The Natural Step: A Win-Win-Win

The Natural Step to Sustainability: A Win-Win-Win
for Business, Community and the Earth
by Terry Gips

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what we are doing to the Earth and wonder if we really can create a sustainable future? Let's go on a little journey to a land far away. Relax, take a deep breath and imagine a land where:

Farmers saved money and the environment by reducing overall pesticide use by 75% in less than one decade.
Hundreds of thousands of young people became concerned about the Earth and created their own environmental projects, computer networks, video programs and Youth Parliament.
More than 70 cities became ecomunicipalities, thus decreasing cost and waste while creating more jobs.
Sixty major corporations cleaned up their act and began offering ecologically sound products and services that increased profitability, reduced pollution and provided competitive advantage.
The largest oil company developed clean, farmer-grown biofuels and lobbied the government to increase air quality standards.
Even McDonald's served veggie burgers and organic milk, while making a commitment to go completely organic
And all of this was supported by the King through annual environmental awards.

This is no dream--Sweden has already accomplished this and more. And the ideas behind this success are spreading around the world through various initiatives, such as The Natural Step, a scientifically based, consensus framework for understanding and addressing our environmental problems, and the United Nations Agenda 21, an action plan for the 21st Century developed at the UN Earth Summit in Rio.

The Journey of The Natural Step Framework
In the 1980's Swedish medical doctor and cancer researcher Karl-Henrik Robert was concerned about rapidly increasing cancer rates for children. From his research, it had become clear to him that this increase in cancer was connected to environmental factors, not lifestyle. In talking with a fellow scientist, Dr. Robert was frustrated that there was endless debate that wasn't going anywhere. He felt something had to be done. So he began a consensus process in which he sent out a paper for comment from fellow researchers about conditions for planetary sustainability.

After 21 drafts he was able to achieve a consensus from 50 leading Swedish scientists. While this in itself would have been a major accomplishment, he knew more was needed to bring about real change. As a national karate champion and leader of Sweden's successful no smoking campaign, he felt there was a need to creatively engage people and reach out to the broader public.

He persuaded major corporations to support the sending of an audio cassette and educational pamphlet on the scientific findings to every home and school in Sweden, 4.3 million in total. The Natural Step was officially launched in 1989 as a nonprofit educational organization as man of Sweden's leading musicians, artists and cultural leaders joined together for a nationally broadcast television special that was backed by the King.

Since then, there has been an impressive series of shifts (listed at the beginning of the article). More than sixty corporations in Sweden have implemented TNS, including the world's largest manufacturers of appliances (Electrolux) and furniture (IKEA), Swedish Railways, three major supermarket chains (ICA, Konsum, and Hemkkop), the largest hotel chain (Scandic), and even McDonald's.

Agriculture Takes The Natural Step
For years there was a pitched battle between Sweden's organic and conventional farmers. TNS sought to bring both together using a modification of its original consensus process. After an often challenging two-year process, both sides agreed on a forward-thinking "TNS Agricultural Consensus Document." The Farmers Union declared a new goal: "On our way to the cleanest agriculture in the world." Incorporating TNS ideas, they transformed their Sanga-Saby Conference Center into the world's most environmental conference facility, while becoming profitable. They also turned both their model farm and restaurant completely organic and have gone fossil-fuel-free, with vehicles running on clean-burning, farmer-grown canola fuel.

To top this off, Swedish famers achieved a 75% reduction in pesticide use within a decade. First, they met a national 50% pesticide use reduction goal, which they achieved in five years; then they initiated a further 50% goal, which they acheived in only four years. This benefitted both the environment and the farmers' bottom line.

Utilizing a similar approach, Robert and NSFalso have developed consensus processes and papers on other thorny topics, such as energy, forestry, mining and municipalities. TNS is currently engaged in its first open international consensus process to address the challenging issue of genetic engineering.

NSF Crosses the Ocean
Gradually NSF has spread the England, Holland, Australia, Japan and across the Atlantic to Canada and the US. It has received a boost in the US through the leadership of well-known entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken, along with a key meeting of top North American Scientists in February 1997 sponsored by the US EPA and Johnson Wax Foundation. The scientists concluded that the TNS scientific framework was "valid" and could be an especially useful tool as a means of "organizing information" about sustainability.

Interface Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial carpet tile, was the first US company to embrace NSF In just a few years, it had saved approximately $76 million and it has since been joined by a number of other American companies, including Home Depot, Nike, Mitsubishi Electric USA, Collins Pine (sustainable forestry products), Placon (plastics), and Fredric's (an Aveda Corporation distributor of natural personal care products).

A range of other institutions have become involved, including the University of Texas at Houston Health Science Center, the San Diego Museum of Natural History, Georgia Tech, the University of Tennessee, the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and a range of communities.

The Core of The Natural Step Framework
NSF was established as a non-profit educational organization with the purpose of developing and sharing a common framework comprised of easily understood, scientifically based principles that serve as a compass to guide society toward a just and sustainable future. The Natural Step emphasizes that the only long-term sustainable manner for business and society to operate in is within the Earth's natural cycles. This can be accomplished through meeting four basic sustainability conditions . It is being shared successfully through one-day seminars with businesses, non-profit organizations, communities, government agencies, schools and other organizations in the US.

Terry Gips is an author (Breaking the Pesticide Habit and The Humane Consumer and Producer Guide), economist, ecologist, Natural Step Facilitator, President of the Alliance for Sustainability, and President of Sustainability Associates, a consulting firm addressing the sustainability needs of business and communities, from sustainability thinking and Natural Step seminars to ecoauditing. He can be reached at: 2584 Upton Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55405; Tel: 612-374-4765; Fax: 612-377-6019; E-mail: tgips@mtn.org . The Natural Step national office can be reached at 415-561-3344 or www.naturalstep.org .

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