CAPACITY BUILDING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING: TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

Communication Strategies & a National Strategy for Sustainability  

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

A National Strategy for Sustainability would provide a good means for reconciling Strategic Planning and Budgeting 

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

Contact Info or Sending Private Messages Needed 

There are a number of people that had really great ideas that I have wanted to contact. It would be great if you could add an option for people to be able to contact each other - either a way to send private messages or to list email addresses in their profiles or something.

Rob Wheeler

A National Strategy for Sustainability would be built on Collaboration 

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

Opening Up Government Operations through a National Strategy for Sustainability 

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY ADDRESSES ALL CATEGORIES FOR IMPROVING GOVERNMENT 

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development has been urging our federal government to fulfill it’s commitment to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability for more than ten years now. I posted an idea and proposal on this idea yesterday (May 27) under the category of New Strategies and Techniques of Participation. It has already gotten quite a few votes and will probably receive substantially more than this posting. See: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049. A National Strategy will not focus on just one or two components or criteria for better and more open government, but instead on most aspects of this challenge. I am thus including a description below of how a National Strategy for Sustainability could be used to address most of the categories that are listed in the Open Government Dialogue.

The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development is urging the Obama Administration and Congress to lead our country and people in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, as agreed to by all of the UN Member States during both the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Indeed all countries agreed to “begin to implement their National Strategy Plans by 2005”, so we are already several years behind in fulfilling this important commitment.

President Obama has repeatedly stated that his Administration will be both a good global citizen and will contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability is needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal #7 which calls for “ensuring environmental sustainability” and “integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of environmental resources.”

TRANSPARENCY

One of the primary objectives, goals, and components of a National Strategy for Sustainability should be to provide more transparency within government at all levels. Mechanisms should be developed as a part of the implementation process to make data more accessible, make government operations more visible, and to provide open access to key information such as is applicable to the primary indicators that are used to measure and assess progress that is being made to implement the sustainability plan.

PARTICIPATION

The work of existing and new Federal Advisory Committees should be integrated into both the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainability. In fact some type of an independent National Council on Sustainable Development should be created, with a mandate and structure similar to that of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, which will act as a Federal Advisory Committee for most purposes.

Many of the recommendations that come from the National Strategy Process could be instituted either as Executive Orders or as federal, state, and local rules, regulations, or legislation. In fact one of the primary goals of the process would be to evaluate existing rules, regulations, and legislation to determine whether they are sufficient for achieving set and agreed upon goals and then to take sufficient action to ensure that they are sufficient for achieving the goals.

COLLABORATION

Collaboration within, between and among various levels of government should be one of the primary focuses of the National Strategy. Indeed regional coordinating bodies and councils are needed at various levels of government to ensure that adequate processes are in place for efficient coordination, collaboration, and implementation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development included many recommendations for such coordinating bodies and councils which ought to be acted upon, including a Joint Center on Sustainable Communities. I am including a summary of many of the primary recommendations from the President’s Council below. See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

In addition, one of the key contributions that the development of a National Strategy could make would be to encourage and support the development of citizen initiatives and public-private partnerships. Indeed the focus on Sustainable Development, both in the US and around the world, has seen a growing interest and dedication to public-private partnerships which are particularly apparent in the recent development of UN Partnership Initiatives – of which both the Bush and Obama Administrations have championed and paid a great deal of interest. Indeed the National Strategy could serve as a primary means for raising awareness in the US, among stakeholders, government entities, and the public, about the work and efforts of these UN Partnerships and how the US can participate and take advantage more so in and of their development.

CAPACITY BUILDING

Another primary emphasis of the National Strategy should be to encourage and support Capacity Building and Development. At both the local level and within industries, municipalities and businesses have provided and undergone a great deal of training and staff development as they have developed their own sustainability plans. However, this is still far from universal and similar activities could now be more fruitfully developed as well at the state and federal levels. Development and implementation of a National Strategy could thus serve to foster and support the further development of such training and development programs.

In addition, there is a growing interest within the academic community in integrating Education for Sustainable Development throughout the curriculum – as mandated in the Outcome Document of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. The extent to which the U.S. Department of Education; federal, state, and local governments; and our educational institutions support and promote efforts to educate and train professors, teachers, and students about the basic principles, attributes, and components of sustainable development is also the extent to which our country will be prepared for the social, economic, and environmental challenges and requirements that are likely to confront us, and that we must deal with, in the 21st century.

Going beyond this, one of the key lessons that was learned from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development is the imperative need to publicize and promote the efforts to develop and implement the National Strategy for Sustainability in as broad and energetic a way as possible. One reason that more of the recommendations from the President’s Council were not implemented was that the process was not sufficiently promoted, especially in the earlier years.

Indeed all Americans must be made aware of the planning and implementation efforts and encouraged and welcomed to participate fully in the process. Indeed one of the primary components of the National Strategy should be to focus on communication strategies and an open and participatory process should be developed to enroll and involve as many people, stakeholders, and professionals in the communication process as possible. Just imagine the great suggestions and contributions that might come from the business community, students, and educators to enhance and promote the communication processes.

Indeed some great work is already being done by students, alternative and mass media, in local communities, and by professional organizations in order to promote the need and raise awareness about sustainable development – of which I could provide many excellent examples – including the Earth Team (http://www.earthteam.net); Guerrilla in the Greenhouse (http://www.greengorilla.com); Captain Planet Foundation (http://captainplanetfdn.org); NBC’s Green Is Universal; Free Range Studios; GoodWorks Public Relations (http://www.goodworkspr.com); and Sustainable Today (http://SustainableToday.org); etc.

Finally, one of the primary components of the National Strategy should focus on Strategic Planning and Budgeting. In fact the development and implementation of the Strategy Plan could provide an excellent means of engaging the concerned public in planning and budgetary processes and indeed has often resulted in such interest at the local and state levels to date. In addition, sustainability indicators, Genuine Progress Indicators, and other assessment tools have often done a much better job of analyzing real world impacts than have more strictly defined economic indicators and also of including crucially important externalities in decision-making processes.

As you can see the development and implementation of a National Strategy for Sustainability could serve as a key vehicle and strategy for improving the operations, transparency, participation, and collaboration in government and at all levels.


===============================================

Suggested Components and Activities for a
National Strategy for Sustainability

Prepared by Rob Wheeler
Citizens Network for Sustainable Development


The proposed components included below were drawn primarily from the work of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development which met and solicited input from the American public in the 1990s. The Council’s proposals and recommendations should be reconsidered and augmented through a national effort to: develop a National Strategy for Sustainability and fulfill the commitments made by the US government during the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2002.

The reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development are archived and can be downloaded at: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD.

-------------------------------------

Some type of a National Council on Sustainable Development should again be established to lead the effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in the US. The role of the Council should be to:

A) Forge Consensus on Policy
B) Demonstrate Implementation of Policy
C) Get The Word Out
D) Evaluate and Report on Progress Made

The National Strategy should:

Establish a White House Office which would have the authority to coordinate and integrate economic, social, and environmental policy throughout the Executive Branch and oversee implementation efforts for the National Strategy Plan.

Establish a new Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development, again co-chaired by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Chair of the National Economic Council. The Interagency Working Group should review and conduct a new survey of existing and needed federal programs and activities that could support and implement the recommendations coming from the past and present PCSD. The Interagency Working Group should recommend the means to include these programs and activities in the National Strategy Plan, following appropriate consultations.

The role of the Federal Government should be to:

Sponsor and promote a national dialogue to consider and develop recommendations as to how our country can make a rapid transition to full sustainability.

Develop and promote a national plan for shifting to full sustainability, including the specific steps which will need to be taken and the programs implemented in each sector or issue area.

Publish a catalogue of tools for initiating, leading, and implementing sustainable development efforts. Maintain an information clearinghouse to disseminate examples of best practices and community initiatives of value to county, city, state, federal, private sector, non-profit, and academic organizations.

Conduct policy analysis through a series of public forums on both governmental and private sector policies that contribute to building healthy communities.

Establish and support the work and activities of the Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

Promote and support the development of Eco-Industrial Parks

Develop a national plan and program for Sustainable Production and Consumption; and establish a federal focal point for the promotion and coordination of Extended Product Responsibility.

Provide sustainable community grants to cities and counties for local efforts to develop community-based strategies. Develop sustainable community awards programs to recognize outstanding efforts within communities, community programs, and their elected officials. Develop a peer exchange program to match experienced elected officials and professional staff who have proven solutions with jurisdictions that need to solve specific problems.

Develop a program to support initiatives and activities in rural areas and communities.

Develop and adopt federal metropolitan-scale policy through an Interagency Metropolitan Sustainable Development Working Group. Coordinate its activities with other interagency groups such as the Community Empowerment Board (CEB) and the Interagency Brownfields Initiative. Establish a pilot demonstration program to encourage metropolitan cooperation and problem solving.

Help to facilitate the creation of regional councils modeled after the PCSD's multi-stakeholder process. Establish federal interagency groups to work with the regional councils. Connect the critical issues of metropolitan and rural areas within each region to determine joint needs and collaborative solutions. Help the various regional councils to coordinate their efforts and work together to promote and implement sustainable development policies and practices.

Sponsor a national dialogue on the need for Education for Sustainable Development and take leadership in implementing a national effort to include it as a core part of the curriculum in schools throughout the United States. Support and implement the recommendations from the Education for Sustainability: Agenda for Action process.

Support the work and activities of the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN), connecting citizens nationwide with the resources they need to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.

Develop a national advertising and educational campaign designed to help local elected officials and private citizens understand the importance of locally-based community action and to promote the National Strategy Plan for implementing sustainable development.

Rob Wheeler
robineagle@worldcitizen.org
1-717-264-5036

Develop and Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability 

I would suggest that the best way to strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness, while making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative, would be for the Obama Administration to lead the American People in Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability.

It is commonly recognized that those of us in the United States are not living sustainably today. With only 5% of the world’s population, we consume 1/4 of the natural resources. Since 1940, Americans alone have used more of the earth’s mineral resources than all previous humans put together. We still only recycle about 15% of our waste; use 120 pounds of natural resources per person per day; and greenhouse gas emissions rose 13 percent in the US between 1990 and 2003 according to the EPA’s 2007 Report on the Environment. Meanwhile humanity uses 30% more of the earth’s bio-capacity than can be sustained. At this rate, we’ll need two planets to live on to meet everyone's needs by 2030.

Fortunately, millions of Americans are already doing what we can to change the situation and to contribute to creating a more sustainable future. Now our federal government needs to lead the people in creating a Sustainable America.

GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT

The US agreed to create a National Strategy for Sustainability during the UN Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992 and then again at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. The US is one of the few Developed Countries that has not already developed, much less implemented, a National Strategy Plan. The Obama Administration should thus invite all Americans to join it in developing and implementing our National Strategy for Sustainability, beginning with a review of the reports and recommendations from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development that were developed during the Clinton years. See: See: http://clinton5.nara.gov/PCSD

The National Strategy could encourage such things as green building practices; transitioning to renewable energy; protecting and restoring the natural environment; limiting toxic chemicals; investing in all types of green jobs; adopting sustainable business practices; educating for sustainable development; ensuring that all people’s basic human needs can be met; and integrating the work of artists, engineers, educators, and restoration scientists on infrastructure, restoration, and other sustainable community projects; etc.

(This recommendation and description of the National Strategy for Sustainability is rather long as it is meant to introduce the idea to key people within the Obama Administration. If you want to know more about it please continue reading, however if not but you still like the idea please vote for it now.)

There is already a lot of interest and support for this idea of creating a National Strategy for Sustainability. In December I entered a proposal urging the Obama Administration to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability in Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America web voting competition. It made it in the Top Ten out of more than 7800 Ideas entered and 600,000 votes cast and was in first place within the category of Environmental Conservation.

GOALS, GUIDELINES, AND PRINCIPLES

The development of a National Strategy for Sustainability ought to be based upon an agreed set of guidelines and principles, such as those developed by the OECD, beginning with a participatory and collaborative process (see: http://www.oecd.org/DATAOECD/34/10/2669958.PDF page 73). Coordinated and cooperative action is needed and the federal government needs to lead the way. The Strategy should include an Action Plan, authorizing legislation, and a significant budget and appropriations. An Office of Sustainability ought to be established, along with inter-agency working group(s) and a cabinet level committee on sustainability. Each state could be required to issue an annual report on sustainability.

The overall goal of the National Strategy for Sustainability ought to be to make as rapid a transition to full sustainability as is feasibly possible. A system of metrics and indicators is needed along with a Visioning and Planning Process which encourages the participation of the American People in determining our common future. In fact, the Administration ought to support civil society in playing a leading role in developing an independent multi-stakeholder process that fully involves all serious and committed contributors in driving the development of the National Strategy for Sustainability.

The National Academy of Public Administration and the National Academy of Sciences are two Congressionally chartered, non-profit, non-partisan institutions that provide an example of the type of entity that could be established with the mandate to lead the process of developing and implementing a National Strategy, which would include but also go well beyond government participation and activities.

GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION

At the global level, preparations and consultations have already begun again at the United Nations for the 20th Anniversary of the Earth Summit Conference which will most likely be held again in Brazil in 2012. The US is going to look pretty foolish if we are one of the only developed countries that is not yet implementing a Sustainability Strategy and Plan. In addition, the federal government ought to be developing a process to encourage multi-stakeholder input and participation in the preparatory process for the Summit; and the effort to create a US Strategy could provide a good means for doing so.

The United Nations is also completing a ten year Marrakech Process to develop a Global Framework of Action on Sustainable Consumption and Production; and our federal government has just begun to participate actively in this process within the last year or two, though it did host a North American consultation in Washington DC in November of 2008. (http://esa.un.org/marrakechprocess) The Obama Administration should thus integrate the development of a National Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production with our National Strategy for Sustainability and ensure that both are integrated as well with the Global Framework.

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

We are also now half way through the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development and UNESCO recently held it’s five year review conference for the Decade in Bonn (http://www.desd.org). In the US the US Partnership for Education on Sustainable Development has been leading the organizing effort (www.uspartnership.org); but unfortunately the federal government has provided very little leadership to date in engaging our country in this global process.

The US Partnership developed a series of recommendations, in partnership with the Working Group for Sustainable Change, which we submitted to the Obama Administration and Transition Teams for how the US could strengthen its involvement and promote Education for Sustainable Development. These recommendations should be considered both by the Department of Education and as we work on developing and implementing both the National Strategy and the Ten Year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production. (see: http://change.gov/open_government/entry/us_partnership_on_education_for_sustainable_development/)

STRENGTHENING AND RENEWING PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES

During the run up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 several hundred UN Partnership Initiatives were also developed. Both the Bush and Obama Administrations have taken quite an interest in many of these Partnership Initiatives. They provide an excellent means for implementing sustainability programs and policies both in the US and around the world. Unfortunately, most of them remain rather under-capitalized and need much more funding to be able to fulfill the great promise and urgent role that they could provide. As a part of the development of the National Strategy for Sustainability the federal government should thus review these Partnership Initiatives and determine what could be done in the US and by our government to strengthen them; and the US citizenry should be invited to participate actively in this review process as well. (See: http://www.usda.gov/oce/sustainable/partnerships.htm and http://www.sdp.gov/usgweb.)

The STAR Community Index is a new framework for improving the livability and sustainability of U.S. communities. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) have established a partnership to develop STAR with the goal of launching this tool in January 2010. (see: http://www.iclei-usa.org/programs/sustainability/star-community-index) The STAR website states that, “there is a pressing need for a national framework to guide sustainable community initiatives. Many local governments have already developed frameworks, while others are seeking a framework that can be adapted to reflect local conditions. These frameworks offer a vast diversity in the structure and focus making it very difficult to compare the progress of one locality to another and reducing the opportunity to leverage change and share lessons learned.”

A similar situation exists but the need is perhaps even more pronounced within the business community, educational institutions, and particularly within and among state governments. The development of a National Strategy should thus incorporate and promote the development of the STAR Community Index and support the development of similar such initiatives for businesses, educational institutions, rural communities, and state governments.

THE PRESIDENT’S MEMORANDUM ON TRANSPARENCY AND OPEN GOVERNMENT

As one of his first acts in office President Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in which he outlined three principles for his administration: transparency, participation, and collaboration. The Memorandum states that, “Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.”

There could probably be no better way to engage the American people in the work of our government, at all levels, than to develop and begin to implement a National Strategy for Sustainability. Non-profit organizations, businesses, individuals, educators, and government employees at all levels are already doing what they can to contribute to creating a sustainable future; and we would welcome the opportunity, if provided by the federal government, to provide our expertise on how our country can do so as well.

SHARING THE EXPERTISE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WITH GOVERNMENT

The Memorandum goes on to state that, “Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.” Again, the development of a National Strategy and a Ten Year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production would provide an excellent vehicle to enable the American people to share our collective expertise and information with government departments and agencies.

This would now include a multitude of initiatives that have been developed or are now springing up such as: the ABA’s Model Sustainability Policy and Implementation Guidelines for Law Organizations, the Environmental Law Institute, the US Green Building Council’s LEED Program, National Ski Areas Association’s Sustainable Slopes Environmental Charter, California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, AIGA Center for Sustainable Design, Green-Blue Institute’s Design Competitions, various Standards and Certification Schemes, and a great number of business consultants specializing in sustainable development.

Then there is the PlugIn Hybrid Electric Vehicle Partnership, ICLEI’s Star Community Index, SustainLane’s Sustainable Development knowledge base for State and Local Government officials, Sustainable Land Development International, the Bioneers, BioMimicry Guild, Zero Waste Alliance, Center for a New American Dream, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, North American Sustainable Consumption Alliance, US Citizens Network for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Communities Network, etc. These are just a few examples of the many people and initiatives, showing just a bit of the breadth of the movement, that would eagerly embrace the opportunity to share their knowledge and information with government at all levels.

OVERCOMING POLICY IMPEDIMENTS AND EMBRACING COLLABORATION

Now I would like to respond to two questions raised as a part of this Open Government Dialogue process. We’ve been asked, “What policy impediments to innovation in government currently exist?”

There is currently a lack of coordination of activities within and among agencies at all levels of government; lack of a coordinated approach toward dealing effectively with a host of urgent problems that must be solved to create a more sustainable future; coordinated means by which all stakeholders can contribute effectively to providing common solutions that could be replicated throughout our society; etc. These problems could all be solved through an effect effort to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainability.

“What is the best way to change the culture of government to embrace collaboration?”

The Obama Administration could develop an open and participatory process welcoming all Americans to join in developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability, including such stakeholders as municipal and state government, the business community, educational leaders and students, civil society, etc. The effectiveness of such partnership processes has been demonstrated time and again through collaborations such as the US Partnership on Education for Sustainable Development, the National Council on Science and the Environment, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, the National Academy of Sciences Board on Sustainable Development/Report, the National Summit on Sustainable Development, UN Commission on Sustainable Development processes, UN Partnership Initiatives for Sustainable Development, etc.

ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE AMERICA

Finally, Law Professor John Dernbach’s latest book, Agenda for a Sustainable America starts with a simple but powerful premise: “Sustainable development would make the United States more livable, healthy, secure, and prosperous. Policies that promote sustainability would reduce risks to our national security, improve our economic efficiency and productivity, enhance our health and communities, improve the lives of the poorest among us, and foster greater human wellbeing in other countries. And it would achieve these things while protecting and restoring the environment for our generation and for generations that follow.”

Now those are goals that would be worth striving for as we develop and begin to implement our National Strategy for Sustainability.

For more information please contact:

Rob Wheeler
Campaign for a Sustainable America
Robineagle @ worldcitizen.org
Robwheeler22 @ gmail.com
717-264-5036

Citizens Network for Sustainable Development
www.citnet.org