23statemodels.pdf

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Ylang

Nguyen

Communities

througiiout tiie United States and around the world are taking a

new

approacii

towardsolvingtheireconomic, environmental,social,

andfinancialproblems. Instead of assigningproblems

to isolated partsof government,the issues are increas-inglybeing exploredinanintegratedmanner,bringing togetherallconcerneddepartments. Insteadof maxi-mizingcurrentconsumptionwithextractive,polluting industries and impersonal, inefficient governments, communitiesare striving totransform themselvesto

prosper in the long-run. It begins with the bringing

togetherofall interests— business,government,

envi-ronmental, labor, and public—to find

new

ways

to

operate

which meet

theneeds ofboththepresentand

future generations.

In 1972, the United Nations held the Stockholm Conference on

Human

Environment, which recog-nized the need for sustainabledevelopment.

Subse-quently, theUnited Nations formedtheEnvironment Protection

Commission,

resultingindiscussions con-cerningenvironmental protectionandresource

man-agement

onboththe internationalandnationallevels.

But it has only been in the past five years that the

United States has witnessed solidadvances towards

fulfillingsustainabledevelopmentgoals.In particular,

followingthe release of

Agenda

21 from the United Nations Conference on Environment and

Develop-ment

held in Rio de Janeiro inJune 1992, President

Ylang

Nguyen

wasa ResearchAssistant,researching

sus-tainabledevelopmentissuesattheCenterfor Policy Alter-nativesinWashington,

DC.

duringthe

summer

of1994.She

currentlyattends McGill University andvolunteers with

theQuebecPublicInterestResearch Group.Shewishesto

thank Tyson Roberts, whose work helped tremendously

withthisproject.

Clintonestablished the President'sCouncilon

Sustain-able

Development

(PCSD)

in 1993. Consequently,

sustainabledevelopmenthas

become

an increasingly

visiblepolicypriorityfornearlyalllevelsofgovernment

inthe United States.

Aside fromthe formation ofthe

PCSD,

little has happenedintheareaofsustainabledevelopmentatthe federal level; rather,thestateshave

begun

topavethe

way

forinnovativesustainabledevelopmentinitiatives

andpolicies.

However,

inorderforstatestocreate a successful sustainable developmentplan which will

evolveintosolidpolicy,there are

some

fundamental

stepswhich

must

be followed. Unfortunately,all too

oftenoneor

more

ofthese stepsisneglected,resulting

in an ineffective, noncomprehensive strategy. But

what

isrequiredofasuccessful sustainable

develop-ment

plan?Whilethere arenohardandfastrules,and

while there is no one perfect plan,

some

elements remainessential.Thisarticleseekstoaddressallthose challengeswhichpresentthemselvesto states devel-opingsustainabilitystrategies.Fourstates,Minnesota, Kentucky, Maine, andVirginia,haveenthusiastically

takenonthe chal lenges;consequently,theyhave

made

significantadvances in creating a sustainable future fortheir state.Nevertheless, althoughleadersin sus-tainabledevelopment,thesestates, aswellas others,

need to accomplish

much

more

in orderto achieve

sustainability.

A

State-Level

Model

for

Sustainable

Development

First, people must recognize that ifconventional

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gratingeconomicdevelopment, environmental

protec-tion,andsocialneedsisanimmediate andurgentone.

Education andunderstandingremaina crucial stepin

meetingthisneed and

many

stateshavewillinglytaken upthetask,asevidencedbytheincreasing

number

of

stateshostingconferencesinhopes ofraising aware-ness and buildingconsensus on the issue.

However,

some

ofthese conferences are

composed

solely of

government

leadersandexpertsinthe privatesector.

Withoutthefullunderstandingand supportofallthe interested parties, including the general public, the

challengeof achieving sustainable development

be-comes more

difficult.

The

nextstepinvolvesresearchingthe

environmen-tal, economic, and social conditions ofeach stateto

determine its needs. Is the consumption of natural

resources exceeding replenishment?

What

are the levels ofair, soil, andwater quality? Is a particular

community

overly dependent on a single industry?

Rural states

which

use extensive irrigation systems anda largequantityof chemicalfertilizershave

differ-entneedsthan heavily populatedstateswhich

experi-encechronic transportationproblems. Thus, inorder

for astate todevelopacomprehensi\estrateg\,itmust

understand its present and be able to anticipate its

future.

Concurrentwiththisresearch, astateshould begin formulatingitsvisiontowardssustainability.Thisvision willgenerateandprioritizespecificgoalsand develop timetablesin

which

toachieve them.All issues,

envi-ronmental, economic, and social, as well as

educa-tional,

must

beintegrated.Inaddition toservingasan educationaltool, stateconferenceshave proventobe

fairlyeffectiveinformulatinga visionand

recommen-dations

which

reflect the needs and wants of all parties.

Round

tableformatshavealsohadsuccessin

bringingallinterested partiesintothediscussion.

An

on-goingoutreachmechanism,providing both background about sustainable development and up-dates ofstate activity, should be in place and easily

accessibletothe public.Educationandfull participa-tionofallpeople providetheneededsupport,research providesthe data,anda visionprovidesdefinitegoals,

butallthis isfutilewithout implementation. Positive

changesinthe

way

government

andindustrydo busi-ness,demonstrationprojectstoprovethat sustainabilit\'

can work,andissue-specific legislationnestledwithin

a largervisionofsustainabledevelopmentarethekeys

tocreatingasustainablefuture.

However,

ifand

when

implementation occurs, the taskof ensuring

sustain-able development is not yet complete. Indices and

benchmarks must

also be developed in orderto

ad-equatelymonitorsustainabledevelopmentactivity.

Minnesota

InJanuary.1993,

Governor

Ame

Carlson,the

Envi-ronmental Qualit}' Board, andthe

Commissioner

of Trade and

Economic Development

introduced the

Minnesota Sustainable

Development

Initiative, an ambitious, year-longefforttodevelop

recommenda-tions to create a sustainable future for Minnesota. Unlike other initiatives which have been vague or included only select participants, Minnesota's plan

distinguished itselfby specifically creating fact-finding

missions and strategy-development tasks for seven

Initiative

Teams

to

work

on.

The

ultimate goalof each team

was

toproviderecommendations which inturn

would

be appliedor

made

into

new

legislation.

Representativesfrom business,academia, govern-ment, environmental, and citizen groups comprised each ofthe seven teams.

Led

by

two

co-chairs, one each from the environmental and

economic

sectors, the teams dealt with issues important to the state:

agriculture,energy,forestry,manufacturing,minerals,

recreation, and settlement.

Teams

met

monthly to

discuss issues andproblems, recognize innovations, and develop strategies

which

could beimplemented towardsustainable development. Threeplenary ses-sions were conducted to discuss overlapping issues

andtodevelopanintegratedsetof recommendations. Accordingtotheguidelines establishedforallteams, meetings wereopentothepublicandthe draft recom-mendations, presentedin

December

1993,were

made

available for public

comment

at the February 1994 Minnesota Congress onSustainableDevelopment.

The

recommendations addressed such topics as

full-costaccounting,integratedlanduse,financial

in-centivesanddisincentives,andeducationand

informa-tion collecinforma-tion.Allrecommendations have been

pro-posedtotheMinnesotalegislatureinhopes ofbringing about

some

change inthe

way

Minnesotalooksatits

economic development andenvironmentalprotection.

The Minnesota Sustainable

Development

Initia-tivecertainly

made

significantstridestowardsfulfilling

thegoalofsustainabledevelopment;unfortunately,its

effortsendedwiththefinalmeeting, heldin

November

1993. Essentially, the study

was

a "one-shot deal,"'

saysJohnGreen,a

member

oftheMineralsInitiatives

team,

who

describedthe overallexperienceas

benefi-cialinthatitheightenedawareness

among

participants

andsetforth

many

positive recommendations which havea

good

chance ofbeingimplemented. However,

like

many

recommendations offered for legislation,

Green noted that

some

are too complicated andtoo "sticky"evento be touched.

Ideally,theinitiativeshouldhaveincludedalobbying

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recog-nizeandconsidertheproposedrecommendations.Or,

ata

minimum,

some

sortof lobbyingeffortshouldiiave

been included within the list ofrecommendations.

Whether

theobjectivesoftheinitiativewereachieved

ornotwillbe revealedinfuturelegislation.However, sofarthingshavealreadystartedonthe

wrong

foot.In late

May

1994, the

Governor

vetoed parts ofa bill

which

would

have set aside funding to further the efforts ofthe initiative. This is an all too frequent

example

of progressive ideas falling short of their

potential.

Kentucky

Following upon the Earth

Summit

held in Riode Janeiro in 1992,

Governor

Brereton Jones and Dr. Lilialyce Akers initiated a conference similar to

Minnesota's to discuss sustainability issues for the

stateofKentucky;however, interest

was

sogreat that the conference soon expanded to a national level.

Thus,in

May

1993,

Kentucky

hosted

From

Riotothe

Capitols: State Strategies for Sustainable Devel-opment.

Government

officials,citizens,and

members

of non-governmentalorganizationsandbusiness con-vened to learn about sustainable development.

The

conference certainly succeeded in

overcoming

the

firstobstaclebypushingdialogueonsustainable

devel-Aspeaker addressesasmall businesspanelatKentucky'sRioto theCapitols conference. Credit: Charles Pierce

opment

out onto the table. Participants addressed

importanttopicssuchas

how

governmentpoliciescan

betterreconcileeconomics andtheenvironment and

how

communities can encourage business to adopt cleantechnologies.

The

conference included regional forums,

com-posedofparticipantshailingfromregionswithsimilar

economic,geographical,andsocial conditions,which served to

compare

and discuss strategies, experi-ences,andimpressionsonsustainabledevelopment on

a

more

micro-level.

The

regional forums also

ad-dressedthe specific needsofthevarious regions and

The

confer-ence

was

so wellreceivedthata similaronewillbeheld

inArizonanextyear.

The

conferencepromptedthe

Kentucky

Cabinetof

Economic Development

and Cabinet of Natural

Re-sourcesand Environmental Protectiontoco-sponsor

the Sustainability

Round

Table Information Forum.

Over

fiftyleadersfromvarioussectors

came

together

todiscuss

ways

to integrate

economic

development, environmental protection, andsocial needs for

Ken-tucky.

The

participantsalso

examined

existing

Round

Table processesin orderto selectoneasa

model

for

Kentucky.

As

a result, the Sustainable

Kentucky

Round

Table

was

created,basedonBritishColumbia's

Round

Table and the MinnesotaSustainable

Devel-opment

Initiativediscussed above.Patricia Scruggs,

the facilitatorof theInformationForum,describedone oftheobjectivesofthe Sustainable

Kentucky

Round

Tableastakingthedialoguewhich

was

startedatthe

Riotothe Capitolsconference "fromjust talk intoa

little

more

discreteaction."

The

hopeis alsotobuild

consensus

among

all the sectors.

Inaddition, in 1992theGeneral

Assembly

created

the Kentucky

Long-Term

Policy Research Center.

The

Center's mission is to serve as a catalyst to

improvethe

way

decisions are

made

by

lookingat

them

in abroadercontext, specificallylong-term

implica-tions, criticaltrends,andemergingissues.

The

Center

will also focus on developing a long-term strategic policyforthestate.

Althoughthe Centeris fairlysmallandstill inthe early stages, it has perhapsthe greatest potential for

successfullydevelopingsustainabledevelopment ini-tiativesinthecountry. Slated for theCenter'sagenda

isKentucky Outlook2000, aninitiativefundedbythe

Environmental Protection Agency.

The

task

chal-lengestheCenter,workingwiththeCabinet

forNatu-ralResourcesand EnvironmentalProtection,to

antici-pate futureneedsofthe stateand respond to

them

by coming upwithsolutionswithoutjeopardizingqualityof

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conference,byinitiating

Round

Table discussionsto

build consensus and to

come

up with sustainable

developmentstrategies, and byestablishing a

Long-Term

PolicyResearchCenter,

Kentucky

hascertainly

takenthefirststepstowardsustainabledevelopment.

Maine

has

made

considerable gains in creating a

sustainable future for the state. In 1993, the 116th

Maine

Legislaturepassed

House

Bill616,addressing

"thepurposeand philosophyofsustainable

develop-ment

anditsrelevancetoregionsofthe Stateandthe Stateas a whole" and mandatingthatthe

Economic

Development

andBusiness Assistance Coordinating

Council develop

economic

development guidelines adheringtothe principlesofsustainabledevelopment.

Inadditiontoofferingrecommendations,the Coordi-natingCouncilhelpslocalregionsdeveloplong-term

economic

strategiesandassistsin implementationby

coordinating state services.

To

date, all

work

con-ductedbythe CoordinatingCouncil hasbeen

volun-tary;fundingfortheCouncil

was

notincludedinthe

legislation.Naturally,thishascreated

many

obstacles.

The

Councilsuffersfrom understaffmg and resource

shortages.Inaddition,thereis

some

confusionoverthe draft report.

The

intentionsofthe

members

are solid

andpositive, but therecommendations have

become

tangledintheverbiageofthereport.

What

the recom-mendationsactuallysuggestis stillunderdispute.

Subsequentlegislationcalledforthecreationofthe

Maine

Economic

Growth

Councilto assistthe

Coordi-natingCouncilindevelopingstandardsandprinciples for sustainable development. Originally, it

was

an

eight-

week

effortto

hammer

outrecommendationsto

be presented to the governor and state legislature.

Topicsaddressed were Energy andUtilities.

Regula-tory Policy,JobTrainingandEducation,and

Tax

and

FiscalPolicy.Overall,

more

than

two

hundredpeople fromthestatelegislatureandindustries

came

together

to

work

on recommendations which werefinally

pre-sented in

May

1993. Larry Horwitz,aCouncil

mem-ber,

commented

thatafundamentalproblemwiththe

Council

was

the lackofanenvironmentalperspective andthattheCouncilbeganwith "preconceived notions

of

what

the

outcome

shouldbe,"suggestingonly quick

fixes ratherthan looking atthe underlying problem.

new

environmentalregulatory permittingprocess, imple-mentingfavorablepricing

mechanisms

toencourage

the efficientuseofexistingenergysupplies, settingup animplementationmechanism, andcontinuingfurther

withtheinitialeffortofthe

Growth

Council.

The

latter

recommendation

spawned

furtherlegislationproviding

fundingforanon-going

Economic Growth

Council. Thissecond

Economic Growth

Councilhasstarted

working on the preliminary stages of developing a visiontojump-startMaine's

economy. The

nineteen

member

Growth

Councilis

made

upofstatelegislators

and representatives from the labor, education, busi-ness, and environmentsectorsfromacross the state.

Accordingto

Henry

Bourgeoisatthe

Maine

Develop-ment

Foundation,

which works

withtheCouncil,

sup-portand consensus

among

Growth

Council

members

have beenpositive.

However,neither theCoordinating Councilnorthe

Growth

Councilhasattemptedtodefine

what

specifi-cally

makes

upsustainable

economic

growth.

The two

Councils

must

engageina "significantdiscussionon

what

economic

growth is"in orderto

move

ontothe

next step,

comments

John Bubier,

who

servesas an advisoronthe

Economic Growth

Council and afull

member

ontheCoordinatingCounci1.But becausethe

recommendations offered by the

Economic Growth

Councilarecurrentlysetwithinafairlybroadcontext,

theyare

more

likelyto be implemented. Mr. Bubier

also noted that achieving collaboration between all

groupshasbeendifficult.

The

ideabehindthe legislation establishing the

two

CounciIs isa

commendable

onesinceitforces thestate tolookat allfactorsconcerning

economic

growth.But

the stepshave been small and slow. Representatives fromtheenvironmentalandsocialorganizations, es-sential parties

when

forming a sustainable

develop-ment

plan,areunderrepresented.

And

asnotedearlier,

fundingfortheCoordinating Council isnonexistent, furthercomplicatingthe process. Moreover,the

two

Councilsessentially

work

independently ofone an-other.

More

standstobegainedifbothCouncils

work

together.

Although opinions onthe Councils remain varied andconflicting,

Maine

continuesto

work

oncreating a sustainablefuture.

A

particularlysuccessful

example

ofsustainabledevelopmentpolicyinactionisMaine's

Sensible TransportationPolicy,which voterspassed

asareferenduminresponsetoaproposaltowidenthe

Maine

Turnpike.

The

peopleof

Maine

have realized

thatthestate'stransportationnetworkhasthe

poten-tialtoimposelastingandsometimesharmfuleffectson

the qualitv'ofair,land,andwater.Thus,itisthepolicy's

goaltominimizethesenegativeeffectsbyevaluating

allreasonablealternativesfor

highway

constructionor

reconstruction projects, reducing the state's depen-dence on foreign oil, encouraging energy-efficient

forms oftransportation, ensuring necessary repairs

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apublicparticipationprocesstoaddresstheconcerns oftliepeople.Inorderto

meet

thepublicparticipation

directive,eightRegionalTransportationAdvisory

Com-mittees were established.

Members

were selected

from a pool ofapplicantsand are currently meeting throughoutthestatetodevelopregional transportation

plansandfundingpriorities.

As

aresultofthispolicy, the

Maine

Turnpike

was

not expanded.Rather, the

Maine

TurnpikeAuthorityis

investinginalternative,multi-modaltransportation

pro-grams, including car poolsandtrains. In addition, a

highly ambitiousandtrulymulti-modaltransportation

system,whichincludes theuseoftaxicabs,limousines, buses,andtrolleys,isintheworksinthe

town

of Wells. Another

example

ofthepolicy'ssuccessisthe

Trans-portation

Improvement

PrograminPortland.

The

city

allocatedoverhalfofanalmost$9milIion

transporta-tionbudgetto

non-highway

projects.Instead,bicycle routes, sidewalks, and improvements to the

subway

systems are being

worked

on. Policies such as the

Sensible Transportation Policy should not only be

praised, but emulated by other states around the

country;theplancontained allthe necessary

compo-nentstobe successful,andclearlyitis.

Virginia

Much

alongthe

same

linesas Maine, theVirginia

House

passed JointResolution No. 653 in February

1993 which called for the development of a state

sustainabledevelopmentstrategy. Inresponsetothis,

the Environmental

Law

Institute, an independent

re-search and education center, has released Blueprint for Sustainable

Development

of Virginia. This

re-portdiscussessuchissues as pollutionprevention,air quality,

community

building,and economicvitalityand providesrecommendations and solutionsto

work

to-ward

these goals.

In

March

1994,the

House

passedJointResolution

No. 291, calling for the creation of a Sustainable

Development

Task Forceto"assesscurrent

sustain-abledevelopmentinitiativesinthe

Commonweahh

and other areas, develop a statewide strategic plan for

sustainabledevelopment,and

recommend

appropriate

actions which state and local governments, citizen

groups, and nonprofitorganizations, especiallyrural

areasofthe

Commonwealth,

mightconsiderfor imple-mentation."Unlikethe1993resolutionwhich

encour-ages Virginianstoconsidersustainabledevelopment

alternatives forthe state. Resolution No. 291 brings

togethermultiple stakeholderstospecificallylookat

and

recommend

actions.Staff support, technical

assis-tance,and

some

fundinghave beenallocatedto assist initsefforts.

Unfortunately, organizationoftheTask Forcehas beenslow.Inadditiontothe Secretariesof

Commerce

andTrade,

who make

uppartoftheTaskForce,alIthe

legislative

members

have been appointed; however,

theGovernorhasyettoappointany ofthesixcitizen

members.

Moreover, assignmentstostudythefiftyor

sixtyissueshavealsonotbeenmade. Accordingtothe

resolution,allfindingsandrecommendationsshould be completedintimetobe presentedtothe 1995 General

Assembly,allowinglessthanayearfortheTask Force

toselectmembers,educateandbuildconsensus

among

them,conduct meetings andresearch, createavision,

and formulate recommendations. Although it is

en-couraging to see Virginia so anxious to begin

sustainabilityefforts,

more

timeisneededinorderto

produce a comprehensive and complete study and consequently, to propose appropriate

recommenda-tions.

Looking

Forward

Almost

inevitably, with sustainable development

discussion

comes

opposing views, frustration, and disagreements. It is unlikely that all parties will be completelysatisfiedwiththeresults.Fortunately,this

has not scared

away

Minnesota, Kentucky, Maine, and Virginiafrom seriouslyaddressing the issue. In

doing so, they have

become

models for sustainable development.

Both Minnesota and Kentucky have experienced

some

successintransformingtheircommunitiesinto sustainable ones.Kentuckyhasbeenquiteprogressive

in thatit istakingthe issueofsustainabilityhead-on. Likewise,theone-yearinitiativeinMinnesotahelped

to

move

sustainable development a step in the right direction,butwiththerecentvetoofadditionalfunding towardssustainabilityefforts,itappearsthat thestate

hasonly

more

difficultiestocome.

And

althoughthe

recommendations frombothstatesholdgreatpromise, nothingwillbeaccomplishedwithoutfullsupportfrom

allcommunities.

Virginia and

Maine

lead the pack in terms of progressive resolutionsand legislation bycreatinga

forum

where

sustainabledevelopmentisspecifically

discussed and sought after. Currently, each state is

encounteringdifficulty,buthopefuIly,intime,Virginia's

Task Forceand Maine's Councilswill

emerge

with innovative recommendations and ideas on

how

to

implementthem.

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PLANNING

have been cut shortduetolittleornofunding.

Some

containambitiousrecommendationsbutlackthe con-sensusandsupportneeded fromallgroups.Othersare subject to the oftenwaveringpoliticalattitudesofthe

day.

And many

conductextensive researchand

make

substantial recommendations but lack a

means

of

implementation. Untilall theseaspectsareresolved, thenotionofasustainable future willremainjustthat, inthe future,cp