Getting Started
Define a Scope for your Sustainability Effort
The “Resource” section of this website is organized into categorized topic areas. You can work with one or several of these topic areas, or select your own.
Each topic area within the "Resource" section of the website has a "SOSI Resources" page which will help to:
- Identify which organizations exist to help your effort
- Identify the stakeholder groups for that topic area
- Identify the relevant rules and regulations
- Create a vision of sustainability to guide your effort
- Identify which aspects of that topic area could impact sustainability
- Develop a baseline using the SOSI indicators
- Access tools, resources and information to assist your effort
- Identify training and award opportunities related to that area
- Access case studies and learn from what others have done
- And more...
How to proceed
SOSI recommends the following steps. If yours is not one of the listed topic areas then use those existing resources to guide your effort, and create your own. Refer to the “SOSI Resources” contained within each topic page of the “Resource” Section.
- Review the “Take Action – Schools and Districts” and the “Discover Sustainability” sections of the website to prepare.
- Identify where the “fenceline” for your effort is. As a guideline, you could use the scope defined for each SOSI topic area.
- Look through case studies posted in the Resource Section or elsewhere, to learn from others.
- Consider contacting one of the listed Go-To Organizations in the Resource Section to learn how they can help or what they can provide. Depending on the topic area there may be an organization that has an entire program for you to follow.
- Review the stakeholder list and determine whom you should involve.
- Look at the Input-Output diagram and edit as necessary for your effort. This helps to understand the system you are working with.
- Study the matrix of potential sustainability impacts and determine which do or don’t apply. These impacts were determined by applying the System Conditions from The Natural Step Framework.
- Review the Vision of Sustainability and adopt it or adjust as needed. The vision may not be attainable today, but it is very useful as a target to strive for.
- Project backwards from the sustainable vision to develop a step-by-step implementation plan. This is called “Backcasting”.
- Develop a current baseline using the SOSI sustainability indicators, (or your own set of indicators).
- Consider your particular impacts, sustainable vision and current baseline to establish sustainability goals and define projects to achieve them.
To maintain your effort over time it's is necessary to establish a management plan. See "Managing Sustainability". A Sustainability Management System (SMS) is very helpful to plan and integrate the effort. In reality, your effort will probably be some combination of taking action and creating a management plan.
To get a sense of where you are on the sustainability journey, view the “Evolution of Sustainability” (PDF 23K).