At The Natural Step, we usually look forward to a slightly slower pace in the summer so that we can take full advantage of the beautiful Canadian summer weather and extended daylight hours. But this summer we find ourselves busier than ever. It seems sustainable development doesn’t take the summer off.

As the world shows increasingly alarming signals of our unsustainable way of life, never has the need for proven, strategic, applicable tools and methodologies to create on-the-ground sustainable solutions and system-wide change been stronger.

In our latest newsletter, you can read about why we’re so busy. We have brought six new staff members on board since January to help deliver our five new programs areas:

• Sustainability Learning
• Sustainable Business
• Sustainable Communities
• Emerging Leaders

We are so pleased to see a number of partners we have and continue to work with being honoured for their sustainability leadership.

Congratulations to ISL Engineering and Land Services and The Co-operators who we have worked with in our Sustainable Business program. Both companies were named to the list of Canada’s Green 30—organizations whose employees are most positive about their record on environmental stewardship. And The Co-operators was also ranked second in Corporate Knights’ Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada.

Congratulations to Williams Lake who we worked with this year as part of our Sustainable Communities program. Williams Lake just won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Community Award for their sustainable community planning process.

And kudos to our partners at The Resort Municipality of Whistler and Whistler Blackcomb for recently being included on the 2010 list of Canada’s 50 Greenest Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.

We’re very excited to be announcing a new schedule of Sustainability Learning programs for the upcoming fall and winter, with courses taking place from coast to coast. Visit our Sustainable Learning page for full details.

Our Emerging Leaders program is now in full swing following another successful pilot program with the University of Western Ontario. If you are in university or college and interested in hands on sustainability training and mentoring, give us a call.

The Natural Step Exchange now has 175+ members and we’re busy with a full schedule of webinars and peer learning events over the coming months.

And last but not least, one of the big highlights of the coming months will be October 17-22, when we will be welcoming the Founder of The Natural Step, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, back to Canada. Dr. Robèrt will be delivering the keynote at Canadian Business for Social Responsibility’s Annual Summit on October 21 in Toronto, as well as their CEO Round Table on October 20, sponsored by InterfaceFLOR and The Co-operators. He will also be delivering a keynote at the London Health Sciences Centre’s EcoCare 2010 Conference on October 17, and engaging in several other Toronto-area events throughout the week. Visit our web site for further details soon.