Measuring Sustainable Lifestyles and Sustainability Sylvia Karlsson and Arthur Dahl International Environment Forum

Indicators No system can be managed without information Dashboards Bank statements Achieving sustainability also requires information Indicators are numbers/symbols that tell something about the system

Use of indicators Information for decision-making Public information Early warning, vulnerability Indicators can provide guidance for adaptive management, which is necessary when we do not fully understand complex systems.

Types of indicators Statistics (GNP, unemployment rate) Materials flows Ecological footprints Scientific data (CO 2 concentration) Maps, GIS Other types of information

Indicators of sustainable development Rio Earth Summit adopted Agenda 21 UNDP Human Development Index Commission on Sustainable Development, Programme of Work on Indicators SCOPE project on Indicators of Sustainability Menu of 134 indicators, DSIR framework Revised set of 52 core indicators SCOPE Assessment of Sustainability Indicators

NGO Initiatives Environmental Sustainability Index Ecological Footprint WWF Living Planet Index IUCN Wealth of Nations BIC Spiritually Based Indicators for Development

Local Indicators Sustainable Seattle Fraser Valley, BC, Canada Local Agenda 21 in many communities

Status of indicator development Challenge of measuring sustainability and sustainable development Temporal and spatial scales Planetary limits Vulnerability and resilience Irreversibility Reference values, baselines, targets Data drivenness

Defining Development Other dimensions than material: Cultural diversity Global consciousness Equality of men and women Participation in science/knowledge

Process of indicator development Challenges of developing indicators through processes that ensure their universal applicability: Comparing countries Diversity of development goals Equity Democracy

Individual indicators There are indicators that individuals, families and communities can use to measure the sustainability of their lifestyles. More should be done to help each person develop and use such indicators to manage their own well-being and sustainability. Such indicators can also contribute substantially to education for sustainable development.

Examples of individual indicators Water consumption, use of polluting materials (detergent, cleaners, toxics) Energy: Electricity/gas consumption, heating bills, CO 2 budget Transport: automobile mileage, public transport use, bicycle use, walking Food: purchases of fast food,organic, fair trade; weight gain; number of meatless meals

Examples 2 Clothing: number of shirts, dresses, shoes; expenditures on clothes Housing: number of rooms per person, cost Technology: number of electronic devices bought/discarded Contact with nature, animals (hrs/week) Travel for recreation, tourism (km) Experiences of beauty, cultural diversity

Examples 3 Community: participation in activities Solidarity: gifts to charity, development Altruism: volunteer service Spirituality: daily prayer

Action Make up your own sustainability indicator profile Compare your progress yearly In school, develop a class indicator profile (choose, measure, analyze)