Sustainable Communities: AA WayWay ForFor EveryoneEveryone toto Win?Win?

Unit Overview Background for Teachers This unit is designed to help students What is a “sustainable community”? Specific grasp one of the central concepts of definitions vary, but generally sustainable sustainable development: that economic, communities are ones that manage to stay environmental and social issues are healthy and vital over an extended term. Their interdependent. Sustainable solutions are citizens enjoy living in these communities and ones that provide win-win outcomes and are able to meet basic needs for employment, balance these three areas of consideration education, health, safety, consumption of goods wherever possible. and services, preservation of their environment, The purpose of the lessons in this unit are aesthetic beauty and quality of life. Some actions to give students an opportunity to experience and patterns of development tend to promote problem solving that promotes sustainable sustainability over the long term and others outcomes. Students then apply this approach detract from it. It is the job of citizens and to problem solving and development in their community leaders to assure that decisions own community. made in the community will promote long term benefits to the community as a whole. Using the Unit Sustainable development provides a Students will discuss how the lessons of this model for community development and exercise might be applied to sustainable problem solving that promotes the creation of Com. Sus. community development and problem solving. sustainable communities. The first step in The first activity shows students how utilizing a working towards a sustainable community win-win approach to problem solving is working development is recognizing that a healthy in some exemplary communities around the community, depends upon economic nation and the world. Students will examine opportunity, environmental quality and social these case studies and analyze how the lessons harmony in equal measures. Ultimately, from the exercise are illustrated in each case. success in each arena depends in large In the second activity students assess measure upon the success of the other two. opportunities for creation of sustainable A community may be able to thrive for a solutions in the context of their own period of time in an atmosphere of rapid community, and develop simple proposals that growth and industrial expansion without communicate their ideas. consideration for environmental or social consequences, but ultimately problems in these areas will emerge and cloud the benefits Grade Levels: High School (9-12) of such development. Communities have followed such unbalanced patterns for SOL’s: World History II 1, 15; World Geography 1, 2, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12; Virginia and US History 1, 14 centuries; history shows us the consequences in case after case. Skills: problem solving, analysis, cooperation, Sustainable development requires that we evaluation think about community development in a Key Terms/Concepts: sustainable communities, broad scope and over a long period of time. economy, environment, social climate Rather than simply planning for the next five or ten years, it requires considering the next

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 1 fifty or one hundred years in our decisions and • Analyze local communities for their it requires seeking solutions that do not strengths and weaknesses in terms require sacrifice of one important goal to of sustainability. achieve another. • Generate ideas for promoting Sustainable models of development seek sustainable development in the to produce economic gain while preserving local context. habitat, minimizing harm to the natural environment and promoting social harmony. Materials These goals must be taken into consideration Copies for Activity A: “What makes a in the planning phases of development in Community Sustainable?” (SC 1) and Case order to be most effective. Studies (SC 2-5) Traditionally, communities have often felt Copies of Activity B: “Community Profile and that it was necessary to trade-off one benefit Sustainable Solutions” (SC 6-7) for another in the process of community development. For example, a community Procedure might feel that environmental quality or Activity A: preservation of open space is a necessary 1. Handout Activity A: “What Makes a sacrifice in order to assure adequate jobs for Community Sustainable” and Case Studies residents and substantial economic growth. (SC 1-5) to the class and have them read the An alternative approach that has the potential introduction and studies in class or for to lead to more sustainable outcomes is to homework. look at the big picture and seek out ways for multiple parties to benefit simultaneously. The 2. After students have read following activities give some examples of how the piece facilitate a class this approach is working in three different discussion highlighting the

Sus. Com. communities. ways that each case study illustrates “win-win” Unit Context solutions to various In the context of our Hard vs Soft Green problems. Framework (see Chapter 2), Hard Green For example: enthusiasts focus on education and human In Case 1, the business initiatives being capital development as the most important implemented with the help of the ASD factor in shaping and nurturing sustainable address the fundamental economic problem of communities. Soft Green advocates see unemployment by creating new jobs for government as a key player, e.g., in community members. The environment is formulating environmental policies based on protected because the jobs that are being logical economic incentives and in limiting created (organic farming, marketing, access to public lands and resources to avoid sustainable forestry, woodworking and solar the “Tragedy of the Commons.” Perhaps drying ) are all enterprises that have minimal there is wisdom in both perspectives. negative impacts on the environment relative to more traditional income generating Learning Objectives enterprises. Social needs are better met • Solve a problem using cooperative because higher quality foods are made methods. available in the local market, personal health is • Analyze application of sustainable likely to improve with less exposure to solutions to community development hazards in the workplace; and with increased in several contexts. incomes, local communities will have more

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 2 revenues to provide for improvements in Have them outline ideas in the Sustainable housing, healthcare, transportation, education, Solutions worksheet (SC 6-7) on the following etc. page. Students should be given ample time to generate their ideas. Activity B: 1. Handout Activity B: “Community Profiles 5. When students have completed this and Sustainable Solutions” (SC 6-7) to the portion of the activity, allow them to share class. Class members may work individually, their ideas with the class or collect the in teams or collectively as a class on this worksheets and choose a few ideas that seem portion of the unit. particularly well thought out for presentation before the class. 2. In the first part of the activity students are asked to use their own observations and Enrichment: experiences to describe the health of their Have students evaluate all of the various local community in terms of economic, ideas presented in Activity B and chose one environmental and social factors. They are to which might actually be implemented use the table provided to jot down their successfully in the community. Have students observations. develop a formal proposal based upon the idea and find a public forum in which to 3. When each individual or team has had a present the proposal. This might be before a chance to fill out the table, facilitate a class local government body, a local civic group or a discussion in which students can share their foundation that gives funds for community observations with one another. Is there any projects. general agreement about community strengths Com. Sus. and weaknesses? If there is disagreement, explore why this might be. We all see the world through different eyes: what one person may consider a problem (large impersonal strip malls surrounded by seas of asphalt), others may see as a benefit (lots of exciting shopping opportunities that are easy to access by car). Allow students to maintain these different points of view and explain that this is one of the real challenges that faces communities in seeking sustainable solutions to problems.

4. Next, have individuals or groups use the information generated in the Community Characteristics chart to brainstorm some ideas for possible solutions that represent win-win outcomes for their community.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 3 Resources Center of Excellence for Sustainable Bernard, Ted and Jora Young, The Ecology Development of Hope: Communities Collaborate for www.sustainable.doe.gov Sustainability (Canada: New Society Publishers), 1997. Center for Livable Communities www. lgc.org/center Hawken, P., et al., Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (New Center for Neighborhood Technology York: Little Brown & Company), 1999. www.cnt.org

Roseland, Mark. Toward Sustainable National Center for Appropriate Communities Resources for Citizens and their Technology www.ncat.org Governments (Canada: New Society Publishers), 1998. Institute for Sustainable Communities www.iscvt.org Alliance for Community Education and Pearson-Glaser Productions with US International Council for Local Environmental Protection Agency, This Place Environmental Initiatives Called Home: Tools for Sustainable www.iclei.org Communities (CD-ROM), (Washington DC: The Agency), 1998. Rocky Mountain Institute www.rmi.org

Sustainable Communities Network www.sustainable.org Sus. Com.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 4 What Makes A Community Sustainable?

hink of a sustainable community life problems begin to make their community as something like a three-legged an unattractive place to live. Eventually local Tstool, where each leg represents businesses may have a hard time attracting a different element of community health and good employees and may even be forced to vitality. One leg represents a thriving local relocate, hurting the local economy in the economy that can provide good jobs, wages process. The same could and high standards of living be said for a community that for residents now and into has such restrictive the future. A second leg environmental regulations represents a healthy that economic growth is environment in which air suffocated. Poor and water are clean, natural communities do not have habitat and biodiversity are funds to protect or enhance preserved, open-space is the local environment. protected, waste is Conversely, a community minimized and natural could spend so heavily on resources are managed well the creation of an attractive and can provide for the social climate that they are needs of humans and other forced to impose sky-high living things for generations tax rates on local businesses Com. Sus. to come. The third leg represents a high- and residents, giving an incentive to move quality social climate where human needs away. for health care, safety, transportation, Smart communities know that keeping a education, recreation, community balance between these three key areas is the cohesiveness, beautiful surroundings, access best way for them to thrive over the long to resources and resident participation in local term. The difficult part comes in putting these decision making are all met successfully. ideals into practice in a consistent way. The When each of these legs is equally truth is that the process of making sturdy and strong, the stool functions very communities more sustainable is a difficult one well. When even one leg is damaged or with no clear solution. It is a constantly broken, the stool will become unbalanced evolving process. There are a number of and is likely to fall. In sustainable examples from Virginia, the nation, and the communities the goal is to keep all three of world of communities making concrete strides these “legs” strong and balanced over the towards greater sustainability through long term. When a community concentrates development of “win-win” solutions, applying its entire focus on only one of these “legs”, the strategies of cooperative and integrated problems inevitably arise. A community that problem solving. In each of the following sacrifices its environmental health for the sake examples, think about how the solutions of economic expansion may seem to benefit represent win-win outcomes that seek to in the short run but eventually they may find strengthen more than a single “leg” of the that pollution, health and perceived quality of stool.

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 5 Case Study #1 Southwest Virginia Growing Sustainable Businesses

any of the rural Appalachian enterprises. Their goal is to diversify the communities of Southwest economic base of the struggling communities M Virginia and Northeast Tennessee and increase their regional self-reliance have traditionally sustained themselves sustainably. To this end, local Appalachian through mining, oil and gas extraction, milling, communities are being supported through the logging and tobacco production. Yet today work of the ASD and other organizations extremely high unemployment and poverty through a number of ventures. The list rates in the area prevail , with nearly 40% of includes: organic farming operations, residents in one county living below the marketing associations that link sustainable poverty line. These traditional enterprises farmers to restaurants, health food stores and have created problems of waste disposal, a locally owned grocery chain, timber water and soil contamination, land subsidence, operations and wood manufacturing firms that soil erosion, industrial emissions and water employ sustainable harvesting practices and table declines. The conditions in this area create high-value wood products, solar drying have generated a sense that communities kilns for local hardwoods and a series of must make a choice: jobs or the environment. demonstration farms and ecologically sound A regional non-profit organization, timber harvesting sites that function as part of a Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD), local education network. The hope is that, has been working with these communities to over time, such enterprises and value-adding present another alternative to solving the “jobs facilities will increase jobs and revenue retained in local communities while reducing

Sus. Com. or environment” problem through the creation of locally based, ecologically healthy destructive influences on local environments.

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 6 Case Study #2 Chattagnooga, Tennessee From “America’s Dirtiest City” to “Best Mid-Size City in America”

n 1969 Chattanooga earned the One of the most successful projects has distinction of being labeled “America’s been Chattanooga’s electric bus initiative, I Dirtiest City”. Air pollution from TNT which evolved as a way to cut down on traffic factories and steel foundries gave the sky a congestion, pollution, automobile dependence permanent orange tint, and cars used their and the need for expansion of downtown headlights in the middle of the day to make parking facilities. A private company was their way through the smog. Its residents formed to produce the buses and the system faced deep problems of job layoffs, a began operation in 1992. The ridership is deteriorating city now up to more than 1 million passengers per Com. Sus. infrastructure, year and is credited with contributing to a racial tensions and revitalization of the downtown business and social division. shopping district. The city faced an A second project that met with great identity crisis, and success was the creation of a Riverwalk along was labeled an “invisible city” with no real the portion of the Tennessee river that passes image. through the city. The Riverwalk is a This period of crisis motivated residents, continuous circuit of parks, trails and landmarks community leaders and local government to that stretches for miles, serving as a catalyst for come together to create the Chattanooga outdoor activity and a pedestrian link for the Venture – a nonprofit organization with the citizens of Chattanooga. Gradually, the goal of cleaning up the city on all fronts: riverfront is becoming a focal point of the city environmental, social and economic. In 1984, again, leading to the revitalization of the a project called “Vision 2000” brought together downtown area and the creation of a more than 1700 people to develop a set of 40 Tennessee Aquarium educational center that goals for the city to achieve by the year 2000. hosts thousands of visitors a year. The goals focused on six key areas: future Other successful projects include the alternatives, places, people, work, play and Environmental City Project, which works to government. Today, many of the original goals attract “clean industries” to the area, retain have been realized. These projects are varied environmentally sound businesses, and in scope but all work to create a more increase overall environmental awareness sustainable community as defined by the throughout the city. people who live there. SC 3

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 7 Another successful operation is the “Revision 2000,” which will develop a new set Orange Grove Materials Recovery Facility, a of goals for the next decade. Chattanooga is recycling center that employs mentally now striving to be labeled the “Best Mid-sized challenged adults, and handles the recyclable City in America” and to act as a working model goods of the entire region at approximately of a more sustainable community. one-tenth of the cost of facilities in similarly sized cities. The Vision 2000 project continues with Sus. Com.

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 8 Case Study #3 Curitiba, Brazil Transportation Innovation

uritiba, Brazil, a city of 1.6 landscape. Residential and commercial million people, has managed density permits and property taxes were C to avoid the traffic congestion and adjusted to reward citizens for living and pollution woes of its neighbor to the north, Sao working near the public transit corridors. Paulo. Seventy five percent of the city’s These strategies led to the development of a commuters use public transit and traffic has comprehensive mass transit system, a hybrid declined by 30 percent since 1974, even between a bus and subway system. The cost though population has more than doubled. of building this “surface subway” was much The key to this success can be traced back less than creating a rail system, and it was to the vision of Jaime Lerner, a former mayor designed in such a way that loading and of the city who, in 1971, saw in the future unloading could be done quickly. Buses travel massive traffic congestion if something was not along expressways that keep them from done to stem it. In a response to this threat having to compete with other traffic. The he implemented land use policies that encour- system allows workers to travel quickly and aged growth along five major corridors, which cheaply from their homes to their jobs in the extended out from the city center like bicycle city. Per capita fuel consumption in Curitiba is spokes. Using this model, population growth 25 percent lower than elsewhere in the would be concentrated in specific areas rather country, and the air is among Brazil’s cleanest. than spread out haphazardly across the Com. Sus.

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 9 Community Profile & Sustainable Solutions PART 1: COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS In small groups or as a class use the following guidelines to produce a “snapshot” of your community based upon your own observations and experiences. In some categories you may find both assets and drawbacks, in others you may find only good qualities or only problems.

ASSETS DRAWBACKS ECONOMIC Employment and Business

Costs of Living

Transportation

ENVIRONMENTAL Environmental quality Air, water, soil, forests, wild areas etc. Sus. Com.

Parks, Green-ways, Bikeways

SOCIAL Neighborhoods and Housing

Social services Fire, rescue, police, schools, municipal rec. facilities,etc. Recreation opportunities

Community cohesiveness and tolerance

Other issues

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 10 Community Profile & Sustainable Solutions

PART 2: OPPORTUNITIES AND SOLUTIONS

Now that you have a better sense of the good qualities and some of the areas in need of improvement in your community, you are ready to apply the knowledge and experience gained in the previous exercises to brainstorm some sustainable solutions.

Chose one identified area of improvement and work individually or with your team to think of some solutions that might represent win-win outcomes, solving that particular problem without sacrificing other important goals.

Chose the idea that you consider most promising and outline it below.

Idea: Sus. Com. Sus.

How it addresses a problem in the community:

How it represents a Win-Win outcome:

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SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 11 NOTESNOTES Sus. Com.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: 12