Developing Statewide Indices of Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability: a look at Oregon and the Oregon Benchmarks

This research develops a method to transform the Oregon Benchmarks, a set of internationally recognized quantitative indicators designed to measure a broad array of state-level trends, into indices of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Through multiple means, an original set of 90 Oregon Benchmarks has been narrowed into a smaller set of sustainability indicators in order to gain an integrated view of statewide sustainability as well as the capacity to look at social, environmental, and economic sustainability in isolation. The three-domain sustainability indices presented here are designed both to understand the current sustainability situation and to create a useful and informative tool for state-level policy makers interested in incorporating sustainability principles into their decision making. Introduction The concept of sustainability has emerged in the past thirty years as a leading framework for understanding economic development, community development, and natural resource management around the world. The information generated by the study of sustainability, alongside the creation and implementation of sustainability policies and practices, has taken many forms including policy initiatives that utilize quantitative indicators to track trends associated with sustainability. The research presented here is concerned with transforming a quantitative indicator program designed to measure a broad set of state-level trends into indices of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The Oregon Benchmarks, an internationally recognized set of data points for the state of Oregon (United States), is being used as the basis of this research. The Oregon Benchmarks are currently used by policy makers to get a sense of individual elements of the social, environmental, and economic conditions in Oregon, such as stream water quality, poverty rates, or business investment. What is not done with this comprehensive set of quantitative data is to integrate multiple measureMarc Schlossberg, University of Oregon, Planning, Public Policy, and Management, 128 Hendricks Hall, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. Email: [email protected] 1354-9839 Print/1469-6711 Online/03/060641-20  2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd. DOI: 10.1080/1354983032000152743 M. Schlossberg & A. Zimmerman ments into a larger index consistent with sustainability principles. Therefore, the research presented here results from the question: Can the general, quantitative measures of the variety of state conditions known as the ‘Oregon Benchmarks’ be converted into an index, or series of indices, that measures sustainability? Once such a set of sustainability indices is created, then state policy makers will have a tool directly related to sustainability principles to measure the progress of different conditions over time so that a determination can be made as to whether there has been progress toward or away from statewide sustainability. Through multiple means, an original set of 90 Oregon Benchmarks has been narrowed into a smaller set of sustainability indicators. These indicators have been synthesized together, as well as grouped into subsets, in order both to measure an integrated view of statewide sustainability and to have the capacity to look at social, environmental, and economic sustainability in isolation. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion about how a governing body (whether state, regional, or local) should measure progress. The study provides both an experimental index that includes a series of key trends associated with sustainability for the state of Oregon and a roadmap for other state, regional, and local governments to use to transform existing data into longitudinal analyses of sustainability. Background The use of indicators in guiding public policy decisions has long been practiced in countries throughout the world. In the United States, indicators like the gross domestic product have been employed to inform both the public and private sectors about the condition of national economic health. However, many of the widely used indicators of economic health do not accurately reflect larger trends of societal health (Anderson, 1991). Although the volume of information about sustainability and sustainable development has grown exponentially since the 1960s, early efforts to define sustainability focused almost exclusively on the relationship between human economic activities and the impact of those activities on the natural environment (Meadows et al., 1974; Hardin, 1968). Many early advocates for sustainability and sustainable development were scientists and economists interested in the use of models to predict sustainable levels of natural resource extraction, economic production and consumption. Two key reports of this early era included The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1974) and Our Common Future (World Commission on Environment and Development [WECD], 1987), which placed environmental degradation and carrying capacity at their center. By defining sustainability as an ongoing process in which people take actions leading to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, Our Common Future did open up the possibility for an expanded notion of sustainability beyond purely environmental terms (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). The concept of sustainability, as it often appears today, attempts to reach beyond the pure environmental approach and embrace elements of the human 642 Oregon and the Oregon Benchmarks social community. The concept of sustainability has begun to look at reconciling the ‘three E’s’: environment, economy, and equity (Brugmann, 1997; Holling, 2001; Jepson, 2001; Michalos, 1997). That is, a new definition of sustainability focusing on intra-generational equity, as well as inter-generational equity as delineated in the WCED’s definition, is increasingly of concern to policy makers (Farrell & Hart, 1998). And while environmental sustainability is often characterized on a scientific basis, social and economic sustainability is ultimately a political issue because it involves social equity and the potential redistribution of resources (Gahin, 2001). Having a measure of sustainability that is accessible to a wide variety of policy makers is an important component in what is an inherently political notion. Measuring sustainability usually involves some sort of index creation, which itself has a long and evolving history (see Table 1). Over the past two decades, worldwide efforts to identify indicators of sustainability have resulted in the creation of hundreds of indicators. Most of the indicators identified are linked to environmental sustainability. A 1998 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) listed 51 environmental indicators designed to measure progress toward sustainable development. The indicators are broken down into environmental indicators and socioeconomic indicators (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 1998). Review of the indicators selected by the OECD reveals two trends that are common throughout the field of sustainability indicators. First, the OECD indicators focus entirely on conditions of the natural environment or on economic production trends. Second, although a framework for linking indicators is suggested, an actual example of a framework to show linkages between the indicators is not developed. Both points are key driving factors behind the development of this study. New systems of sustainability indicators are appearing that stretch beyond the discrete measurement of environmental and economic conditions. An emphasis on community well-being and social capital is influencing the make-up of current sustainability indicators (Meadows, 1974). Good measurements of environmental and economic conditions remain very important to gauging progress toward sustainability, however, other indicators, especially social indicators, are playing a role in helping communities determine sustainability. A system of linking separate indicators becomes useful when communities are seeking to TABLE 1. History of indicator development Initial work done in the ... Indicator area 1920s–1930s Social indicators 1940s–1950s Economic indicators 1960s Quality-of-life indicators 1970s Health information system indicators 1970s Environmental indicators 1980s Healthy communities indicators Current Sustainability indicators Source: Hodge, 1997; Innes, 1990.