The Natural Step - A National Plan for sustainability
Dr Karl-Henrik Robert is one of Sweden's leading cancer researchers, who has developed 'The Natural Way' as a method of reaching consensus about sustainable futures within the scientific community in Sweden. With persistence he reached an agreed 22nd draft of a report on environmental problems and on the most critical avenues for action. He persuaded the king, schools, and industrial sponsors to back the report, and arranged for the sending of an educational package to every household in the country, outlining the steps needed to make Swedish civilisation environmentally sustainable for the long-term future. This project was backed by artists and celebrities on TV, it has led to seminars for MPs; study circles; and an environmental youth parliament - and it promises in the long run to reorganise completely the nation's way of life, bringing it 'into alignment with the laws of nature'.
'The steps needed to make Swedish civilisation environmentally sustainable for the long-term future'
The 1,500 Pound Award
'The Natural Step' project has since been adapted for Poland and Hungary. In the UK, the Institute for Social Inventions has recognising it with the special L1,500 Body Shop Award for the 'Best Social Invention 1991'; and the Council for Posterity, the organisation (described above) working for the interests of future generations is attempting to initiate a Natural Step network in the UK. A big meeting to launch the idea in the UK was held at the Royal Society for Arts in March 1992, in association with the Schumacher College and the Gaia Foundation.
'The Council for Posterity will attempt to initiate a Natural Step network in the UK'
Consensus-building
Marilyn Mehlman of the Swedish Institute for Social Inventions writes:
In my view, Dr Karl-Henrik Robert's most significant social invention is his method for achieving consensus on tricky, complicated, often highly scientific matters in a way that does not reduce agreement to the lowest common denominator but that actually produces rather radical position statements. His work has for example developed a position statement on energy (production and use) endorsed by virtually all leading scientists in Sweden, regardless of opinions on topics like nuclear power, and which has been presented to the House of Parliament. He describes his method as leading discussion back to the 'trunk' of the problem tree rather than chattering about peripheral twigs and leaves.
PCB pollution
Dr Robert gives an example of this consensus-building:
If a politician were to ask a random selection of scientists whether or not the reproductive organs of seals are destroyed by the chemical PCB, it is very unlikely that he would get the kinds of answers that would be helpful in arriving at a decision. He might hear, for instance: 'That has not been definitely established yet.' 'Yes, that has now been clearly established.' 'Our laboratory has identified a toxin that plays a far more destructive role,' and so on.
That's the sort of thing that happens with questions about the leaves of the environmental tree. But, if one begins with the trunk or branches, the answers become clearer and more consistent. For instance:
Is PCB a naturally occurring substance? No, it is artificially manufactured by man. All scientists agree on that.
Is it chemically stable, or does it quickly degrade into harmless substances? It is stable and persistent. On that they all agree, as well.
Does it accumulate in organs? Yes it does.
Is it possible to predict the tolerance limits of such a stable, unnatural substance? No, since the complexity of eco-systems is essentially limitless. Nevertheless, it is known that all such substances have limits, often very low, which cannot be exceeded.
Can we continue to introduce such substances into the ecosystem? Not if we want to survive.
'I went to the king, and asked him if he would endorse the project. He agreed'
The final answer is what the politician actually wanted to know from the beginning, since he is probably not particularly interested in the reproductive organs of seals. Yet, most public environmental debate is preoccupied with such relatively minor details. This happens whenever we fail to proceed from a basic frame of reference, or overview, which makes it possible to focus on the fundamental issues, without getting lost in a confusion of isolated details.
Networking
Dr Robert explains the organisational structure:
The Natural Step is not a new organisation. This is a network of people. We have a lot of good people involved from the Swedish Federation for the Preservation of Nature, the World Wildlife Fund and so forth, but we are not getting any money from membership as those organisations do. Just the opposite - we are begging for money from industry, and finding other sources, and our message is, 'Please join these organisations.' And that has a very big effect on their membership.
Sponsorship
I built networks wherever I went. When I went to Swedish TV and said that I and all the artists and scientists and this big government office wanted to educate the whole Swedish people, and we would like to have a party on TV celebrating it, they said, 'Certainly. How could we refuse if you succeed with all these other things.' From there I went to the king, and asked him if he would endorse the project. He agreed. You can understand that I slept worse and worse the longer I did this, because I was building a tremendous programme without any money at all. I was really nervous by the time I approached the industrial sponsors. But on the other hand, by the time they saw it, it was like a parcel with a ribbon on it. It was so concrete, with dates and everything, that they understood that if they didn't buy it now, this crazy chap would take it to someone else!
'Tomorrow's market and tomorrow's technology. In ten years, the market will be about nothing else but sustainability'
So industries must move from defending themselves to being heroes, ahead of everyone else, fighting for tomorrow's market and tomorrow's technology. In ten years, the market will be about nothing else but sustainability.
Antagonism
As soon as we see an enemy, we ask him for advice. We say, 'Would you please help us to sort out this problem?' When you get the answer, very rarely is it a threat to what you want to do. And by following his advice, two things happen: first, he has part of the responsibility for it now, because it's his advice you are following; and secondly, the project generally improves - because most people have rather good ideas!
Next Steps
Future plans include:
- Emphasis on the Natural Step Institute and on intensified co-operative problem-solving by dynamic business leaders, public officials and natural scientists.
- Papers on energy policy, agriculture and the national economy to be distributed to members of parliament and others.
- An environmental youth parliament, featuring a closed-circuit TV symposium uniting 100,000 youths from schools across Sweden.
- Six 'environmental quiz programmes' on TV.
- Six humorous public service messages for cinema and TV, with a celebrity demonstrating how he or she has learned to act with greater environmental responsibility in everyday life.
- Eight TV variety programmes, organised by Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA.
- The Natural Step, Box 70335, 10723 Stockholm, Sweden (tel 010 46 8 210935; fax 208229). (Information initially from 'In Context' magazine, PO Box 11470, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA, tel 2067 842 0216; fax 206 842 5208. Subs $25.)
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