ConservationEconomy.net: A Pattern Language for Sustainability

27 Jun 11

David Wilcox

Welcome to Reliable Prosperity, a project of Ecotrust. On this site you will discover 57 elements for greater economic, social and environmental well-being. Together, these elements form a visual and conceptual framework that can be used by individuals, businesses, governments, and nonprofits to seed innovation and inspiration.

pinboard ecology sustainability conservation economics green

16 May 10

Ferananda Ibarra

This site presents a pattern language for sustainability -- defining sectors of opportunity and their linkages for the emerging conservation economy of the 21st century.

ecosystems natural capital patterns social

12 Nov 09

chelfyn Baxter

Saving The World

05 Dec 08

Rob Bracewell

23 Nov 08

14 Oct 08

Tamara Malloff

links to conservation and sustainability--good for research

peace_studies

11 Sep 08

wombat library

conservation economy

06 Jul 08

johnhearn

Great site documenting 50+ patterns for sustainability.

sustainability

14 Oct 07

Stephan Dohrn

4capri conservation ecosystems environment sustainability

25 Jul 07

elsamary

conservation ecology green money nonprofit science tech

28 May 07

Tim Mensch

design environment green map patterns school

07 May 07

Jon Lebkowsky

via Ruth Glendenning, May 6 2007

economy green sustainability conservation ecology Economics patterns design

16 Mar 07

Michel Bauwens

On this site, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what we c

P2P-Ecology P2P

20 Feb 07

kevinbayuk

patterns sustainability permaculture map

16 Feb 07

Travis Stiles

On this site, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society.

sustainability environment conservation patterns economy ecology design green dms for:artd3700

23 Dec 06

Steve Bosserman

On this site, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what we c

sustainability ecosystems

09 Dec 06

12 Nov 06

Christopher Arnold

A Pattern Language for Sustainability

economy environment society sustainability tools design !!! imported

26 Oct 06

Arne Løining

ecology economics society sustainability transition culture

25 Oct 06

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="332" align="left"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="332" cellspacing="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td><img src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/heading1.gif" height="36" width="328"><br><br/> <img src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/heading2.gif" height="36" width="238"> </td><br/> </tr><br/> </tbody></table></td><br/> <td valign="top" width="100%" align="right"> </td><br/> <td valign="top" width="256" align="right"><br/> <table border="0" height="126" cellpadding="0" width="256" cellspacing="0" align="right"><br/> <tbody><tr align="right"><br/> <td valign="top" colspan="4"><div align="right"><img src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/project.gif" height="11" width="70" align="middle"> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ecotrust.org"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/ecotrust_large.gif" height="39" width="123" align="middle" name="ecotrust1" id="ecotrust1" alt="A project of Ecotrust"></a> </div></td><br/> </tr><br/> <tr valign="top" align="center"><br/> <td valign="bottom"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/learning_network.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/link2.gif" height="87" width="64" name="link21" id="link21" alt="Learning Network"></a></td><br/> <td valign="bottom"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/roots.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/link3.gif" height="87" width="64" name="link31" id="link31" alt="Roots of Our Work"></a></td><br/> <td valign="bottom"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/contact.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/link4.gif" height="87" width="64" name="link41" id="link41" alt="Contact Us"></a></td><br/> </tr><br/> </tbody></table></td><br/> </tr><br/></tbody></table><br/><br/><table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0"><br/> <tbody><tr><br/> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#faf5e5" height="25" align="left"><img src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/index/spotlight.gif" vspace="0" height="25" width="164" alt="Pattern of the Week"><br/> <table border="0" bgcolor="#faf5e5" cellpadding="5" width="163" cellspacing="0"><br/> <tbody><tr><br/> <td valign="top" align="left"><script><br/><br/>//first line grabs all possible images for your image array. Function returns index number of array that was called randomly.<br/>indexnum =RandomImageLong("pattern_images/tnail01.jpg,pattern_images/tnail02.jpg,pattern_images/tnail03.jpg,pattern_images/tnail04.jpg,pattern_images/tnail05.jpg,pattern_images/tnail06.jpg,pattern_images/tnail07.jpg,pattern_images/tnail08.jpg,pattern_images/tnail09.jpg,pattern_images/tnail10.jpg,pattern_images/tnail11.jpg,pattern_images/tnail12.jpg,pattern_images/tnail13.jpg,pattern_images/tnail14.jpg,pattern_images/tnail15.jpg,pattern_images/tnail16.jpg,pattern_images/tnail17.jpg,pattern_images/tnail18.jpg,pattern_images/tnail19.jpg,pattern_images/tnail20.jpg,pattern_images/tnail21.jpg,pattern_images/tnail22.jpg,pattern_images/tnail23.jpg,pattern_images/tnail24.jpg,pattern_images/tnail25.jpg,pattern_images/tnail26.jpg,pattern_images/tnail27.jpg,pattern_images/tnail28.jpg,pattern_images/tnail29.jpg,pattern_images/tnail30.jpg,pattern_images/tnail31.jpg,pattern_images/tnail32.jpg,pattern_images/tnail33.jpg,pattern_images/tnail34.jpg,pattern_images/tnail35.jpg,pattern_images/tnail36.jpg,pattern_images/tnail37.jpg,pattern_images/tnail38.jpg,pattern_images/tnail39.jpg,pattern_images/tnail40.jpg,pattern_images/tnail41.jpg,pattern_images/tnail42.jpg,pattern_images/tnail43.jpg,pattern_images/tnail44.jpg,pattern_images/tnail45.jpg,pattern_images/tnail46.jpg,pattern_images/tnail47.jpg,pattern_images/tnail48.jpg,pattern_images/tnail49.jpg,pattern_images/tnail50.jpg,pattern_images/tnail51.jpg,pattern_images/tnail52.jpg,pattern_images/tnail53.jpg,pattern_images/tnail54.jpg,pattern_images/tnail55.jpg,pattern_images/tnail56.jpg,pattern_images/tnail57.jpg");<br/>//now define your title array.<br/>var titleArray = new<br/>Array("A Conservation Economy","Social Capital","Fundamental Needs","Subsistence Rights","Shelter for All","Health","Access to Knowledge","Community","Social Equity","Security","Cultural Diversity","Cultural Preservation","Sense of Place","Beauty and Play","Just Transitions","Civic Society","Natural Capital","Ecological Land-Use","Connected Wildlands","Core Reserves","Wildlife Corridors","Buffer Zones","Productive Rural Areas","Sustainable Agriculture","Sustainable Forestry","Sustainable Fisheries","Ecotourism","Compact Towns and Cities","Human-Scale Neighborhoods","Green Building","Transit Access","Ecological Infrastructure","Urban Growth Boundaries","Ecosystem Services","Watershed Services","Soil Services","Climate Services","Biodiversity","Economic Capital","Household Economies","Green Business","Long-Term Profitability","Community Benefit","Green Procurement","Renewable Energy","Sustainable Materials Cycles","Resource Efficiency","Waste as a Resource","Product as Service","Local Economies","Value-Added Production","Rural-Urban Linkages","Local Assets","Bioregional Economies","Fair Trade","True Cost Pricing","Product Labeling");<br/>//now define your text array below.<br/>var quoArray = new<br/>Array("When the health of ecosystems and communities is not integrated into economic activities, all three suffer. In turn, economic dependence on destructive activities creates apparent conflicts between work, nature, and community. How can we create an economy that effectively meets human needs while regenerating natural systems? An economy which grows organically — and fills new niches — by working with nature and enriching human capacities?","Social capital is poorly understood, loosely measured, and chronically undervalued. Current economic activities do not properly account for social capital, resulting in its unnecessary diminishment.","In the midst of unprecedented wealth throughout the bioregion, there are still rural and urban pockets of poverty, hunger, sub-standard housing, and poor health-care.","People are often dependent on distant, unhealthy food sources. This reduces ties to the local landscape, further eroding the stability of the food system.","Many people in the bioregion live in substandard, unhealthy housing. For others, housing costs are so high that their household's financial security is endangered.","Our present economy is systematically contaminating every living cell; destroying and fragmenting habitat; and providing great stress to human populations. At the same time, large numbers of people lack health insurance and access to basic medical services.","Conventional education, at all levels, largely ignores the broad context and specific skills that define an emerging conservation economy. Fragmented by discipline and disconnected with place, it leaves people ill prepared to direct the enormous transitions that are occurring.","The frenetic pace and physical isolation of contemporary life is making it difficult to sustain both the ongoing informal interactions and long-term formal organizations that sustain communities.","Wealth and income inequities within the United States, and between the United States and other nations, continue to increase rapidly. The average income disparity between a line worker and CEO in a large corporation is now more than four hundred to one.","As inequities within and between nations increase, new threats to security are emerging.","The richness of life is in its immense diversity. The great diversity of languages and cultural groups in this bioregion — from Tlingt to Mattole, from Pomo to Haisla, has suffered grave damage for the last two centuries. Now these ancient voices are being supplemented by a dizzying range of new cultures taking root in the region. How can the wisdom of those who know this place well be blended with the vibrant voices and traditions of those who are just learning its ways?","Each time a language or culture is lost, we loose an irreplaceable and exquisite way of being. Each time a well-loved building is torn down without a trace, or a gathering place paved over, a strand of culture is frayed.","Communities need opportunities to celebrate themselves and their connection to place.","We need opportunities for deep relaxation, to absorb the beauty and fullness of life, and to simply play.","Enormous amounts of wealth are tied up in economic activities that are not likely to play a significant role in a conservation economy. Many people perceive a significant stake for themselves — personally and economically — in perpetuating the status quo.","As wealth and political power become increasingly concentrated, it becomes difficult for human-scale democracy to flourish.","Globally, and within the bioregion, Natural Capital is being depleted through over-harvesting, development, poor agricultural practices, toxic contamination, and other causes.","Cities and towns, rural areas, and wildlands each suffer unless land-use planning is performed in a sufficiently coordinated way at a large enough scale to reflect the inherent needs of each.","The survival of many species and the very process of evolution depend on large blocks of wild land where natural processes can take place untrammeled. Yet the growth of human population creates a tendency to develop and exploit those areas.","Other creatures need protected habitat to survive and evolve and many can only do so in the absence of human development.","Wildlife corridors are necessary because they maintain biodiversity, allow populations to interbreed, and provide access to larger habitats.","Hard edges are rare in nature, yet we have often expected to create sharp transitions between protected areas and those where resources are extracted for human use. In practice, Core Reserves suffer greatly from extractive activities on their borders, and lose substantial amounts of their effective area.","In much of this bioregion, rural areas are not sharing the prosperity of urban centers. Young people are moving away, and there is a decline in services like schools and healthcare.","Conventional agriculture relies on massive application of pesticides, fertilizers, and fossil fuels. It tends to be very large-scale, use large quantities of water, and depend on a handful of highly competitive crops. It results in significant levels of soil erosion, as well as the contamination of groundwater and ecosystems.","Standing forests are tremendously valuable for fish and wildlife, clean water and air, recreational uses, a stable climate, and a wide range of other ecosystem services. When logged conventionally, with large clear-cuts and insufficient attention to the health of the ecosystem, these other benefits are unnecessarily sacrificed.","Most major fishery stocks internationally are in decline. Many salmon runs in this bioregion that were once economic mainstays are now either extinct or threatened.","The negative consequences of conventional tourism to local communities are well known, including excessive development, degradation of ecosystems, cultural homogenization, and the concentration of economic benefits in outside hands. On the other hand, more benign forms of tourism potentially represent an alternative to extractive, boom-and-bust economies.","As cities and towns sprawl into the countryside, it becomes more expensive and less equitable to provide services to outlying suburbs. Congestion increases, farmland is lost, and the stability of surrounding rural areas is threatened. The livability of both city and countryside is greatly diminished.","Neighborhoods dominated by the car, without a mix of uses and housing types, tend to lack both diversity and a sense of community. They consign those who drive to endless shuttle trips, and those who don't — the young and old — to dangerous and unpleasant attempts to cross busy streets. They create sprawl and inefficient forms of infrastructure.","Conventional buildings are wasteful of water, energy, and materials. They make use of toxic substances, and have inferior indoor air quality. They are not oriented for passive solar heating, or sited to improve the surrounding neighborhood fabric. They are not designed for eventual re-use and disassembly.","The car, directly and indirectly, accounts for about one-seventh of the U.S. GNP. It requires a vast and costly infrastructure of roads and asphalt, which is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. It leaves fragmented communities, degraded habitat, an altered global climate, smog, wasted time from traffic congestion, and much else in its wake. The car also offers a remarkable level of personal independence and convenience, making people reluctant to try alternatives.","As watersheds are deforested, floodplains are constrained, stormwater is directed through pipes, and rivers are channelized, many ecological services are severely impaired. Flooding becomes more frequent, extreme, and expensive; the recreational benefits of surface creeks are lost; habitat is degraded; water quality is impaired; and wastewater treatment facilities may be overburdened.","Without clearly defined and legally enforceable boundaries, towns and cities inevitably sprawl into the countryside, impairing land with agricultural, ecological, and historical significance.","Critical services like water purification, biodiversity maintenance, and climate stabilization are spontaneously generated by healthy ecosystems. Because these services are chronically under-valued in the marketplace, they are highly vulnerable to degradation.","Virtually all watersheds have been modified or degraded by development, often resulting in the deterioration of water quality, damage to plant and animal communities, erosion, and other wounds. This reduction in the quality of ecosystem services may have significant economic and social implications as well.","Soil fertility is being threatened by erosion, loss of nutrients, overgrazing, deforestation, and contamination on a global scale. This places food supplies and biodiversity at unacceptable risk.","Industrial emissions, deforestation, and other human activities have systematically increased the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, methane, CFCs, and other compounds known to induce global climate change. An international scientific consensus predicts extensive and dangerous consequences, including increased incidence of coastal flooding, hurricanes, drought, and other extreme weather events.","The biosphere is currently experiencing its sixth major species extinction crisis. For the first time, this crisis is being induced by the actions of a single species, and its consequences are both severe and unpredictable.","Economic capital is currently concentrated in the hands of a few. A large percentage of it is tied up in assets that will have little value in A Conservation Economy.","Consumption choices may lead us to a treadmill of high expenses, stressful work, and an inability to express our core values. We may trade wonderful time with family and friends — and simply being — for unnecessary things. We may move so quickly that we fail to use our values to guide our purchases and investments.","Lacking appropriate market signals, current business practices often harm both ecosystems and human communities.","Short-term business decisions do not ensure the long-term viability of living systems or human communities. They also fail to deliver profits over the long run.","Enhancing the social capital of employees, customers, community members, and other stakeholders is seen by many businesses as a cost rather than an opportunity.","Market prices fail to provide accurate information about the ecological and social impacts of products and services. This makes it difficult to generate purchasing decisions consistent with a conservation economy.","The majority of energy produced is polluting, non-renewable, and damaging to ecosystems. Large, highly centralized power utilities are inefficient, suffering significant power losses during power generation, transformation, distribution, and consumption. Transportation systems currently rely almost entirely on fossil fuels, which will need to be phased out to stabilize the climate.","When materials from the earth's crust, including metals and fossil fuels, are mined more rapidly than they are redeposited in the crust, they accumulate in the biosphere. In addition, manufacturing processes are causing many of the 100,000 chemicals in commercial use to accumulate in the biosphere. These materials from the crust and from manufacturing processes are known to cause a wide range of health impacts, including cancers, birth defects, endocrine disruption, and breathing disorders. They also cause climate change, acid rain, and other major ecosystem impacts.","The use of water, energy, and materials throughout society is extremely inefficient. This creates enormous demands on Natural Capital, both for new supplies, and for sinks to absorb wastes. It also leads to massive economic waste, as highly concentrated and energy-intensive materials are simply thrown away.","Industrial processes were initially designed to take resources, make products, and turn them to waste. Two centuries of take-make-waste have begun to degrade the health of ecosystems. Waste, by definition, is a foregone opportunity which is now placing a severe drag on the bioregional, national, and global economies.","Only about 6 percent of the vast flow of materials generated by Americans, more than a million pounds per person per year, ends up in final products — and only 2 percent survives after a few weeks. This is creating a devastating hunger for raw materials of all kinds.","When local economies are dependent on only a few major sectors, they are vulnerable to changes in outside markets. When people do not meet their own needs locally, money immediately leaves a community. This stunts community development on all levels.","When resources are exported in raw form, without economic value being added, they contribute very little to the stability and diversity of local economies.","Lacking stable market links with nearby towns and cities, rural areas are often forced to sell their products at poor prices to far-flung markets.","There is an increasing wealth disparity between rich and poor and rural and urban dwellers in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the world. This threatens the stability of communities and creates pressures to eat into natural capital to meet pressing short-term needs.","Globalization is creating economic insecurity and increasing the gap between rich and poor. At the same time, it is undermining cultural diversity and turning complex ecosystems into streams of standardized commodities.","Regions are often coerced to trade raw commodities like timber and food, even at the expense of local people and ecosystems. This further diminishes local economic diversity and security, which only makes regions more vulnerable to poor terms of trade.","The tax code and government subsidies support social and ecological practices that are disadvantageous to the health of the environment and society. The prices of goods and services do not currently reflect the actual social and ecological costs and benefits of their production. This provides market signals that are greatly skewed against a conservation economy, slowing its diffusion and adoption.","Prices do not reflect true social and ecological costs and benefits. This makes it difficult to assess a product's ecological and social characteristics when making a purchasing decision.");<br/>//now define your link array below.<br/>var linkArray = new<br/>Array("conservation_economy.html","social_capital.html","fundamental_needs.html","subsistence_rights.html","shelter_for_all.html","health.html","access_to_knowledge.html","community.html","social_equity.html","security.html","cultural_diversity.html","cultural_preservation.html","sense_of_place.html","beauty_play.html","just_transitions.html","civic_society.html","natural_capital.html","ecological_landuse.html","connected_wildlands.html","core_reserves.html","wildlife_corridors.html","buffer_zones.html","productive_rural_areas.html","sustainable_agriculture.html","sustainable_forestry.html","sustainable_fisheries.html","ecotourism.html","compact_towns.html","humanscale_neighborhoods.html","green_building.html","transit_access.html","ecological_infrastructure.html","urban_growth_boundaries.html","ecosystem_services.html","watershed_services.html","soil_services.html","climate_services.html","biodiversity.html","economic_capital.html","household_economies.html","green_business.html","longterm_profitability.html","community_benefit.html","green_procurement.html","renewable_energy.html","sustainable_materials_cycles.html","resource_efficiency.html","waste_as_resource.html","product_as_service.html","local_economies.html","valueadded_production.html","ruralurban_linkages.html","local_assets.html","bioregional_economies.html","fair_trade.html","true_cost_pricing.html","product_labeling.html");<br/>//then write out cool quote. <br/>document.write("<p class="\"featureHead\""></script><br/> </td><br/> </tr><br/> <tr><br/> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#faf5e5" align="left"><hr noshade="noshade"><br/> <br><br/> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/comments.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/patterns/offer.gif" height="32" width="125" name="Image21" id="Image21" alt="Offer your comments"></a><br><br/> </td><br/> </tr><br/> </tbody></table></td><br/> <td valign="top" width="10" align="left"><img src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/spacer.gif" height="10" width="10"></td><br/> <td valign="top" align="left"><p class="introText"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/pattern_map/index.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/images/pattern_map.gif" height="109" width="112" align="left" name="map1" id="map1" alt="View the Pattern Map"></a>On this site, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what we call a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/conservation_economy.html"><strong>Conservation Economy</strong></a>.</p><br/> <p class="introText">Together, the patterns form a visual and conceptual framework that can be used to inspire innovation, focus planning efforts, and document emerging best practices. A conservation economy comprehensively integrates <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/social_capital.html"><strong>Social</strong></a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/natural_capital.html"><strong>Natural</strong></a>, and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.conservationeconomy.net/economic_capital.html"><strong>Economic Capital</strong></a> to demonstrate that a sustainable society is both desirable and achievable.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

25 Jul 06

Tim

sustainable

On this site, fifty-seven patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what we call a Conservation Economy.