Home > Citizen Ed > Sust.Communities > Toolkit > Publ.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES TOOLKIT

PUBLICATIONS

Green Plans Primer - Working Strategies for a Sustainable Future was distributed at Presidents Council in May 2000. It provides a worldwide context for sustainability efforts. The Resource Renewal Institute is headed by Huey Johnson, former Natural Resources Director for the State of California. The beautiful companion video, Green Plans, is available from RRI for $10, and would be a natural feature for a meeting and discussion. Mr. Johnson also wrote the longer book,Green Plans (University of Nebraska Press, 1997).

Another background article, "A Road Map for Natural Capitalism," explains Paul Hawken's concept of Natural Capitalism, a sustainable business model which includes the life-support "services" of the ecosystem on the balance sheet. Natural Capitalism asserts that businesses can radically decrease their impact on the environment and at the same time, become more profitable. Hawken's co-authors Amory and Hunter Lovins are the founders of the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Population projections for California have been confusing and controversial. How Many Californians? reviews the different projections. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is an independent, nonpartisan research organization that provides a wealth of information to assist in decisionmaking on public policy.

PPIC produced two reports on local government finance for which we include the research briefs: City Competition for Sales Taxes: Symptom of a Larger Problem? and Should Local Fiscal Authority Be Strengthened? Excerpts from the Report of the Speaker's Commission on State and Local Finance are also included. Stable and adequate local government finance is a key component of sustainable communities. And the reliance on sales tax has resulted in the "fiscalization of land use".

The executive summary of the Report of the Commission on Local Governance for the 21st Century tackles another knotty problem - is our current local government structure adequate to meet ever-increasing demands, and how should we consider changing it to serve our communities and regions better?

Several publications on "smart development" and similar land use principles are included. The Ahwahnee Principles were developed by the Local Government Commission to assist communities in better planning. LGC is a statewide membership organization of elected local officials, that for twenty years has been providing technical assistance, conferences and publications to assist communities in becoming more sustainable. A classic article by Judy Corbett, executive director of LGC, and Joe Velasquez, is reprinted here.

Several collaborative regional organizations have developed principles to guide development in their own communities. Two case studies are included: The executive summary of Planning for Prosperity is from the Sierra Business Council, which encompasses 12 counties in the Sierra Nevada region. Preserving Our Future: Land-use Principles for the Next Generation was produced by the Santa Barbara Region Economic Community Project, which is also developing a simulation model to illustrate and analyze the traffic, growth, fiscal and quality of life effects of land use decisions.

In the 1998 Resource Kit, we provided a background publication -- Sustainable Community Indicators -- on how to develop "indicators" or benchmarks to measure your community's progress in various areas of sustainability, as well as an indicators report from San Mateo County. In the current kit, you will find another good example of an indicators report, Sacramento Region Quality-of-Life Index 2000.

Santa Monica has an exceptional Sustainable City Program which could serve as a model for other communities. The city's indicators report, "Sustainable City Progress Report Update," was too long to include in the Toolkit, but the policy document also contains a section on indicators. While many indicators reports simply show trends, Santa Monica has set goals towards which it charts its progress. The policy document is on the city's Sustainable Santa Monica website; you can view the Progress Report at http://santa-monica.org/environment/policy/ or order it from Dean Kubani, Sustainable City Program Coordinator, City of Santa Monica, 310-458-2227 or dean-kubani@ci.santa-monica.ca.us . League member Kubani, who prepared the report, was a member of the LWVC's Sustainability Task Force.

Two "quizzes" could be the basis for unit meetings: The Special Issue of Population Press, Life in My Community - a Survey, provides a tool for assessing your opinions about growth and quality of life in your communities. The Ecological Footprint Calculator gives a simple format for visualizing how much impact we have on the environment. We enclosed in the Toolkit a simple version of the ecological footprint calculator developed by Jason Venetoulis and Monty Hempel. It's the same as the version you'll find on the LWV-Humboldt County website, but in a more convenient format to use as handouts.

Some local Leagues and Inter-League Organizations have adopted positions related to sustainability. LWV-Bay Areaadopted a position on regional planning. LWVBA is also observing 25 years of their outstanding newsletter on regional issues, the Bay Area Monitor. The enclosed issue gives information on how you can subscribe or access the newsletter online. LWV-Los Angeles County, to the best of our knowledge, has the only position on population and sustainability.

LWVCEF's Choice Book for community issues forums, Choices for a Vital Community: Which way do we go? is now available from the LWVC State Office, phone 1-888-870-8683, or on this website.  Excerpts and a usage guide are included in theToolkit. If you would like to hold a community forum, we will be happy to provide you with a moderator. Contact the LWVC State Office in Sacramento by email at <lwvc@lwvc.org> or by phone at 1-888-870-8683 for more information on the forums.

Finally, we would like to remind you of the Diversity Toolkit from LWVUS, which is an integral part of our sustainability program and is available online here at the LWVUS website. If you have not yet used the Diversity Toolkit, we urge you to examine it and discuss it with your members.