over the past 10 plus years, we have been fortunate to be able to get to know a number of businesses and business leaders who are taking a leadership role in sustainability. They do this not only due to their commitment to a better future, but—perhaps more importantly—they feel that sustainability is a real driver of long-term profitability and resiliency. This requires an honest organizational dialogue about its key sustainability challenges and a vision that goes right at the heart of what sustainability means for its core business strategy.

For example, take the Landmark Group of Builders, a medium-sized home builder located in Edmonton, Alberta. One of the key early initiatives that has really driven their sustainability journey was an honest look at how their core business processes were contributing to the degradation of social and ecological systems, including affecting big issues such as climate change, toxicity, and urban sprawl. Although not an easy conversation, this led to adopting a bold vision for the business that charts a course for long-term success for the business and sustainability for the planet.

The Opportunity

In 1998, Nike approached The Natural Step to help the company apply the principles of sustainability to its business operations. Over the following decade, Nike made considerable progress on a number of fronts, such as addressing labour compliance issues in their supply chain, reducing emissions, and eliminating toxic materials from their products. However, by 2008 a sentiment was building among the leaders of the company that these efforts were mostly about reducing negative impacts of their business and, as such, were backward rather than forward looking. To better align its efforts with the Nike culture, the company needed an aspirational goal to drive innovation efforts and align the ongoing work into a single forward-looking direction.

The Response

With leadership from Nike’s Director of Corporate Responsibility Horizons and the General Manager of Nike Considered, Nike and The Natural Step developed a project that would lead to transformative change in the organization and further position the company as a leader in sustainable product innovation.

The Opportunity

The David Suzuki Foundation is committed to sustainability, and has implemented several ambitious internal initiatives over the years. These include reducing energy usage and waste, selecting green buildings for two of its offices, partnering with Cisco to adopt communication technologies that reduce air travel, tracking and offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions, choosing green suppliers, and so on. Building on this work, the Foundation now wants to evolve and demonstrate the best of its internal activities through a more strategic organizational approach to sustainability.

The Response

The David Suzuki Foundation is developing its internal sustainability plan with guidance from The Natural Step Canada. The plan will use The Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to address all aspects of the organization, from governance, employee well-being, operations, and beyond, and will align with other strategic planning processes underway in the organization. Key deliverables will include a compelling sustainable development vision, strategic goals, and an organizational sustainability roadmap.

On June 4, environmental groups and other organizations are blacking out their web sites to protest Bill C-38. We won't be blacking our web site out, but we do have something to say.

At The Natural Step Canada, we are not experts in the policies being debated. Other groups have considerably more to say on the implications of the policies in question.

But what we can speak to—from a standpoint of considerable experience—is the unfortunate tone of this public debate and the government’s divisive approach that has led us to where we are.

We need a different way forward and know that a better way exists. We have experienced it countless times in the hundreds of inspiring projects that we have been a part of with businesses and communities across the country.

The public framing of the issues, especially recently, would seem to suggest that we must either be on the side of the environment or on the side of jobs and the economy. This is nonsense.

When our best friends’ first son was born five years ago, I ran to the bookstore and bought a copy of “Where the Wild Things Are,” which remains one of my favorite books. The author, Maurice Sendak, believed that children need to confront the scary and fearsome things in life. And there are a lot of scary and fearsome things facing children these days.

Last year, a group of teenagers filed suit (Alec L. v. Lisa Jackson, et al, C11-02203) in federal court alleging that the federal government was violating its duty to protect the public by not acting to protect the public trust: our land, water and atmosphere. They request injunctive relief requiring the federal government to act to reduce carbon emissions, create a carbon inventory and create a carbon reduction plan.