From: ntm@getf.org [SMTP:ntm@getf.org]
To: Allan Baer
Cc:

Subject: Building Blocks of Sustainability
Sent: 4/13/99 8:00 PM
Importance: Normal

Dear Affiliated Events Coordinator:

For the past six years the President's Council on Sustainable Development has worked with hundreds of partners around the country to envision and realize a new American dream. In this dream of a better future, prosperity, opportunity, and a healthy environment are inseparable threads woven into the fabric of our daily lives. With the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America just around the corner (May 2-5!), we are accelerating our efforts to move "from inspiration to implementation" with our Building Blocks of Sustainability campaign.

This campaign is central to our Journey to Detroit, the NTM and the legacy afterwards. These commitments from across the country will show that people, businesses, communities, and governments can work together to improve the quality of life for all citizens and help create a sustainable America.

I believe that one can find the best examples of sustainable development in communities like yours. That is why your help is critical to making the "Building Blocks" campaign a success. As an NTM Affiliated event, you and your colleagues are especially well positioned to make commitments and help generate them from others in your community participating in your affiliated event. At the NTM we will recognize your building blocks, and we encourage you to include recognition of commitments as part of your events.

Registering commitments is easy - just use the website at www.sustainbleamerica.org or fill out and fax the attached form. You may call the staff here at PCSD who will also answer any questions you might have. For NTM questions, please contact Karina Ricks at 202-260-8760. For the Building Blocks campaign, contact Barbara Maddox or me at 202-408-5296 or at jbowlespcsd@erols.com. We appreciate your support and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Julian E. Bowles
Deputy Executive Director
President's Council on Sustainable Development

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A National Town Meeting
Detroit, Michigan and Points Across America

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUSTAINABILITY

MAKE A COMMITMENT
. . . for a sustainable America. People, businesses, communities and governments can work together to show that economic growth, environmental protection, and increased opportunity for all Americans go hand-in-hand. All commitments have this in common - they show that people can improve the quality life in their neighborhoods, communities, country, and the world. They will be the building blocks of a more sustainable and livable future. On the Journey to Detroit and at the National Town Meeting, we will showcase these commitments and use actual building blocks to create symbols for a sustainable America.

Anyone can make a commitment: from creating an energy-efficient home to creating a "sustainable" corporation; from a person taking mass transit to a city embarking on a "smart growth" program; from an individual recycling to an industrial sector reducing its materials use; from opening a business in an urban empowerment zone to a bank increasing lending in low-income neighborhoods. Anyone can make a commitment and make a difference.

The National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America will highlight these building blocks and set an example for thousands of people and organizations. The NTM's media coverage leading up to and at the event will provide maximum visibility for your effort. We encourage you to make a commitment. By using the blueprint below, you will see how easy it is to create a building block on your own, from your workplace, your community, or your agency.

WHAT IS A BUILDING BLOCK?

Building Blocks are commitments from people and organizations to put their unique skills, talents, abilities and resources toward fostering a more sustainable future. These commitments may impact an organization's core mission or add to its philanthropic activities. Anybody or any group - small or large, profit or nonprofit, private or public - can make a commitment to sustainability. We encourage you to create a building block in partnership with other entities, as this can build sustainability across many sectors.

You can register your building block on our web site at www.sustainableamerica.org or by filling in the attached form.. Staff is available to work with you to create a unique building block that reflects your values, aligns with your mission, and of course promotes sustainable development.

An individual's building block can be anything that promotes sustainability. We are asking that an organization's building block:

1. Advance one or more sustainable development goals, such as those outlined in the PCSD's 1996 report to the President: Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment for the Future. See www.whitehouse.gov/pcsd/ to get ideas from the PCSD's work.

2. Comprise a new effort or the enhancement of an existing program. Efforts initiated since January 1, 1999 qualify.

BUILDING BLOCK GOALS WE ARE WORKING TOWARD:
* 200 communities commit to take action toward smarter growth by the year 2000;
* 200 businesses agree to agree to measure their "triple bottom line" (a financial statement, environmental statement, and social statement) by the year 2000;

* 20 financial institutions, working with local, state and federal agencies, commit to increasing opportunities for home ownership and small businesses in low-income communities;

* 2000 organizations agree to reduce greenhouse emissions voluntarily; and
* 20,000 individuals take action to make their lifestyles more sustainable (e.g. reduce their energy consumption, buy recycled, invest in "green" companies).

HOW DO I CREATE A BUILDING BLOCK?

1. Determine how you or your organization could best contribute to creating a sustainable America.

2. Define the outcome you expect to achieve and translate it into a commitment (e.g., save energy by replacing ten light bulbs with compact flourescent ones); reduce traffic congestion by providing transit passes to 1000 employees; enhance natural resources by applying for a "Better America Bond" to increase by 20% the parkland in your community. If possible, we want to measure the impact of commitments.

3. Register your building block on www.sustainableamerica.org or fax or mail the enclosed "Building Block" form along with any additional information you think is important, to the number or address below. Fax: (703) 750-6506,

Address: Building Blocks
Global Environment and Technology Foundation
7010 Little River Turnpike, Suite 300
Annandale, VA 22003

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
1. Jack Bowles, Deputy Executive Director, President's Council on Sustainable Development; (p) 202-408-5296; jbowlespcsd@erols.com

2. Building Blocks, Global Environment and Technology Foundation (p) 703-750-6401;
3. Your local National Town Meeting affiliated event contact or NTM State Liaison. Please see the "Affiliated Events" section of this web site for information.

SAMPLE BUILDING BLOCKS

For Individuals at Home and in their Communities
* Buying recycled, post-consumer content products (e.g. paper products, plastic bottles)
* Drive less (mass transit to work, reduce car trips and miles driven)
* Support sustainable development initiatives in your community or state.
* Reduce your home's energy use (more efficient heating and cooling systems, lighting)
* Save water.
* Buy products from or invest in companies that practice sustainable development
* Consume more organic or locally-produced products
* Volunteer in your neighborhood or community
* Join a local civic association
* Form a car pool

For Businesses
* Commit to measure your triple bottom line (financial statement, environmental statement, social statement). Establish corporate environmental and social goals.

* Conduct environmental audits.
* Support employees volunteering for sustainable development (e.g. with paid time off)
* Reduce use of specific resource-intensive or toxic materials in your business processes.
* Adopt sustainable workplace and business policies (e.g. recycled/post consumer products, energy efficiency, welfare-to-work, upward mobility, transit passes, local purchasing) and promote them in your supplier-customer chains.

For Nonprofit and Civic Organizations
* Establish or adapt mission goals that incorporate sustainable development principles.
* Adopt sustainable workplace policies (e.g. recycle, post consumer products, energy efficiency, welfare-to-work, upward mobility, transit passes) and promote them in your networks.

* Support employees volunteering for sustainable development causes (e.g. paid time off)

For Governments
* Eliminate laws, regulations, and policies that promote or subsidize urban sprawl.
* Adopt binding, comprehensive smart growth plans (state and local)
* Adopt sustainable workplace policies (e.g. recycled/post consumer products, energy efficiency, welfare-to-work, upward mobility, transit passes) and promote them in your supplier-customer chains

* Integrate sustainable development principles into environmental curricula in schools.
* Design and inhabit energy efficient environmentally-friendly buildings.
* Provide subsidies for economic development that is environmentally and socially beneficial.
* Take action to build more livable communities for the 21st century.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE FUTURE
Commitment Submission Form

Note: Individuals only fill out relevant parts of the form.

Date ___________________

NTM for a Sustainable America Contact (if you have one) ______________

Organization/Individual Name _________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________________

City _____________________ State ____________________ Zip _________

Web Address ________________________ Email address __________________

Organization ________________________ Title _________________________

Phone Number ________________________ Fax Number ____________________

Are you attending the National Town Meeting? _________________________

Name and Title of Authorizing Person _________________________________

Signature _________________________________

For the information below, use additional sheets if necessary.

1. Please provide a brief organization description (e.g. mission, current activities, number of employees, number and location of offices or branches).

2. Please describe your building block/commitment to sustainability, including start/completion dates, new program or expansion:

3. Please describe your anticipated outcome and impact on sustainability. Please be as specific as possible, quantifying the impact where appropriate.

4. What other organizations if any, will be involved as partners in creating your building block?

5. Are you willing to provide updates periodically on your progress? If so, how often?