“Sustainability” is a word that can mean almost anything. A product with recycled packaging, a company with a solar panel on the roof and a city with a new bike lane can all claim it. Without a clear definition, it is hard to tell real progress from good marketing, or to decide which of many good ideas deserves your limited time and money.
The Natural Step solves that problem by starting from basic science. It describes the conditions any sustainable society must meet, then offers a planning method for moving toward them step by step. The three guiding questions on the original Sustainable Fox Valley home page came straight from this framework.
Where The Natural Step came from
The Natural Step was founded in Sweden in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish cancer researcher. Troubled by what he saw as a growing link between environmental contamination and human health, and by how often public debate about the environment stalled in disagreement, he set out to build consensus among scientists about the fundamental, non-negotiable conditions for sustainability.
The result was a shared definition grounded in natural science that people across politics, business and government could agree on. The framework spread from Sweden to businesses, cities and organizations around the world, and it remains the basis of the work of The Natural Step organization today. It also inspired the eco-municipality movement, which reached Wisconsin in the mid-2000s. Read more on our municipalities page.
The four system conditions
The framework describes four sustainability principles, often called system conditions. As The Natural Step states them, in a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing:
- “concentrations of substances from the earth’s crust (such as fossil CO2, heavy metals and minerals)”;
- “concentrations of substances produced by society (such as antibiotics and endocrine disruptors)”;
- “degradation by physical means (such as deforestation and draining of groundwater tables).”
And:
- “in that society there are no structural obstacles to people’s health, influence, competence, impartiality and meaning.”
The first three describe how human society can stop slowly damaging the natural systems that support life. The fourth recognizes that a society cannot be sustainable if it undermines people’s ability to meet their needs.
How they map to our three guiding questions
The original Sustainable Fox Valley website translated these conditions into everyday questions for the Fox Cities. Here is how they line up:
| System condition | Our guiding question | Fox Valley examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Substances from the earth’s crust | How can our community reduce our use of fossil fuels and other scarce substances taken from the earth’s crust? | Insulating homes against Wisconsin winters, heat pumps, efficient fleets, walking and biking |
| 2. Substances produced by society | How can our community reduce our use of toxic and man-made substances that do not break down in nature? | Cutting lawn chemicals near the Fox River, safer cleaning products, proper household hazardous waste disposal |
| 3. Physical degradation of nature | How can our community preserve or restore the natural systems that support life? | Rain gardens, protecting wetlands and shorelines on Lake Winnebago, native plantings, compact development |
| 4. Obstacles to meeting human needs | Without creating barriers that stand in the way of all people meeting their fundamental needs fairly and efficiently | Programs open to renters and lower-income households, accessible public meetings, fair workplaces |
The ABCD method: planning by backcasting
Knowing the destination is only half the job. The Natural Step pairs its principles with a planning process called ABCD, built on backcasting. Instead of forecasting from today’s trends, you imagine a successful, sustainable future and then ask, “What do we need to do today to get there?”
- A: Awareness and vision. Build a shared understanding of the sustainability principles and describe what success looks like for your household, organization or community.
- B: Baseline assessment. Look honestly at where you are today. List current activities and impacts, and note where they conflict with each of the four conditions.
- C: Creative solutions. Brainstorm freely, without assuming today’s constraints are permanent, then backcast from your vision to identify possible actions.
- D: Decide on priorities. Choose actions that move in the right direction, act as stepping stones toward further progress, and offer a reasonable financial, social and environmental return. Then implement, measure and repeat.
The three priority tests in step D are what make the method practical. An action that saves money now but locks you into a dead end, such as an expensive system you will have to replace to reach your long-term goal, may not be the best first step.
Applying The Natural Step in the Fox Valley
Households
Use the four conditions to sort your options. Air sealing and insulation address condition 1, choosing safer products addresses condition 2, and a rain garden addresses condition 3. See Households and Neighborhoods.
Businesses
Run the ABCD process with a green team. A baseline of energy, materials, chemicals and waste usually reveals quick savings. See Businesses & Organizations.
Municipalities
Adopt the principles as a shared compass across departments and plans, as Wisconsin’s eco-municipalities have done. See Municipalities.
Groups and neighborhoods
Use a study circle to learn the framework together and choose a shared project.
A quick exercise to try
Pick one routine decision, such as how you heat your home, how your business disposes of a material or how your village maintains its parks. Then ask four questions:
- Does it rely on fossil fuels or mined materials that accumulate in nature?
- Does it release persistent or toxic substances?
- Does it degrade land, water or habitat?
- Does it make it harder for anyone to meet their basic needs?
Any “yes” points to an opportunity. The ABCD method helps you decide which opportunity to tackle first.
Common misunderstandings
“It means giving up modern life.”
No. The framework does not ask anyone to stop using energy or materials. It asks society to stop systematically increasing their buildup in nature, which can be done through efficiency, substitution, reuse and smarter design.
“It is only for big companies.”
The same principles apply to a household budget, a church basement, a family farm or a city council. The scale changes; the logic does not.
“It is a certification.”
The Natural Step is a framework and a way of planning, not a label. Organizations use it to guide decisions and can combine it with other tools and standards.