Ecomunicipality.com

Time to start getting more specific and tangible in the ecomunicipality movement.

One of the first things any village, town or city can do is to declare themselves an ecomunicipality.    To do this, the governing entity of that municipality simply passes a resolution stating in plain English what their principles are.  Not a big deal perhaps, but it does help on several levels.

First, it establishes the values and intention of that municipality to be part of the solution, rather than the problem when it comes to fossil-fuel and heavy metals consumption, as well as trying to do something positive for that area's natural resources. 

Second, it is the first step in a multi-step process designed to accomplish the goals  of The Natural Step program.  In case you have forgotten, here they are:

There have been some controversies stirred up around the use of photovoltaics recently.  Apparently, the word on the street is that the production of PVs results in substantial amounts of pollution from heavy metal residues, and that the endlife of PVs comes all too soon, and with all too messy impacts.

Well, a new study is out, and from the looks of the results, PVs get a pretty damn good grade.  The entire study can be found here. 

The key graf reads thusly:

Madison's weekly newspaper Isthmus had an article in the Feb. 15
edition about how The Natural Step has taken off in the Chequamegon Bay
area of northern Wisconsin. You can read the article, called "Northern
Wisconsin seeks sustainability," here.

UW Extension is sponsoring a workshop called "Understanding Zoning and Its Uses and Implications" Wednesday evening, March 26, beginning at 7 p.m.
in the Government Center in Balsam Lake. While the intended audience is
members of local comprehensive planning commissions, the public is also
welcome to attend. There is a $10 registration fee, which can be mailed
to Plan Commission Workshop Series, UWEX Cooperative Extension, 100
Polk Plaza, Suite 210, Balsam Lake, WI 54810. 

I
know that questions about zoning have come up in some Natural Step
study circles, so this is a good opportunity to get answers. The
following topics will be covered:

Facilitating The Natural Step program in western Wisconsin.

Join the discussion, post blogs and comments, grapple with the concepts, language and possibilities of sustainability.

If you want your own group, which can be public or private, please contact me via email.