For the past few years, The Natural Step International has been going through a significant organizational transition and reorganization to revisit the strategic goals of the organization and to ask ourselves what our greatest contribution to the sustainability movement could be.

What has emerged is a new way forward, a new strategic direction, a new membership model and a renewed intention to put The Natural Step’s track record, brand and value proposition at the service of accelerating change toward sustainability. 

The Natural Step’s mission hasn’t changed. Our core purpose is to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable society, where human beings live within the capacity of the Earth to sustain us.

Click here to read about how we intend to do this more effectively 

The Natural Step International (TNSI) is delighted to announce that we are currently recruiting for two positions to form the foundation of our new organization – a Director of FSSD Dissemination & Network Relations and a TNSI Coordinator.

The Director of FSSD Diffusion and Network Relations is responsible for establishing and implementing a strategy to broadly disseminate the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and to work with partners to co-establish and enable a thriving learning network of FSSD practitioners and like-minded change agents.  GBP 37,500 - 45,000 per annum, initially on a six month self-employed contract in London.

The TNSI Coordinator will be the main point of contact for TNSI members and as such will be responsible for delivering services to TNSI Members (offices and associates) and for coordinating member activities and events, delivering communications and marketing efforts and coordinating training and expansion efforts. GBP 25,750 – 32,250 per annum, initially on a six month self-employed contract in London.

For full job descriptions or for more information about the Natural Step International please click on the hyperlinks above.  The closing date for applications is Wednesday 15th August 2012.

When organizations such as ISL Engineering and Land Services and The Co-operators have a solid sustainability strategy in place, it’s time to tackle this question.  Last year, we helped the Cooperators develop a product assessment tool to clearly show how their products link to their sustainability strategy – helping to benchmark where they stand from a sustainability perspective and to track improvement over time.  This year, we’re helping ISL Engineering and Land Services to assess various design options from a sustainability perspective as they build out their engineering projects. 

This is where the rubber hits the road.  It’s all well and good (and a necessary step!) to dream of a sustainable future, to articulate goals and to craft sustainability visions, but if we’re serious about making the shift to a sustainable society organizations of all shapes and sizes will need to integrate sustainability thinking into the ways in which they deliver value in the world.

Le terme « développement durable » est beaucoup utilisé de nos jours. Mais quel est cet état de durabilité qu’un mode de développement durable permet d’atteindre? Comment reconnaitrions-nous une entreprise ou une collectivité durable si l’on en voyait une? Comment mettre en œuvre un mode de « développement durable » ensemble lorsque certains intervenants comprennent « environnement », d’autres « vert », d’autres « écologie », d’autres « social »? L’absence d’un langage commun peut poser un défi particulièrement difficile pour les collectivités qui doivent rassembler et faire travailler ensemble des acteurs multiples et variés.

Bob Willard, author of “The Sustainability Advantage” and several other books on business and sustainability, is a shrewd observer of human nature.

In a full conference room Willard suggested that people consider moving to the conference room next door – it had the same amenities as this one, but with a little more comfort. No one moved. He then went on to suggest that if he said a $5 bill was sitting on each chair, some people would move, but not everyone. However, if a fire were to break out in the room, people would finally move.

The following interview with Chad Park, Executive Director of The Natural Step Canada, appeared in the Mediaplanet Special Report on Green Innovations in the National Post on June 27, 2012.

What is the future of green innovation in Canada?

With increasing demand on natural systems and resources, combined with an eroding capacity of natural systems to provide these resources, the opportunities for green innovation can only increase.  The challenge for Canadian society will be how to create the conditions for more organizations to realize and grasp the opportunities. This will require creative approaches to collaboration; organizations that don’t typically work together to do so need to find new ways to overcome barriers or identify opportunity. 

The first half of 2012 has been an exciting time at The Natural Step Canada. While those of you who follow us on social media know that we have been contributing our perspective to some of the public debate around issues linked to sustainable development, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on what we have been focusing on and how we are scaling up our impact.

We continue to help a number of leading organizations with the development and execution of their sustainability strategies, including for our friends at the David Suzuki Foundation. Supporting the development of role model organizations for sustainable business and sustainable communities continues to be a primary way that we achieve our mission of accelerating the transition to a sustainable society.

We often work with medium-sized businesses in Canada who want to make a deep commitment to sustainability and drive long-term profitability, resiliency, and increased market share—but don’t know how. Has your company started along its sustainability journey and made some progress, but found you need help to make the transformational change you know is needed (and good for the company)? Know that you’re not alone. And, thankfully, this is where The Natural Step Canada excels.

Det Naturliga Steget har ambitioner att växa, att synas och höras mer. För att göra det måste vi genomföra ett lyft gällande vår webb, våra informationsunderlag och vår närvaro inom sociala medier. Vi behöver också bli bättre på att formulera oss mot olika målgrupper.

Det Naturliga Steget har valt att fokusera på ett par sektorer som är viktiga för en hållbar samhällsutveckling. De utvalda är kemianvändning, mat, turism, byggande & bostäder samt innovation & design.

The Natural Step in Sweden has decided to focus on a few sectors that are important for sustainability. The selected ones are chemical management/use, food, tourism, construction & housing, and innovation & design. The use and development of chemicals is an area to which The Natural Step has been connected for several years. We have a number of well-established partnerships in Europe and a number of contacts in the U.S. We are now looking to enhance our strength and influence towards the chemical industry, chemical users and stakeholders.