Sustainable Hanover, NH

Glossary



Eco-Municipality: "Eco-municipality" comes from both "Economics" and "Ecology."  An eco-municipality is a city or other municipality that aspires to develop an ecologically, economically and socially healthy community for the long term.  An eco-municipality develops from the "Natural Step" framework, which uses a democratic, highly participative development process.

Ecological Footprint:  The ecological footprint is a tool to help measure human  impacts on local and global ecosystems.  The ecological footprint of a given population (household, community, country) is the total area of ecologically productive land and water used exclusively to produce all the resources (including food, fuel, and fiber) consumed and to assimilate all the wastes generated by that population.  In Hanover, NH, we are working to figure out out our community's total footprint.  The Town has conducted energy audits of its buildings and tracks energy usage throughout municipal structures.  Sustainable Hanover would like to have a better understanding of what the residential footprint is today and how we might transition to living with smaller footprints over the next few decades.  For now, Hanover is promoting two tools to help residents begin exploring their impacts on the environment.  The first tool is:  RePower at Home (a tool that enables you to track what you have already done and that gives great information about various actions you might take);  The second tool necessitates a little bit more information regarding your household energy consumption, but provides a more in-depth and broad analysis of actions you can take in the home and beyond:  My Energy Plan

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI):  The genuine progress indicator (GPI) is an alternative metric system which is an addition to the national system of accounts that has been suggested to replace, or supplement, gross domestic product (GDP) as a metric of economic growth. The GPI is used in green economics, sustainability, ecological economics, and more inclusive types of economics commonly known as "welfare" economics.[citation needed]

GPI is an attempt to measure whether a country's growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare (or well-being) of the people in the country. GPI advocates claim that it can more reliably measure economic progress, as it distinguishes between worthwhile growth and uneconomic growth. (Wikipedia)


Natural Step Framework: The Natural Step Framework is a comprehensive model for planning complex systems.  Working with the Natural Step Framework provides communities an opportunity to put individual actions and initiatives into a larger context.  The Natural Step Framework guiding objectives seek to develop policies and practices that:
  1. Continually reduce dependence upon fossil fuels and extracted underground metals and minerals;
  2. Continually reduce dependence on chemicals and other manufactured substances that can accumulate in nature;
  3. Continually reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining ecosystems;
  4. Continually contribute as much as we can to the meeting of human needs in our society and worldwide.

Resilience:  Resilience is fundamental to the Transition Town movement.  Resilience is defined in The Transition Handbook as "the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks." (54)  It means "being more prepared for a leaner future, more self-reliant, and prioritizing the local over the imported." (55)

Sustainability: Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  Sustainability, in the most basic sense, is the capacity to endure.

Transition Towns: The Transition Network's role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organize around the transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.  Here is a map of current Transition Initiatives globally.  There are a number of Transition initiatives in the Upper Valley and throughout New England.  White River Junction has the most active local group.  The Transition Model assumes that Peak Oil is real and that the convergence of Peak Oil and substantial climate change will necessitate dramatic shifts in how people live throughout the globe.  The idea is to make a smooth transition to a post-oil economy so that all societies can thrive, even when burdened by unpredictable economic and environmental realities. 


Resources

Greenlivingpedia:  Greenlivingpedia for a sustainable future is a wiki on green living, building and communities.  Greenlivingpedia is based in Australia.