By Alyssa Burnham, The High River Times. August 10, 2010.

High River is in the process of exploring how it might move toward increased sustainability as a municipality.

The Town has contracted The Natural Step, an organization that helps businesses and municipalities develop sustainable practices and systems, to survey the community on its environmental practices and views in order to provide staff and council with an idea as to where improvements can be made.

"Basically, it (would) give us what's called a triple bottom line — the environmental and social consequences of our decisions, as well as the financial," said Town Manager Harry Harker. "What we're doing right now is exploring how we might get involved in (The Natural Step.)"

As adherents to The Natural Step philosophy grow, the communities of Canmore and Olds and Landmark Homes, who is building homes in High River, are among their ranks.

"We (realized) this might be a pretty natural fit for us," Harker said. "Here we have a builder who's working in town and a similar kind of municipality in Olds, so let's take a look in terms of what this might mean for us as more responsible community."

The Natural Step is an international organization headquartered in Sweden that not only promotes sustainable development but provides programs, education and tools that equip others to develop sustainable practices and systems.

It asks clients to identify their end goals and 'backcast' or ask themselves 'What do we need to do to achieve that outcome?'

Harker explained that the Town has been looking for ways to reduce its environmental impact and develop in a sustainable manner but began looking at The Natural Step after the Environmental Advisory Committee asked for an all-encompassing approach.

"We were looking for a framework that would allow us to really look at environmental issues because environmental issues affect the foundation of our everyday life," said Leslie Scrimshaw, a member of the Environmental Advisory Committee. "We wanted a way we could evaluate our decisions."

"It's quite important that eventually everything has to go through this framework — how you buy your office supplies, how you manage your information, all of those kinds of things are things that do affect the environment."

Scrimshaw said she is encouraged that the Town is exploring The Natural Step framework but knows there is a long road ahead if it were to become reality because it requires participation of every staff and community member.

As a first step, Scrimshaw and Jackie Nelson, also a member of the Environmental Advisory Committee, recently completed training offered by The Natural Step for the purpose of applying that knowledge to a review of the Town's Solid Waste Diversion Study.

Harker said after Town staff review the study, the committee members will use their training to evaluate how the recommendations in the study done by consultant group Sonnevera match up against the principals of sustainability.

In all likelihood, the decision on whether to become fully involved in The Natural Step program will be made by the new council after the fall elections, Harker said.

Source: The High River Times