Analyzing Sustainable Community Activities and their Relationship toPollution Prevention Efforts

Despite its widespread use, the concept of "sustainable community" is stillconfusing. The term lacks a single, widely accepted definition. Likewise, therange of activities it encompasses has not been coherently mapped. Because mostsustainable community activities are independent and unique projects undertakenat the local or regional level, there has been little large-scale effort toidentify and categorize the various sustainability efforts nationwide. As aresult, many communities are launching like-minded projects with limitedawareness of what others are doing along the same lines. Furthermore, therelationship between sustainable community activities and other environmentalefforts -- especially pollution prevention (P2) -- has not been closely examined. Consequently, individuals and organizations may have missed opportunities toexploit the synergy between these P2 and sustainable community activities.

In this study, the Science and Technology Policy Institute has tried to addresssuch issues by analyzing sustainable community activities throughout the UnitedStates and explored their relationship to P2 efforts. The institute examined theprocess of developing a sustainable community initiative, sources of support, anddetailed community case studies. The institute also examined the relationshipbetween sustainable community activities and pollution prevention and how P2practitioners could take advantage of such efforts. With communities trying toevolve toward more sustainable practices, pollution prevention practitioners havean excellent opportunity to merge their efforts with sustainability activities.

This analysis has been documented in a report that is available on line, eitheras a PDF file or in HTML format:

Linking Sustainable Community Activities to Pollution Prevention: ASourcebook, Beth E. Lachman, RAND/MR-855-OSTP (HTML or PDF), 1997.

This report provides a simple introduction to community sustainability activitiesand ways in which supporters of pollution prevention can take advantage of suchefforts. It sheds light on the growing sustainable community "movement,"describes a range of efforts currently under way in the U.S., discusses basicelements in the sustainable community process, and explains the relationship ofsuch efforts to pollution prevention. The report also contains an annotatedbibliography that provides points of contact, World Wide Web page addresses, anddocuments about sustainability efforts.