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About the B-Sustainable Project
B-Sustainable empowers sustainability advocates and practitioners with the information they need to take effective action – both independently and together.
Spearheaded by Sustainable Seattle, the B-Sustainable Information Commons is the collaborative effort of many individuals and organizations. B-Sustainable is more than a website. It is:
- A regional resource of relevant, trusted, and actionable information.
- A participatory process for identifying goals, indicators and actions based on cross-perspective community dialogues.
- A framework that supports meaningful understanding of the sustainability challenges our region faces.
- A gateway to in-depth information including the latest research reports on regional sustainability issues.
- A network for sharing information about our progress towards sustainability in the Central Puget Sound region.
- And a forum to promote sustainability strategies, initiatives and actions.
History of B-Sustainable
When Sustainable Seattle produced its first indicator report, "Indicators of Sustainable Community", in 1993, the work was ground-breaking because of its participatory nature. The work resulted in an "Excellence in Indicators Best Practice" award from the United Nations. Since then, many communities have followed suit in engaging community members in developing indicators.
Today, indicators are more plentiful and the challenge has become to present this information in a way that is accessible, meaningful and actionable. We also know that indicators, in and of themselves, are not enough to drive change. For indicators to be useful, they must be developed with the active participation of those that will use and learn from them. In a sustainable community, participation extends to include everyone.
To meet these challenges, Sustainable Seattle set up to build on the efforts
of citizen groups and government agencies to create a new generation of
community sustainability indicators. Our
intent is to bring these efforts together into a single networked system using a shared framework and
link this information to action through engaging citizens in using indicators
to make choices, both individually and collectively.
The Development Process
- In December 2004, Sustainable Seattle convened a group of 24 Steering Committee members representing the diverse interests and areas within the Central Puget Sound region. The committee oversees the development process.
- The community process began in 2005. Goals for a sustainable Central
Puget Sound were selected by Citizen Panels. Over 100 civic leaders attended the first
citizen panel gathering in April 2005.
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A Technical Committee developed the framework in early 2007.
- Relevant indicators were selected by goal stakeholders through cross-perspective dialogues in 2007 and 2008.
- Data partners provided data and data descriptions.
- Volunteer researchers assisted staff in developing some of the indicators.
- The B-Sustainable website opened for action content in October 2008.
- Hundreds of organizations and individuals have been involved.