Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.
Sustainable development initiative
Overview
Finding solutions that benefit people, business and the environment.
The Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative was based on the common-sense
belief that if Minnesota's prosperity is to be sustained over time, what is good
for business, the environment and communities must eventually become one and the
same. This is the essential challenge of sustainable development.
The Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative was a collaboration of business,
government and civic interests to promote policies, institutions and actions that
ensure Minnesota's long-term environmental, economic and social well-being. It is
administered by the Environmental Quality Board.
Sustainable Development Defined
Like other large, guiding concepts such as justice or liberty, sustainable development
has many definitions. Most interpretations share the fundamental ideas expressed
in the definition found in Minnesota Statutes, Section 4A.07: "development that
maintains or enhances economic opportunity and community well-being while protecting
and restoring the natural environment upon which people and economies depend. Sustainable
development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs." For a primer on sustainable development,
see Sustainable
Development: The Very Idea.
Vision, Principles and Characteristics
The Sustainable Development
Initiative's vision is of a future where businesses grow and prosper
while respecting the natural and human environments that support them.
The Minnesota Round Table on Sustainable Development,
in response to Minnesota Statutes, Section 4A.07, developed five
principles that
lay out broad guideposts along the path to sustainable development.
The Sustainable Development Initiative, in its 1999 publication
Smart Signals: Economics
for Lasting Progress, also suggests several
principles for rethinking and reforming government
policies and programs to correct errant economic signals.
The 10 characteristics of policies likely to make positive contributions to sustainable
development are outlined in
Investing in Minnesota's
Future. Minnesotans face a series of profound challenges if they are to pass on a high quality life to their children and grandchildren. The Minnesota Round Table on Sustainable Development laid out six challeges to sustainable development in Minnesota and developed one or more critical steps and strategies for each challenge.
Completed projects and studies
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- Under construction: tools and techniques for local planning: Planning guide for people interested in shaping their community's future, September 12, 2002. (9.5M, 212 p., PDF5.0) | Report details
- Connecting with Minnesota's urban rivers: helping cities make sustainable choices for the future: Examines how communities connect with rivers and how Minnesota's laws, rules and guidelines help or hinder these connections, April 9, 2002. (54p., 1M, PDF5.0) | Report details
- Return on investment: high performance buildings: On average, Americans spend 90 percent of their time inside buildings. A new report by Minnesota Planning, Return on Investment: High Performance Buildings, suggests that the way public buildings are designed, built and operated affects lifetime costs, human health, labor productivity, student achievement and environmental quality, January 1, 2002. (32p., 1.22M, PDF 5.0) | Report details
- From policy to reality: model ordinances for sustainable development,: Offers a package of model ordinances that Minnesota communities can use in charting their futures, September 1, 2000. (313 p., 1062K, PDF) | Report details
- Six challenges to sustainable development in Minnesota: Minnesotans face a series of profound challenges if they are to pass on a high quality life to their children and grandchildren. These challenges are laid out in the next several pages, each followed by one or more critical steps and strategies, March 1, 2000. (10p., 54K, PDF ) | Report details
Full program document list
Staff contact information
Environmental Quality Board, 658 Cedar St., Suite 300, St. Paul, MN 55155
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