• Executive Summary
• Why organize?
• What is organizing?
• Searching for community
• Definitions of sustainability
• Power and conflict
• I - WE - THEY
• Valuing diversity in community
• Practical steps for organizing
• Resources

Executive Summary

We all need to develop our own creativity, intuition and common sense to find success. Outside experts can't on their own design and manage sustainability. Sustainability isn't something that could or should be imposed on others. Sustainability is like the practice of democracy: we rely on ourselves and each other.

Sustainable communities don't just happen. Look around you. You can see that they are indeed not happening. We need to do some things we are not doing now. This guide presents tools that may help you to organize for community sustainability.

Why organize?

You are concerned about increasing social and ecological problems, and you've got the idea that you want to see your community "move toward sustainability" or become "more sustainable."

You have realized that although there is much you can do on your own such as consume less and recycle, there seem to be many more things which require you to work with others, and many changes which will only come about through organized, community efforts.

You sense that any long-term solution will depend on healthy and revitalized communities, and that the best place for you to get started is at the level of the community you can identify with, with familiar people and places.

What is organizing?

Organizing is more than just distributing information. Organizing is getting people together to plan, and to act in ways that lead to sustainable community development. The great challenge of organizing is to increase participation in decision-making while making community members aware of a range of issues. This difficult balance has been called "informed involvement."

Searching for community

We are searching for community, and we're finding it and defining it in all kinds of novel and exotic ways. Some find it in the global community, and others in electronic or spiritual communities. For many of us, our geographic communities are secondary to our communities of interest. But communities of interest may not really be communities, but just associations. As with so many things that we value after they're gone, we seem to be rediscovering the value of communities just as we are losing them.

The power of communities

Communities and neighborhoods are a largely untapped and little understood wealth of power and resources. And only communities may have the potential to explore, demonstrate and realize sustainability. Community-based social movements may be the most widely practiced form of effective political action in North America. It has also been said that greater "political space" and opportunity exist in neighborhoods than at larger levels of organization and government.

Power and conflict

Community organizing is traditionally equated with efforts to increase the power of the community in political and economic terms. This often means adopting adversarial and conflict-oriented positions that polarize situations and force people to choose between 'good' and 'bad' people and ideas. Realizing that people are easier to organize when they're angry, organizers often seek to agitate and work off of people's fear and hate. This is a successful short-term organizing strategy, but doesn't necessarily get us closer to sustainability.

I - We - They

Organizing for sustainability means recognizing THEY are really extensions of WE. A sustainable perspective emphasizes relationships and reminds us that everything is connected. Instead of seeing the world as US and THEM, we may begin to see it as a WE that has many levels. You might still prioritize the issues that concern you -- your family and your immediate community -- but using sustainable thinking can help you see yourself as related to people outside of these spheres. Saying this doesn't magically bring an end to all conflict, but it does encourage certain forms of conflict resolution and decision-making such as roundtables, partnerships, and techniques of facilitation and consensus building.

Valuing diversity in community

Sustainability depends on the diversity found in complex, healthy communities. However, our communities are being "simplified." We have seen simplification taking place in our ecological systems, and similarly we see a homogenization of human communities and cultures.

Connecting cultural diversity and biodiversity
While some people think of vanishing plant and animal species they want to save, and others think of saving vanishing languages and cultures, few people make the connection between ecological and human diversity. Artificial conflicts are set up, and "environmental" issues are seen as being opposed to social and economic concerns. It is true that environmentalism has historically focused on saving ecological biodiversity (whales, spotted owls, etc.) while neglecting the degradation of human communities and the loss of human health and diversity. It is only in the last decade that the sustainability and environmental justice movements have begun to connect social and ecological problems.

Practical steps for organizing your community

Define your concerns.   What do you want to achieve? What are you committed to? What do you mean by sustainability? How will you communicate your ideas to others?

Define your community.  Is your community a group of friends, your neighborhood, or your workplace? These are all valid starting points for organizing.

Where are the rewards?  Remember that most people, including you, will voluntarily (that means without being forced or paid) continue to do only what they enjoy or get great reward from. Many will get and stay involved primarily because of the other people they get to work with. Organizing is a social process that works only when it is enjoyable and cooperative rather than stressful and competitive.

Identify existing community organizations and groups.  How will you work with them, and how is your effort different? Increasing sustainability means increasing communications and improving relationships. Look for opportunities to cooperate and network. Don't unnecessarily repeat what others are doing, or work against them. Learn about and respect the history of your community and the efforts of people in your community.

Identify available resources and tools.  Is there money available, and/or other kinds of assistance for your work? What information is readily available?

Find our what other people care about.  Most people won't put their issues aside to deal with yours, even if you are convinced your concern is THE most important. An initial phase of all organizing is outreach and issue identification. Don't make the mistake of valuing the ends before the means. You know your perspective. Take time to talk with and work with others to find out their perspectives. Don't expect to find short?cuts or quick-fixes. Value the process and the steps you take together as a community.

Find a focus and do something.  While sustainability encourages us to keep in mind that everything is connected to everything, as mere mortals we need to keep putting one foot in front of the other in order to go anywhere. We need to focus our energies and resources. Start working when the community has a goal and is able and willing to begin work.

Identify existing examples.   Gather examples of communities that have done things similar to what you have in mind. Talk with people. Find examples in articles and books. Most of what you can imagine doing has been done somewhere else. People are convinced that something is possible when they see it's already been tried and proven.

Develop Indicators of Community Sustainability.  Your community may want to develop a set of indicators to help measure over time if you are indeed moving toward or away from your picture of sustainability. (Review the Sustainability Assessment Checklist for more information.)

Balance short-term acceptability and long-term sustainability.   Successful organizing means finding short? as well as long-term victories. Keep in mind, or be painfully reminded, that even the best long-term plans never leave the ground unless they're acceptable today. Do your ideas and plans inspire enough people to give them a chance? Do the programs the community has planned offer clear and convincing benefits when compared with the status quo or other alternatives?

Sustainability is a process.  We may someday find heaven on earth, but for the foreseeable future we'll be doing well if we can manage to take small steps toward sustainability, rather than away from it. Sustainability is about change and development. It's not about a static, end-state of perfection. It's not about absolutes but about working to make things tomorrow relatively better than they are today. If we're enjoying ourselves, and things are getting better for our community, then that's probably sustainability. As with democracy, sustainability is a process. We won't wake up one morning to a sustainable world. But we will find ways of integrating sustainability into our lifestyles, and ways of continuously pursuing and maintaining it.

Do not despair!  Among other things, sustainability offers us hope. Not a false or giddy sense of optimism, but a conviction that humans are indeed miracles of creation. While we perhaps ought to accept that there both ecological and social limits to our growth and expansion on this planet, there seem to be no limits to human creativity.

Find ways to enjoy what you're doing!   You are likely to cause less harm if you're truly at peace with yourself and with others.

Resources

Jones, Bernie. 1990. Neighborhood planning: a guide for citizens and planners. Planners Press, APA; Chicago.

Kretzmann, John P. & John L. Mcknight. 1993. Building communities from the inside out: a path toward finding a community's assets. Evanston, Il: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University.

Morrish, William R. and Catherine R. Brown. 1994. Planning to stay: learning to see the physical features of your neighborhood. Milkweed Editions.

Schneekloth, Lynda H. and Robert G. Shibley. 1995. Placemaking: the art and practice of building communities. New York: Wiley.