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Sustainable Communities:  Lessons from Wisconsin and Sweden

Swedish Communities
Like Wisconsin communities, Swedish communities come in all shapes and sizes. Sweden is one of the largest countries in Europe (158,926 sq miles), but with one of the smallest populations. It is equivalent in land area to California, but only has a population of 9 million.

Kungs�r
Kungs�r is a small municipality of about 8,300 people on 78 square miles. It is located on the western edge of Lake M�laren, Sweden�s third largest lake and is connected to the Baltic Sea near Stockholm. The largest percentage of the workforce, 32%, is employed in manufacturing and mining. In 1984, Kungs�r, like many rural communities, experienced population decline and loss of employment from companies that moved away or went bankrupt. During the 1980�s, Kungs�r tried a variety of economic development policies, but nothing was working. By late 1989, the municipality heard about The Natural Step and in 1990 officially became an eco-municipality. Kungs�r went through a visioning process and community members realized that maintaining a good place to live and work was their primary goal. Sound familiar? A good place to live and work for Kungs�r�s citizens means the maintenance of their cultural landscape. The municipality�s landscape of oak savannahs and pastures has been occupied for over a thousand years and is dotted with ancient burial grounds.

Kungs�r: Nature Reserve, Ancient Oak. Photo courtesy Lisa MacKinnon, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin

Kungs�r now takes a broad view of economic development.  It combines habitat restoration with eco-tourism, education and training.  Kungs�r encourages new environmentally friendly businesses to move into their community. The latest business to open in a restored building near the railway station is Ecoil.  Ecoil produces oil for energy (heating) use from rape seed (better known here as canola). The owner contracts with farmers in the area for the rape seed. They use machines made in Iowa(!) to crush the seed to extract the oil. The municipality provides an annual award to a sustainable business within its jurisdiction to highlight the importance of a sustainable present and future. The 2006 award went to Ecoil. While many businesses in Kungs�r do not fit this image, Kungs�r believes it is now on a path that will maintain it as a good place to live and work.

Helsingborg
In contrast to Kungs�r, Helsingborg is a municipality of about 122,000 people. It is situated on the western coast and is the closest Swedish city to Denmark. The city has a major port that draws large companies to locate in the area such as IKEA and Pfizer. Helsingborg�s sustainability initiatives reach into many aspects of municipal government. After becoming an eco-municipality in 1995, Helsingborg began to focus on six sustainability strategies, including: citizen cooperation, sustainable transportation, sustainable energy, �Healthier Helsingborg,� sustainable planning, and clean water. One objective within its sustainable energy strategy aims to reduce 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2010. To achieve that objective Helsingborg�s Climate Investment Program carries out a number of major initiatives: bio-fertilizer distribution via pipeline, bio-gas (methane) production from waste and sewage, and information. Among other accomplishments, they now have 61 biogas buses operating within the municipality.

�vertorne�
Sweden�s northernmost eco-municipality is �vertorne�, a municipality of about 5,200 people that covers 917 square miles and includes a part of the Arctic Circle. �vertorne� became Sweden�s first eco-municipality in 1983. The municipality�s initial focus was working with farmers on organic and other alternative agriculture methods. Over a twenty year period, the municipality received grants for and implemented education and training programs, fish inventories, the planning and construction of an eco-village, a recycling program, green purchasing, green building, energy planning, a solar heated community swimming pool and green schools. One of the most remarkable accomplishments was achieving a goal of using no fossil fuels in municipal operations. �vertorne� transformed all five of its heating plants to use biomass. Many municipal buildings not part of the district heating system also have switched from oil to wood-based fuel. The municipality also transformed its truck, bus and car fleet to biofuels, such as ethanol and bio-diesel. The municipality produces about 50% of its electricity from wind using seven turbines.

There are many more Swedish examples. Each municipality has looked to its own needs and made decisions about how to accomplish the goals and objectives that it established early in a planning process.

Wisconsin Communities
What has been happening in Wisconsin? Much more than you might imagine.

Milwaukee
Wisconsin�s largest city, Milwaukee, hired Ann Beier as Environmental Sustainability Director in July 2006. One of her main priorities will be to develop a Green Plan. Prior to that, the mayor also appointed a �Green Team� task force made up of business leaders, government officials and citizens. The task force developed a framework for long-term sustainability and the city now has a number of initiatives related to stormwater management, smart energy, and green economy (see Box 3 for examples).

Chequamegon Bay Region
Issues of sustainability have caught the attention of more than just Wisconsin�s largest city. The rural region around Lake Superior is moving forward with a draft sustainability plan for the region. The Chequamegon (pronounced Che-wa-megon) Bay Area of Ashland and Bayfield Counties includes the cities of Ashland, Bayfield, and Washburn, and the Bad River and Red Cliff Bands of Chippewa. The population of this area is about 32,000. The City of Washburn was the first city in the United States to pass a resolution declaring it an eco-municipality based on the Swedish model using The Natural Step framework. The City of Ashland soon followed. The City of Bayfield is currently considering adoption of a similar eco-municipality resolution.

However, these actions did not occur suddenly in the Chequamegon Bay region. The Alliance for Sustainability has sponsored a variety of educational forums for many years, of which �Pie and Politics� held at Big Top Chautauqua is a prominent example. In addition, the Alliance coordinated nine study circles with approximately 80 participants. These learning forums helped many individuals to �realize that it may indeed be possible to have a sustainable city and were inspired to finally take action in the community� (Silberstein, 2006). In June 2006, eight people from the region went on the Sustainable Sweden tour, which was by far the largest local contingent out of 17 participants from Wisconsin.

Madison
Wisconsin�s capitol city, Madison, is considered one of the most progressive communities in the state. Not surprisingly perhaps, in December 2005 Madison passed a resolution to use The Natural Step framework to guide their decisions, operations and management. Madison plans to train about 25 city employees in TNS starting in September 2006. Sustain Dane and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin have been working with the city on training issues and will continue to work with it during the post-training implementation period. Figuring out how to institutionalize TNS training within a city�s structure is a challenge. Another challenge is working with employees who see sustainability as extra work rather than incorporating it into their daily tasks and decisions. The city has identified a core team to work with employees and elected officials to build support and understanding about the TNS framework and sustainability.

Like the Chequamegon Bay region, Madison�s city council and mayor didn�t wake up one day and decide to become an eco-municipality. Through a local environmental group, Sustain Dane, 125 people participated in study circles addressing such topics as the TNS framework, agriculture, transportation, energy and solid waste management. One result of these study circles was a �Rain Barrel Initiative.� Sustain Dane volunteers installed over 100 rain barrels across Dane County in May 2006, and as a result of education and outreach, there is now a waiting list for other residents who want to install them.

To summarize, Wisconsin communities have taken the following steps:

• Listened to presentations by various �firesouls� from the Chequamegon Bay region

• Held study circles to learn about sustainability and eco-municipalities

• Adopted eco-municipality resolutions

• Planned to train city employees in The Natural Step

• Prepared plans for action

The important part about these initiatives is that local governments are talking about how to make sustainable decisions for the local economy and ecosystem. The ones we have talked about are local governments that either are using or considering the use of the TNS framework to help them make decisions today for the promise of tomorrow.

Lessons

1. It�s a local decision to move towards a sustainable future using an approach and taking actions that fit your community. There is no one right way to move forward. Each community must choose a path that fits its political, fiscal, economic and social realities.

2. Your community needs firesouls, people who are willing to start the conversation and keep it going. There is no reason why a planner, a plan commissioner, or an elected official cannot act as a firesoul.

3. Building local capacity is an important component to any initiative. Many communities have begun study circles or discussion forums to understand issues, systems thinking, sustainability, and implementation.

4. Sometimes you might lose ground. Some of the Swedish communities took two steps forward, then one step back.

5. Bottom line: START THE CONVERSATION

References

James, Sarah and Torbj�rn Lahti. (2004) The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns Can Change to Sustainable Practices. New Society Publishers: BC, Canada.

Silberstein, Jane and Hildebrandt, Lauren. (1996) Study Circle Effectiveness in the Chequamegon Bay: Learning about and Applying the Principles of Sustainability. Draft manuscript. University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Other Reading

Gruder, Haines, Hembd, MacKinnon and Silberstein. (Forthcoming. Expected Fall 2006) Sustainability Toolkit for Local Governments. Draft manuscript. University of Wisconsin-Extension  

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