What do a symphony orchestra and two exciting new toolkits from The Natural Step Canada have in common?

Both require a collection of diverse talents, a tremendous amount of preliminary practice, and are meant to move their audiences so that they leave forever changed.

Over the past eight months, I have helped develop two new resources for Alberta organizations. To me, the Sustainability Primer and Planning for Sustainability: A Starter Guide represent an extraordinary collective achievement that has drawn on the expertise of TNS’ sustainability advisors, communications team, top management, administrative staff, as well as that of an external editorial committee.

A recent article by Thomas Friedman in the International Herald Tribune reminds us of the tremendous challenge and opportunity represented by our current economic situation.

“What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession?” Friedman asks. “What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall – when Mother Nature and the market both said ‘No more.’”

The economic crisis is loud and clear wake up call to all of us about the need to double our efforts to foster leadership, co-operation, and innovation in building a movement for a sustainable future.

The opening of Canmore's sustainability photo exhibit / community celebration - What Comes Naturally - was held Wednesday evening (February 18th) at the Town Civic Centre. I wish you all could have been there for it.  The show comprises 31 large, colourful photographs and hanging banners distributed from one end of the Civic Centre to the other, and features dozens of Canmorites who are working to make their home a more sustainable place on the planet.

With our global economy in crisis, increasing food shortages in the developing world and reports of unprecedented ecosystem decline around the planet, it’s easy to feel disillusioned with the state of world. However, when we look closer to home there are indications that change is afoot.

Corporate Knights, an independent Canadian-based media company, conducts annual sustainability assessments of small, medium and large cities across the country. They choose indicators to measure the socio-ecological and economic wellbeing of cities by using publically available data and sending surveys out to municipal staff.

This year, in an effort to improve their rankings, they invited The Natural Step Canada (TNS) to participate on an advisory committee. As lead advisor, TNS researched how Corporate Knights could apply systems thinking and backcasting to help define success and strategically inform their indicator selection.