HomeMy Public PortalAboutAB 06-040 attach - Mission StatementMission Statement
McCall Environmental Committee
DRAFT — FEB 2006
A city and its municipal government are complex systems. Our present actions have
long-term results. We must be in the business of figuring out precisely how we can make a
livable community and make sure that our children and grandchildren inhabit a livable world.
The question is how we combine economic, ecological, and social objectives in one plan.
A single -issue approach to handling environmental problems is obsolete. Many times
in city and county government, using the single issue approach will lead to the solving of one
environmental problem while creating another, or one department solving a problem at the
same time another department is creating a problem.
A systems -wide approach is necessary and to do that there has to be an agreement on
scientific principles that can guide human action toward a more sustainable path for our
community. The laws of thermodynamics and species interdependence lead to these:
Four biological principles to be considered are:
1. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing substances extracted
from the Earth's crust. (phosphorus, fossil fuels, mercury, lead, cadmium).
2. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of
synthetic substances produced by society. (synthetic chemicals).
3. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by
physical means (depletion of forests, depletion of water supplies or depletion of land).
4. In the sustainable society, human needs are met worldwide. (Control of 80% of the world's
wealth by 20% of the population is unstable. Inequality undermines achievement of ecological
sustainability.)
These principles lead to development of policies and practices as
Guiding Objective
Type of Practices
1. Eliminate our community's
contribution to fossil fuel
dependence and to wasteful use of
scarce metals and minerals.
Transit and pedestrian -oriented development;
development heated and powered by renewable
energy; mixed -use development; public transit,
alternatively fueled municipal fleets; incentives
for organic agriculture that minimizes
phosphorus and petrochemical fertilizers and
herbicides.
2. Eliminate our community's contribution
to dependence upon persistent chemicals
and wasteful use of synthetic substances.
Healthy building design and construction that
reduces or eliminates use of toxic building
materials; landscape design and park
maintenance that uses alternatives to chemical
pesticides and herbicides; municipal
purchasing guidelines that encourage low- or
non -chemical product use.
3. Eliminate our community's contribution
to encroachment upon nature (e.g., land,
water, wildlife, forests, soil, ecosystems).
Redevelopment of existing sites and buildings
before building new ones; building "from the
inside out" development and infrastructure
policies; open space, forest, and habitat
preservation; reduced water use and recycling
of wash water, sewage treatment by plants.
4. Meet human needs fairly and efficiently.
Affordable housing for a diversity of residents;
locally based business and food production;
using waste as a resource; eco-industrial
development; participatory community
planning and decision making