We began in our last article to introduce the concept of sustainable development. Recall the Brundtland Report’s definition:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This implies an emphasis on stewardship and conservation of land and other natural resources. Applied to community development, it leads to ideas which, while rooted in or mimicking the same environmentally conscious practices, can surprise us with their simple yet innovative applicability to local business and other areas of community life.

South of MV/Lisbon. Its roots in environmental stewardship lead sustainable economic development to innovative solutions for the economies of small towns.

What’s more, these tools require no physical expansion on the part of the community. They help a town improve its economy, indeed its community as a whole, without physical growth. This is a huge plus as we’ve seen how such growth is typically harmful to an already mature community.

Sustainable forms of development are also just what their name suggests: They’re capable of being continued indefinitely. Physical growth, just like the burning of fossil fuels, is not.

So what does this look like on the local level?
I won’t attempt here a comprehensive overview of the principles of sustainable development. But we can begin to see how sustainable economic development can apply at the local level by considering one of its key principles: Increase Resource Productivity.

Increasing resource productivity simply means getting more out of existing resources. In the realm of energy conservation, for instance, basic conservation practices are widely familiar. Yet experts have shown we already have the technology to achieve much larger savings, allowing astonishing increases in the productivity of natural resources.

The MV farmers' market in October. Farmers markets — sustainable economic development at work in our community.

Shifting to the economic arena, we can boost the productivity of a community’s financial resources by “plugging leaks,” as they like to put it at the Rocky Mountain Institute. We simply find tools to stop unnecessary leakage of money out of the community. That way it remains here to add to the local economy. Here are three examples:

  • Implement community wide programs to encourage support of local business
    This is one of the more widely known, commonsensical tools of sustainable economic development. But few communities make as much use of it as they could. One that’s made especially good use of it is Boulder, Colorado. There local business owners formed the Boulder Independent Business Alliance, an organization which has proven effective at encouraging consumers to patronize locally owned businesses rather than national chains. It helps consumers recognize, for example, that locally owned businesses recycle much more of their profits back into the local economy, thus doing more for the health of the town than the chain outlets. Its success also helps Boulder preserve its unique identity and character.

  • Direct farm marketing
    In our own area the farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture programs such as the one at Laura Krause’s farm are nice examples of sustainable economic development. They plug leaks of money out of our own economies. When you buy from them your money goes directly to someone who’s a part of the local economy and who will therefore return much of their profit to the local area. When you buy produce shipped here by a conglomerate like ConAgra or ADM, much of your money leaves the state.

    These businesses reflect the deeper, environmental roots of sustainable development as well, most of them practicing farming methods which are better for our environment. Moreover, they virtually eliminate the great distances from soil to table which “conventional” produce travels, thus saving a tremendous amount of energy.

  • Energy conservation programs
    Here in Iowa, the economy of the town of Osage (pop. 3,800) is considerably richer every year than it would be without a program they’ve had in place for the last 30 years. It doesn’t bring new money into town. It keeps it from leaving. The result, of course, is exactly the same. The program is nothing glamorous. It’s just a simple, voluntary energy conservation program. It includes things like energy audits, insulating water heater blankets, and load management devices on air conditioners. Nearly everyone participates, and Osage saves over $1.2 million each year! That’s an extra $1.2 million which stays in town, available to the local economy.

These are just a hint of the possibilities of sustainable economic development. Michael Kinsley provides a larger sampling in a quick-to-read article. The possibilities are limited only by our creativity.

Let’s get the word out about true development alternatives
These are concrete tools we can be apply to provide substantial boosts to our economies without sacrificing the characters of these great small towns through unsustainable physical expansion. Because they’re sustainable, and emphasize improvement rather than expansion, they stimulate “development” in the true sense of the word, not the sense in which it’s been coopted by the “growth machine” to mean merely physical growth. They’re not magic bullets which promise to solve every economic problem, but they’re practical methods to be matched thoughtfully to communities and situations. Our towns’ city councils and P&Z commissions need to hear from you that there are alternatives to residential construction, that subdivisions are no alternative at all.

Check back for future essays looking at additional tools of sustainable development. With any luck we can generate some discussion right here about what sorts of methods might best serve Lisbon and Mount Vernon.