Visions, Conclusions and Definitions of sustainable communities

Visions

The readings this week focused on 'visions' and scenarios of sustainable communities. Common themes that arose in the reading include:

walkable and bike friendly streets, reduced or non-existent motorized vehicles and a high level of social capital

Achieving a sustainable community is a long-term goal and requires participation of all community members. Eliciting the type of participation that a sustainable community requires is, to me, the major hurtle facing communities right now. 

Conclusions

Now, at the end of this course, it is very clear how complicated the subject of sustainable communities are. There are many different avenues to achieve sustainability. In our class we specifically focused on how to become more sustainable in: Food, Water and Energy. I had never before considered, indicators, or ways of measuring sustainability. Furthermore, I realized how much local government support is required in order to make improvements. I never realized that issues, such as building codes would cause so much friction against individuals who are making an effort to move towards sustainability.

The closing ceremony, this past Friday, was a wonderful demonstration, of how thinking in a sustainable can foster interactions and good feelings between people.  Some of the people who visited our class's poster display seemed very intrigued by our recommendations. One man, in particular, asked for more information on our Starter Garden Program. I told him about BCOS and that these are recommendations made to the commission. I urged him to contact them and ask about our recommendations and if they are being used. I think that is a great example of how to get people involved and interested in what is happening in the community.

Definitions

This semester, I have  been presented with a variety of definitions of sustainable communities (many of these definitions, I have made note of throughout this blog).  Now, I present my own definition of sustainability:

Sustainability is the act of preserving our Earth with the intentions of providing food, habitat, and happiness for the current and future generations.

I think that this definition encompasses the basic need of acknowledging that it is the Earth that supports us. It also addresses the fact that being sustainable adds to ones 'happiness' and quality of life. It also shows that we must be forward thinking.  It is true that the definition can quickly become more complicated (as I learned in this course) however, I feel like my definition summarizes most what stood out for me this semester.