Glossary

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Page Aim

There are many technical terms used in both sustainability and community work.  This list brings them together. It also recognises the importance of vocabulary as a cornerstone of culture and of words' role in promoting cultural change.

 

Page Contents

Arranged alphabetically

Page Updates

The list will be occasionally updated.  Terms shown in grey are awaiting your input.  

 

Key to Frequently Used Sources

DE      A Dictionary of the Environment by Steve Elsworth (Paladin)

GD      Green Dictionary by Colin Johnson (Macdonald Optima)

NEF     New Economics Foundation

 "...one thing is predictable: the greatest change will be the change of knowledge; in its form and content; in its meaning; in its responsibility..."

Post Capitalist Society, Peter F Drucker.  1993.

A

affinity group

Action 21  See Local Action 21.

Aalborg   The European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign was launched in Aalborg, Denmark during 1994.  The conference resulted in the Aalborg Charter which is a commitment to pursue sustainability at the local level.  Aalborg is the largest European based campaign for local sustainability and is supported by local governments and communities, local government associations, national governments, international institutions and third sector organisations.

Aarhus Convention  This international agreement was framed to counter bad environmental decision taking by opening up public access to information, justice and decision-making through encouraging the adoption of greater transparency, accountability and participation processes.  It was agreed at the 1998 Environment for Europe conference and ratified by the UK Government in February 2005. The Convention’s underlying principles are rooted in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration

acid rain   …snow, sleet, hail, fog, gas and dry air particles are all another effect of fossil fuel usage, where chemical oxides mix with water to produce corrosive sulphuric, nitric and other acids.  Acid rain, etc, can damage rivers, rocks, crops, buildings, plants including trees and forests, soil, humans and other animals.   See ozone below.

Action 21  See Local Action 21.

 

Input please

Grey is used for a number of words on this page, and elsewhere on the site.  This is to indicate where visitors’ input would be particularly useful.  Please email Sustainability Links your definition of any of the terms used here, or of any others that should be included from sustainability, environmental or community work.

adult education

affinity group

Agenda 21 The United Nations’ Agenda 21 aimed to legitimise and mainstream concerns about the terminal course our lifestyle has put the planet on.  This meant that the world officially accepted a view that had already been held for at least 20 years by obscure scientists and protest groups – the implication of this was that those concerned no longer had to challenge the received wisdom, simply point to it.  In this respect Agenda 21 was a watershed in the way the human world works, and of greater historical importance than the moon landings or the end of Soviet communism.

However it was less successful in mainstreaming the grassroots sustainability and participation work that would give the world a chance.  In the UK the Government failed to give councils’ LA21 programmes sufficient legislative support and funding, and it faltered elsewhere too.  See the International Initiatives (Previously Background Information) page for an outline of how Agenda 21 has fared in other countries.

Because of lobbying and an agreement that it should be compatible with GATT, Agenda 21 itself failed to address a couple of key international concerns – the global arms trade and the need for corporations to adopt real cost accounting practices.

agribusiness   Associated with chemiculture and intensive farming, agribusiness is food production based on manufacturing industry practices.  The objective of agribusiness is to produce food product that maximises profit.  Chemiculture is reliant upon biocides and mono-cropping.  Intensive farming pays little attention to the welfare of animals, the health of land and water or food quality.  Other detrimental effects of agribusiness are the destruction of biodiversity and denial of the interdependent nature of eco-systems.

agricide

agroecology  A method of farming reintroducing traditional thinking and doing.  Agroecology represents the most sustainable method for growing food and maintaining plant and resource diversity, questioning the intensive agriculture model.  This is agriculture where control over resources returns to the hands of small scale farmers, for it not only opposes practices such as chemical use, and the over exploitation of soil, but also corporate domination of agriculture.

aid   Commonly perceived as the financial assistance given poorer countries by those that are more developed, the term actually covers a multitude of sins.  Aid is generally tied to trade deals or other financial arrangements benefiting the donor governments or corporate interests.  It may also be given to back up leaderships more sympathetic to the exploitative land, labour or capital arrangements imposed upon their countries by foreign powers than the interests of their own population.

alternative technology  Somewhat similar terms are intermediate technology and appropriate technology with all questioning the profit-driven rather than life-enhancing motives for present scientific research and development.  

alienation    – when individuals lose any sense of positive belonging, such as to the natural world and its cycles, family and community, spirituality, purpose and meaning.   Alienation is identified as a cause of self destructive tendencies, and is a reason to believe that – their unsustainability aside – materialistic societies and superficialities do not provide humans with meaningful quality of life.  the best of all possible worlds.

amplified change   Change can be linear or amplified.  Linear change follows a predictable chain of cause and effect.  Amplified change is where one chain of cause and effect inter-reacts with others in an unforeseeable manner.  The reason why global warming is happening faster than scientists can forecast is because it is an example of amplified change.  For example, polar melt not only brings about ongoing changes to those low lying lands it floods, but also to the temperature of the world’s seas, as the heat that the ice has always reflected is instead absorbed by the water.

amplified human   We have used science and technology to extend our human attributes far beyond their natural core and in many different ways.  Science and technology are used to supplement our physical and intelligence capabilities, helping us meet our many needs and wants.  In evolutionary terms amplified human uses technical ingenuity to project an increasingly anthropocentric world view on the world.   

anaerobic digestion AD can generate 100% renewable energy from food and agricultural waste - materials that are being sent for incinerators.

Annual Monitoring Report  Annual planning report to assess the implementation of the LDS, effectiveness of LDF policies and status of saved and linked documents and policies.

anthropocene The halocene epoch was a geological era that lasted from about 9,600 BC - ie from the mesolithic or middle stone age until about 200 years ago.  However, during 2008 geologists identified the latest period of history as the anthropocene era.  The change acknowledges that humankind's dominance of the Earth has altered it to the extent that is only just beginning to be understood. Studies have collated the evidence of the major change, such as global temperature, carbon cycle disturbances, ocean acidification, patterns in sediment erosion and deposition and soil composition.  Such geological findings serve to contextualise the desperation of those sceptics who deny the correlation between post industrial human activity and cllimate change.

anthropocentric    Abrahamic based cultures have promoted humans as “the central fact of the universe and of life”.  It can be no coincidence that industrial development has followed belief across the world map.  > CJ

anthropomorphic

anti-apathy   > NEF

apathy

apple day Not the revival of some ancient rural tradition, the first Apple Day only took place on 21 October 1990 - at Covent Garden in London.  It was organised by Common Ground as a celebration of the English apple, highlighting the ongoing disappearance of both genetic varieties and orchards.

appropriate technology   See alternative technology above.

Arctic amplification The Arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world as the heat that accumulates in the oceans during the summer is being released back into the atmosphere during the autumn.  USNSIDC has warned that as the heat continues to intensify this will lead to ice-free summers.

Area Action Plan  Planning framework for development in a particular area.

the Arhus Convention  was framed to counter bad environmental decision taking by opening up public access to information, justice and decision-making through encouraging the adoption of greater transparency, accountability and participation processes.  It was agreed at the 1998 Environment for Europe conference and ratified by the UK Government in February 2005. The Convention’s underlying principles are rooted in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration.

asset transfer One of the provisions of 2008's Communities in Control was an opportunity for the responsibility for management of buildings and other assets to be handed over to communities.

aviation Aviation is often condemned as the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions, but figures often neglect the additional nitrogen oxide and condensation emissions, which make an overall contribution to climate change twice that of CO2 alone.

  

B

billion High numbers are often inconceivable, sometimes confused.  Yet they're frequently used in sustainability work - eg to measure populations or quantify resources.  A million is a thousand thousand: 1,000,000.  A billion is a thousand million: 1,000,000,000.  A trillion is a million million or thousand billion: 1,000,000,000,000.

biocentric   In sustainability thinking there is a need to distinguish biocentric – or life centred – thinking and doing from that which is either human centred (see anthropocentric above) or death centred, ie based on a belief that mortality is merely a path to something better.  

biodiversity The term refers not only to species but also to the genetic variations within them, to eco-communities and ecologies

biodegradable   In the natural world everything has compatible life cycles – organic matter dies and decomposes.  Human activity interrupts the earth’s natural cycles, creating materials with a life beyond their intended purpose, ie waste.  In sustainability thinking non-biodegradable materials should only be used in the manufacture of artefacts having an indefinite life.   

bioethics   Bioethics recognises how human values can affect eco-systems and the biosphere.  The term can also be applied to those ethical issues arising from R&D in the biological sciences, such as genetic engineering and xenotransplantation.

biofuels Biofuels come from crops such as maize, palm, grasses and rapeseed.  The EU has drafted legislation requiring 10% of all transport fuels come from these sources by 2020.  Their advantage is that they absorb CO2 while growing.  They have serious disadvantages:

Transport fuels are grown on land otherwise used for food production - the amount of corn required to fill a 4 x 4 tank would feed a child for a year.

Land is cleared for the crops, releasing long stored CO2.

Crops are grown using unsustainable intensive agricultural methods.

Growing has an impact on areas' environments and people - eg in Indonesia biofuels have caused the felling of ancient forests and displacement of indigenous coummunites.

The clearance of extensive areas for growing further threatens already endangered animal species.

Production entails environmental pollution - eg the waste from palm oil production can poison freshwater.

A Friends of the Earth study has found that, when deforestation is taken into account, biofuels can produce over twice the amount of CO2 than the fossil fuels they replace.  FOE claims that since 2008 biofuels have caused the same amount of additional emissions as would have been produced by a million cars.  

bioregion   Similar in meaning to the term eco-sphere, bioregions are natural regions that have intrinsic ecological coherence, though unlike their administrative or political namesakes, these may be cross boundary.  There are, for example, bioregions we describe as arctic, temperate, tropical, coastal, forest, wetland, oceanic, sea bed, river plain, mountain range, underground, desert.  The very different attributes of these distinct bioregions are themselves part of the comprehensive unity of the biosphere.   > CJ

biosphere   The biosphere is the earth’s natural environment, so includes all animal and plant life, soil, water, minerals, ecosystems, energy, atmosphere.

Bhopal   A cloud of poisonous pesticide gases was released from United Carbide’s Bhopal plant in 1984, resulting in up to 2,500 deaths and 50,000 seeking hospital treatment.  In terms of human fatality and injury this remains one of the world’s worst environmental disasters, though in 2006 the thousands of original and more recent victims of the abandoned plant’s continuing toxic releases (now owned by Dow Chemical) are seeking remedial action and compensation.   > SE

brownfield land  Land which is being re-used for development purposes, derelict and other vacant land, excluding agricultural. Contrary to popular belief, brownfield land is not toxic, waste or eyesore space awaiting some form of human reclamation - areas may well be far richer in biodiversity than greenfield.

bunkers 'Invisible' emissions from international shipping and aviation - insofar as they were left out of the Kyoto Protocol, owing to governments' inability to agree on international allocations.  

bus corridor  A bus route where there has been an upgrading of the services provided – for example, through the introduction of new vehicles, improved bus shelters and passenger information

 

C

call for action Communities of place or interest, individuals or council members can raise concerns about council and other public service provisions and performance through the call for action process.

campaigning   Campaigning is customarily confined to well established areas of activity, such as petitioning, leafleting, letter-writing, attending meetings, demonstrating, publicity seeking – not to mention fundraising, recruitment and all the other behind-the-scenes work that makes the campaigning possible.  But much of this activity can become institutionalised and the workload a substitute for achievement of real objectives.  For example, a campaign may prioritise membership recruitment, even though the support base exceeds its optimum size, ie the size above which servicing individuals becomes a non effort-effective demand upon limited resources.  There are those who now ask whether the impending terminality of our economic, social and environmental systems should demand a new campaigning game plan?  See institutionalisation below.

capacity building  Developing communities’ structures, resources and skills through such means as training, information giving, networking, multi-level and cross-sector action programmes and government regulation.  Capacity building has enabled communities to come together to work more effectively on the growth of Sustainable Community Strategies and LSP processes.  Agenda 21 promoted the importance of capacity building work in bringing about change.

cap and dividend This Sky Trust system is where energy companies' fossil fuel permit revenues are distributed to populations on a per capita basis.

carbon intensity The quantity of CO2 produced per unit of GDP.

carbon offsetting In 2007 there are over 40 UK companies offering carbon offsetting services.  These calculate the carbon cost of their clients’ activities and then invest the amount in projects to reduce emissions.  Critics point out that the companies’ calculations differ widely and while carbon emissions are retrospective the funded projects may take many years to produce a full offset.  Ethical Consumer has suggested using calculation on the companies’ websites and then simply donating the amount to organisations fighting climate change – many of the leading climate change charities can increase your contribution through Gift Aid.

carbon pricing An economic tool putting a cost on carbon emissions.  This brings energy efficiency and investment in renewables financial advantages.  Carbon pricing is achieved at international level through emissions trading and nationally through regulation and taxation.

carbon quotas Quotas are an instrument of the profit economy rather than any sustainability imperative - for example 2008's G8 meeting on climate change concerns became a squabble over greenhouse gas emission rights.  Environmentalists working in the field have advocated the scrapping of national allocations, suggesting instead a global cap on emissions.  Permits would then be sold up to that cap at international auctions, with all proceeds ringfenced for the development of climate change remedies and social adaptation programmes.  

car pollution Emissions from cars have environmental and health impacts.  Environmental damage comes through acid rain, which contains emitted nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.  These interact with sunlight to form ozone.  40% of UK nitrogen oxide emissions come from traffic, 86% of carbon dioxide and 33% of hydrocarbons.  

Another car emission is carbon monoxide which destroys natural atmospheric defences against greenhouse gases.  The same gases have direct impacts on health (as well as the indirect ones caused by environmental pollution).  

Nitrogen oxides are linked with respiratory conditions, hydrocarbons contain carcinogenic agents (one US study attributed 12% of all lung cancer deaths to vehicle emissions); carbon monoxide reduces blood’s oxygen carrying capacity so is a particularly dangerous pollutant for those with coronary artery and cardiovascular conditions.  Of course, there is also damage done to both environment and health by vehicle noise pollution.

carrying capacity  Most commonly used in terms of the earth’s biosphere, but also applicable to particular geographical areas or eco-systems, carrying capacity is the amount of activity that can be supported before any irreversible – and perhaps even exponential – damage is caused.   See environmental capacity below.

Cartesian  Why have various parts of the human world developed in such diverse ways?  The nature of a community’s development has its roots not in the innate intelligence of different races, which does not vary, but in their systems of belief.  Descartes is widely condemned for his dualistic view of life and the licence this view gives humankind to think and act inappropriately.  But was he no more than an unwitting messenger?  His analysis had more to do with the nature of western culture than that of life itself.  As a thinker he fails not because his philosophy was a cause of so many of the world’s ills but because he was simply unable to see beyond the confines of the prescribed world view.

Catch 22   S&P’s Catch 22 is that politicians are reluctant to discuss global unsustainability issues because they’re not vote catchers, but the electorate’s lack of understanding is a consequence of the news media following the politicians’ agenda.  Another version of this has arisen since Agenda 21 legitimised world wide concerns and threw the unsustainability ball into the grassroots’ court, leaving top down politics to continue marginalising the imperative.

CCS or Carbon Capture and Storage

CCS Ready

Proposals to include CCS in the coalfired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent had not progressed very far when EOn and the Energy Minister spoke at the Government's Environmental Audit Committee.  During questioning it emerged that when the term 'CCS Ready' was used it simply meant that enough space had been left at the site to build a carbon capture unit - and that routes had been plotted between the site and depleted oil and gas fields where the CO2 could be buried.

celebrity culture

cfc or chloroflorocarbon

ChangeUp Change up is the more widely used brand name for Capacity Builders, a Government policy and funding programme supporting third sector infrastructure, particularly in relation to service delivery.  It’s strategy group membership comprises representatives of the voluntary sector and regional agencies.

chemiculture   See agribusiness above.

Chernobyl

China syndrome

citizen’s jury  One way for people to participate in decision making is through a citizens' jury.  This is where a government selects people to consider expert input on topics such as nuclear power or GM food, then make recommendations.  They were trialed in Britain in the mid-90s but, as elsewhere, have had limited success owing to their failings:

Governments can simply ignore results contrary to policy.

No research has given statistical proof of positive effects on service provision.

Although similar to focus groups, citizens' juries are more structured by facilitation.  Discussion can be manipulated to reproduce official decisions.

Such problems defeat these juries' stated purpose - jurors cease to represent 'ordinary' people and merely rubber stamp government policy.  

The Prime Minister spoke about the establishment of a citizens jury at a 2007 NCVO conference but the idea was never developed.

Also see participation methods below.

city region  A major conurbation like Manchester or Birmingham.

Civic Pioneer Civic pioneer local authorities are those recognised by the Government as being committed to working with communities to enable more people to influence the way local services are designed and carried out.

civil disobedience

civil liberties

climate change

clinical ecology

clone town   The phrase describes the growing uniformity of Britain’s town centres, through the concurrent growth of chain stores and decline of independent local retailing.  This results in the destruction of town centres’ merchandise and business diversity, local character and economic well-being – and much of the important human interaction that holds communities together.    Farmers have been particularly vocal in expressing their opposition to the disproportionate power of large corporate interests, and the impacts of this upon British agriculture.  Present UK planning policy favours large scale retail development not only through planning regulations but also through tax rates, competition rules and high rents.  > New Economics Foundation

Club of Rome

Cocacolarisation   The globalisation of an instantly recognisable brand

Command Papers Published by the Government, Command Papers are so called because they are presented to Parliament 'by Her Majesty's Command'.  They include White Papers, Green Papers, Royal Commissions Reports, Committees of Enquiry Reports, Government Responses to Select Committee Reports and Departmental Reviews.

common ownership

commons

commune

communitarianism  The communitarian movement believes “individual liberties depend upon the bolstering of civil society: our families, schools and neighbourhoods” and that as citizens we must all “defend our rights vigorously but also live up to our responsibilities”.  It follows that supporters believe governance rests on collective local community decision taking.  The term grew from the work of Amitai Etzioni, who established the USA’s Communitarian Network.

community  The convention is to interpret community in terms of location, although there’s a slowly growing recognition of the important social role played by the community of interest.  Unfortunately local funding streams – perhaps because they’re primarily administered by area based local authorities or third sector councils – concentrate on smaller geographical areas, so exclude those organisations serving wider catchments.

community allowance

This proposed state benefit would allow members of a community to do some work in their neighbourhood without jeopardising their receipt of other benefits.  At present there are many people who would be able to contribute to community life but are frozen into inaction by present benefit regulations.  The CREATE consortium estimated that the allowance could lead to the introduction of up to 80 part time jobs in some neighbourhoods.

"How much longer are we going to waste the skills and talents of the very people in our most deprived communities who could do the most to turn them around?"

Jess Steele, Chair CREATE

community development v economic development?

Community Empowerment Network  Community networks are developed to give communities a coherent, representative and accountable voice in LSP processes.  Those Networks established through Community Empowerment Fund resourcing were identified as Community Empowerment Networks.  The nature of community networks differs from one area to another.  The LSP Guide found one with 18 identified themes with hundreds of organisations involved, while another had five themes and around 40 member organisations.  Effective communication is a practical difficulty frequently found in interface work, with VCOs calling for less use of jargon and an oft-expressed need for professional community development workers to help address ‘power gap’ situations.

Between 2001 - 07 a network of over 35,000 CENs were established nationwide.  Following national funding reductions a third of these had wound up by 2008 and many more have since.  Urban Forum research found that 60% CENs reported an influential role on LSPs and 57% provided necessary outreach and capacity building work.

“CENs were a central Government initiative funded to develop community empowerment and engagement at a local level, using the VCS.  Since they became part of LAAs some now struggle to get their role recognised.

“…Government messages and guidance do not always translate well locally.  This is partly I feel because sometimes central Government has a very simplistic view of the VCS.”

Margaret McLeod of Voluntary Sector North West

Writing in Communities and Local Governments’ Efficiency News  

community infrastructure levy Local authorities can charge on new development in order to improve the area's infrastructure.

community kitty See participatory budgeting below.

community-led planning Where community groups and parish councils are involved in planning processes.

community severance  This is where transport infrastructure damages communities – mobility, access to services and cohesion.

community spaces These can be physical (such as community centres), social (such as regular forums) or virtual.  Where groups need to use meeting rooms for the benefit of their community shouldn't access be free?

A Community Strategy or Community Plan or Sustainable Community Strategy is a long term vision for an area.  See this website’s the Model Sustainable Community Strategy page.

Community Supported Agriculture A CSA agreement is where an arrangement is made between a farmer and a group of consumers who receive a regular share of output in return for contributing to farming costs.  CSA members may also work on the farm and participate in decision making.

community work   The term has gained connotations from its practise in highly populated urban areas of deprivation, where the work is undertaken to counter loss of active grassroots community involvement and check disorder, crime and disaffection.  Here it is generally initiated and resourced by local authorities or established voluntary organisations.  However, a more positive side is found within communities where those initiating it reside and become actively involved in ‘community work’, perhaps without ever realising it.

complementary medicine

Comprehensive Area Assessment  The Government required areas to combine their Comprehensive Performance Assessments, Joint Area Reviews, Annual Performance Assessments and Social Services Department star ratings into this single document by March 2009. The CAA is an annual assessment of public sector performance as measured against an area's chosen National Indicators.

Comprehensive Spending Review  Government uses CSRs to look at long-term spending.  After widespread and public consultation each Department agrees with the Treasury how Government money is to be spent.  Recent CSRs have been in 1998 and 2006, the latter set to determine expenditure for 2008 – 2011, and in some cases also look at outline plans for the next decade.  The Treasury has said that latest CSR is being  informed by a detailed assessment of trends and challenges including “increasing pressures on our natural resources and global climate”.

connectedness

consensus building

“The aim of consensus building is to achieve through dialogue a shared understanding and agreement between individuals and groups whose interests and objectives differ.  Rather than each pressing their own interests and objectives the emphasis is on the development of common ground assisted by facilitators.”  

                                                                   Professor John Stewart - Local Networks for Consensus Building

Like conflict resolution, this is a means to avoid confrontation, although consensus building does have an additional educational value in that it can be used to introduce people to new information and / or concepts that may affect the way they have traditionally thought.

Consensus building was widely used in the early development of UK LA21 programmes as an inexpensive means of social re-education.  It may yet re-emerge in the coming efforts to combat global unsustainability, though its potential effectiveness is hampered without a war-time like media propaganda campaign.

conservation

conspiracy of silence   Why are there so few regular tv and radio series addressing global unsustainability and the implications this has for all of us?  At the very least there should be a dedicated national public radio service or allocated time on news programmes, as there is for weather, sport, and business.  See legislative illusion below.

conspiracy theory  Time was when this was used by those who believed there were efforts to cover up events that were actually products of their own wild imaginings.  For example, some people sighting lights in the sky would accuse governments of conspiring to hide evidence of extra-terrestrial activity.  These days the term’s more likely to be used to describe any explanation of events that doesn’t follow the official government line.  Interestingly, the more outrageous government covert actions are the easier it is to apply the term to those who challenge them.

consultation Rather than a means of determining policy, the aim of much consultation is to publicise and legitimise decided policy. For example, rather than being exercises in democratic participation, public meetings to gather views on local transport plans will be to merely strengthen the local transport authority's funding bid, which will already have been drafted to meet Government funding terms and conditions.  Between 1997 and 2008 there've been over 600 Government consultations a year.

Consultation Statement  Document explaining how planning consultation was undertaken, the main issues that emerged and how they have been addressed.

contraction and convergence  The climate change solution advocated by Audrey Meyer of the Global Commons Institute;  while carbon dioxide emissions contract on an annual quota basis they should also converge to meet per capita emission rights.  

conventional farming  See traditional farming below.

co-operative

Copenhagen Consensus  The climate change sceptics - Bjorn Lamborg et al – who are still denying the existence, causes and effects of global warming, such as rising sea levels, droughts and severe weather patterns such as like those causing flash floods.

co-production sector   This is where public services come together with service users to actively involve them in the delivery of services, blurring the distinction between providers and clients.  There’s evidence that this sector is growing in importance, though initiatives are generally outside of national funding streams.   > New Economics Foundation

core economy   The social activities, links, networks and infrastructure that form the foundations upon which an economycan be built.  > New Economics Foundation

Core Strategy  Long term vision, core planning policies, spatial strategy and development framework for an area. See Regional Spatial Strategy below

Corporate Social Responsibility  Enabling businesses to operate a voluntary approach to socially and environmentally damaging practices, CSR is seen by many as a mere smokescreen, behind which it’s business as usual.

Councils for Voluntary Service aka Local Infrastructure Organisations, Local Development Agencies or second-tier bodies (as opposed to the frontline CVOs).

countryside walks Public Rights of Way pass through open countryside - ie across fields, through woodlands, alongside rivers and through villages.  In law there are four types of Public Rights of Way:

public footpaths for walkers, public bridleways - which are also for horses and cycles, restricted byways, byways.  Right to roam does not apply to farmland or but to recognised common / public access land.  Footpaths and bridleways edging fields must not be ploughed.  A public right of way crossing a field can be ploughed, but the path must be clearly marked afterwards.  Also see right to roam below.

countryside

cult of the celebrity  and lifestyle aspirations.

cultural resources  Planning term recognising that a community’s environment helps determine its outlook and behaviour so should be factored into the consideration of development proposals and land use changes.

culture change  Initially the idea of culture change which brings hardship instead of affluence, convenience and comfort is a cause for resistance or denial.  But simply ignoring our unsustainability is not an option – and such change is not unprecedented.  There are many still alive in Britain today who once had to adjust to all the hardships brought about by war.

cycling

 

D

deep ecology see ecology below.

deforestation

deliberative polls   See participation methods below.

demand management   In SCP this replaces demand creation, and can be achieved through a variety of information giving, regulatory and monetary measures.

Democratic Deficit It’s not only in the UK that real world issues are being pushed to the fringes of political debate with two or three established political parties setting electoral agenda according to disconcertingly short-term, relatively inconsequential policy (or personality) differences.

The UK’s political parties form governments even where a minority of a country’s electorate have voted for their candidates.  This can be brought about by a variety of factors, such as low voter turn out, a higher number of votes going to opposition party candidates and boundary and / or catchment population disparities.  In Britain local political parties can gain control of a council though routinely supported by fewer than one in eight of their electorate.  A comparison of political party and third sector organisation membership figures raises some interesting questions over the legitimacy of election results.

Page development - If you’d like to comment on any matters raised in the pages of this site please let get in touch with Sustainabability Links.  

denial Denial can take a number of forms – individuals or groups disagreeing with the threats or need to make lifestyle changes, or insisting they're in no way responsible, or acting increasingly irresponsibly.  We all have more immediate concerns, but simply ignoring unsustainability is not going to make it go away.  See legislative illusion below.

"Look at the news, look at the weather,

Look at the people in denial."

Business as Usual from Long Road Out of Eden by Eagles.

 

“The threat is too serious to take seriously.”

Gordon Rattray Taylor, The Doomsday Book, 1972.

desertification

development   Like 'regeneration' the term promotes building, the building industry and economic development v - community development may be at best incidental, at worst dismantled,  along with the neighbourhood.

developmental community work   As yet government funding streams have not encouraged those with sustainable environmental, economic and social policy expertise into developmental community work.

Development Plan Document  Spatial planning documents that have development plan status and have been through consultation and independent examination. See Regional Spatial Strategy below.

diet

direct action

Disnification   A form of imperialism involving icons of popular culture.

displacement activity  This is where a problem is avoided, rather than addressed, by tackling associated soft option activities rather than difficult causes.  For example dog mess / litter / graffiti / ‘our town in bloom’ – are all topics invariably raised when localities reach the environmental and / or sustainability item on their agenda.  

Doha Round  After five years of negotiations, the WTO Doha Round of Trade Talks were suspended in July 2006 when the US and EU failed to agree a reduction in their agricultural subsidies.  Western subsidies lead to produce being dumped on developing countries, and therefore to the destruction of their domestic agriculture.  For the Doha Round to have succeeded it would have been necessary for rich countries to reduce their protective tariffs.  Poverty campaigners welcomed the development as “good news for the world’s poor”.  War on Want called on governments to work towards establishing a fair set of trade rules instead.  The US and EU had already refused to keep the promises they made poor countries at the December 2005 talks.

double devolution  Following through the transfer of public amenities and services to the market sector, double devolution is the name given to  Government policy separating and devolving responsibility for social provision to local authorities and partnerships for onward take up by local voluntary sector groups and communities.

downshifting   This is when individuals or communities elect to reduce their levels of economic activity for quality of life, health, environmental or other reasons.  At present this downshifting generally comes about through voluntary means, but increasingly it’s going to be imposed upon individuals and communities by the slow collapse of present environmental, social and economic systems

Duty to Cooperate The duty placed upon public bodies to cooperate with unitary / county councils in the production of LAAs.  

Duty to Involve Since April 2009 local authorities and their partners have been required to "inform, consult and involve" local people in decisions about their area.  A significant way to engage with and empower local people is through Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement processes.  Like CCES, the Duty to Involve is attempting to roll out a more comprehensive approach to public participation.

 

E

e-campaigning Technology is providing more ways for people to make their voices heard though, as yet, not actually share in decision making:

Email petitions.  these are of doubtful effectiveness, although www.thepetitionsite.com has four million members and claims to achieve results - especially in awareness raising of below radar concerns.

Consumer boycotts.  www.karmabanque.com offers information on those companies most vulnerable to such action.

Smart mobs.  These are online affinity groups which also use texting to coordinate actions - some are arranged at very short notice.

Video.  The web provides a platform for material that would not otherwise be available.  There's a network of over 100 Indymedia centres around the world; www.indymedia.org.uk

earth ship Architect Michael Reynolds uses refuse to build homes that heat themselves, collect their own water and enable residents to grow their own food.   There are over a thousand of his 'earth ships' in New Mexico, with hundreds more under construction in areas as different as Spain and Siberia.  In Britain some of these homes are being developed in Brighton.  Earth ships present an intensely practical solution to the developed world's urgent need to make lifestyle sea change.  www.garbagewarrior.com

eco-

eco-agriculture

Eco-agriculture uses more traditional farming methods.  The high tech farming that emerged dduring the last century squanders water supplies and impairs soil fertility.  It also uses up a third of the world's remaining fossil fuels and is a major cause of climate change. Agricultural resources are essentially renewable and prior to industrialisation were tended by small farmers.  New Internationalist, December 2008.

ecology   Eco comes from 'oikos', which means home, a place of relationships between all forms of life, 'logos' means knowledge. Initially the study of habitats or of the relationship between living things, the word has come to be used by those strands of thought recognising the importance of environmental concerns, such as political ecology’s different movements (see below). Interestingly the word 'economy' brings together 'oikos' and 'nomos', which means home management.

deep ecology

liberation ecology

real ecology

social ecology

Economic Partnership Agreements

EPAs are being negotiated between the EU and 77 of its former African, Caribbean and Pacific colonies.  These will force poor countries’ farmers and industries into unfair competition with the rich.

economics

“The health of our economy and the health of our environment are dependent upon each other.”

Margaret Thatcher

“The challenge is… to incorporate environmental costs in the decisions of producers and consumers, to reverse the tendency to treat the environment as a ‘free good’ and to pass these costs on to other parts of society, other countries or to future generations.”

Chapter 8 - UN Agenda 21, 1992

eco schools

Eco Schools aim to reduce their environmental impact while improving the school environment.  LEAs can register with the UK programme, which encourages involvement in such activities as increased walking, cycling and recycling, reduced electricity and water usage and improved diet, school grounds through litter collection, wildlife and growing areas.  Eco Schools initiatives integrate with other school activities and link to most areas of the curriculum.  They also promote awareness of other cultures and facilitate links to schools in other countries. www.eco-schools.org.uk

eco-system

“Man’s apparent intention is to damage beyond repair the ecosystems which sustain him.”

 Professor LaMont Cole - (who first used the term ‘eco-sphere’)

eco-town

“…radically rethinking how we design, plan and build our homes, we can created zero carbon developments, which combine affordable housing, environmental sensitivity and outstanding quality.”

Eco Towns: Living a Greener Future

www.communities.gov.uk

Ten eco-towns with populations of up to 20,000 people were proposed by the British Government in 2006 as a 'sustainable' means of providing homes for the future.  However, the reality fell far short of the promise.  Environmentalists have not only criticised their dependence on cars, but also the relaxation of zero carbon building standards.  After pressure from the building lobby the designated areas would all depend on conventional power and water infrastructure, rather than incorporate appropriate off-grid technologies. (Critique summarised from article in The Times, 19 June 2008)

Eco Management and Audit Schemes.  

There are many sustainability related initiatives adopted piecemeal by different councils, yet little co-ordinated community lobbying to monitor and support even the most successful schemes in other areas.  

EMAS are a good example of this, as is membership of the International Council for Local Environment Initiatives, adoption of the Nottingham Declaration and the Environmental Charter for Local Government. This is in contrast to those third sector led initiatives which enjoy nationwide support, such as Fairtrade area status.

economic globalisation

See globalisation.

employment   In traditional, unsustainable economics and society at large employment is seen as an end in its own right.  Yet much employment does little more than squander natural capital and other resources, sometimes bringing little social benefit and often only detriment.  A less unsustainable way of going about things would encourage the recruitment of labour from the vast pool of people whose It also causes personal alienation when people’s individual  potential is simply unrealised through the often meaningless and unrewarding work simply based on the generation and supply of product demand.  The sooner society can refocus employment on work associated with our survival the less hardship our generation will continue causing those who follow.  In years to come there will again be a blurring of the customary divisions of labour and between paid and voluntary work.

empowerment  Empowerment is not about manning barricades or seizing the reigns of government, but about taking on greater responsibilities in our daily lives.  For example, we can all empower ourselves by extending our political franchise beyond simply voting and into our everyday purchasing decisions.  Was that advertisement deceptive or untrue?  Is this coffee fairly traded?  Are the manufacturers of this baby food criticised for their record on human rights?

“The crisis is a threefold one.  It is a crisis of values… a crisis of disconnectedness… a crisis of responsibility.  Man has reached a turning point in his history.”

 Gordon Rattray Taylor - The Doomsday Book, 1972

energy descent plans  These are drawn up by communities to enable them to reduce their energy consumption as sources become rarer

encultured   This is where those people belonging to a particular culture believe that the way they think and behave is the only proper way of doing these things.  See meta-context below.

environmental audit   This will show the impact of practices and / or policies against quantifiable measures – such as water consumed, air pollutants being emitted, mode of transport used to access employment.

environmental capacity   The amount of human activity that is possible before an environment loses its character.   See carrying capacity above.

environmental capital   A phrase that brings the often neglected or undervalued worth of natural, built and social environment features into economic considerations, enabling the impact of development and other proposals to be properly considered.  Environmental capital, or stock, includes an area’s landscape, open spaces, flora and fauna, natural features ranging from lakes to hedgerows, geology, air, water, soil, climate and ecosystems, as well as its ancient monuments, modern history, living heritage and identity.

environmental deprivation

environmental footprint

Environmental Impact Assessment  A study to determine the nature and size of development proposals on an area.

An Environmental Statement  will provide a systematic and structured assessment of the potential effects of a development on the environment which can be taken into account on the decision-making process. There is a statutory requirement to provide these with some planning applications.

ESD or education for sustainable development

ethical consumption purchasing, investment, tourism All examples of  consumer led sustainability decision making, behavioural change and empowerment.

eugenics

eutrophication  Water pollution causing degradation of coastal zones, destruction of coral reefs, antibiotic resistance and human health problems.

evidence based policy making Governments may claim policy is based on science, independent research or their own statistical findings but this may be to simply legitimise decisions that are really being taken to pursue their own party political ideologies.  Unlike Parliament, some legislatures are able to call witnesses to help members scrutinise bills.  See consultation above.

Examination  An independent public examination chaired by the Planning Inspectorate.

exclusion   While SCS processes and other aspects of local democracy vigorously espouse social inclusion principles they habitually exclude those organisations working on sustainability related issues.

exponential

Extended Schools Initiative  Extended schools accommodate a range of community events and services, though in many cases they will not simply be providing a venue – they will be introduced as a result of the schools’ work with other agencies, such as those providing child care.

 

F

Factor Four  

A concept set out by Amory Lovins in his book of the same name; it asserts that through adopting 'resource productivity' principles people can gain twice as much value from as many natural resources while using half as many.

Fairtrade  The Fairtrade logo on products indicates that their third world farmers and / or manufacturers have not been produced through low wage or exploitative working conditions.  Fairtrade Areas may be any size – towns, cities, counties, villages, schools, churches, but must meet various Fairtrade Foundation requirements.  For example, to become a Fairtrade town the local  council must pass a resolution supporting fair trade, there should be a range of Fairtrade products available in local shops, cafes and workplaces and there should exist a local steering group working to promote, and ensure ongoing commitment to, Fairtrade

farmer-centred agriculture

Large scale arable farming brings negative economies of scale.  Countries like Japan have shown that small scale farming uses land more efficiently and produces higher yields.  Corporate agriculture may be profitable for some but it has environmental, social and human costs - in third world countries it is better for people to be able to remain on their land and produce their own food than for them to be driven into urban slums and worklessness.  New Internationalist, December 2008.

finite

flood risk  A good example of the disparity between sustainable and conventional thinking and doing, and why the latter has to catch up, is provided by current development proposals for the east of England. The Regional Spatial Strategy proposes that almost half a million homes should be built across the region – yet 41% of these are planned for high flood risk areas.

focus group   See participation methods below.

food additives

food miles  These calculate the distance food has travelled from growth to consumption and a comparison between air and road transport totals is telling.  During 2004, 0.1% of the year’s food transport was by air – and this resulted in 13% of UK food mile emissions.

food scares

food sovereignty - New Internationalist, December 2008.

 As food growing, processing and marketing fall increasingly under the influence of the WTO the concept of food sovereignty becomes increasingly important, laying the foundation for an alternative agricultural vision. Perhaps the term should embrace the right of all citizens to have access to, and choose, fresh foods rather than heavily marketed processed.

The global food system must be overhauled so that each country prioritises its agricultural production, rather than being made to rely on trade controlled by multinational corporations and financial institutions.  International and domestic consumers are as equally vulnerable to the economic system's manipulation of food prices.

footprinting  Individuals, communities and their activities are said to leave a footprint on the earth in terms of the demands they make upon natural resources and systems, other animals, people and communities.  Footprinting is a way of assessing the relative impact of different individuals, communities and activities.  See carrying capacity.

free market

futurism  If humans survive the anticipated system collapse, future societies will have to be less materialistic, the affluence and acquisitiveness that is today’s reality for some and aspiration for others will come to be replaced by other priorities.  It’s likely that many of these are the sort that can be observed in the less (technologically) developed societies preceding our own.  The more positive qualities we could hope to become re-established are; greater community involvement and broader based decision making, a questing for spiritual attainment and social cohesion, and a cultural re-structuring to help individuals achieve a sense of self worth and meaning.

  

G

gaia  The name given to James Lovelock’s “biocybernetic universal system tendency” by his friend, author William Golding.

GATS

GDP / GNP

genetic engineering

genetically modified crops There is considerable consumer resistence to genetically modified crops - indeed, there has never before been so much opposition to a new food technology.  

The benefits of GM food are claimed to be:

Increased production levels.

Consumers' lower domestic grocery bills and countries' increased ability to resist worldwide rises in food prices.

The opportunity to grow crops resiliant to threats including drought,  flooding, seawater low and high temperatures.

The need to use less fertilisers and pesticides.

An end to world hunger.  

So why is GM so unpopular?

People have grown wary of food scares created by contemporary livestock husbandry responsible for a growing array of contagious diseases including BSE, salmonella, foot and mouth, bird flu, swine flu.

An NOP revealed that 87% of people want food items labelling to help avoid any animal derived products produced using GM feeds.  Although restaurants, canteens and fast food outlets are legally obliged to inform customers about any GM products contained in their dishes, GM companies are using the courts to prevent public access to safety data.  Elsewhere in the world court orders have been issued, but the companies have defied them.

Although the biotech industry claims GM can ease rising food prices, the billions spent on GM crops over the years have simply not increased yields sufficiently to bring down costs.

Research has repeatedly shown that pesticide resistent genes can cross from crops to surrounding wild plants, creating 'super weeds'.  This is seen as a threat to native fauna - including bees, butterflies, birds and mammals.  There will also be contamination of organically farmed produce (the market for which grows by 30% per year) as well as home-grown.  Any damage done will be irreversible.

GM crops have not been developed by agrochemical companies to make the use of pesticides obsolete but to make plants resistent to increased applications.

The biotech industry's 'terminator gene' prevents GM farmers from storing seeds for future planting - but it could also affect the collection of seeds from any conventional and organic crops contaminated by GM planting.

 

Gershon As a result of the Gershon report on public procurement councils have to achieve efficiency gains against a national target.  However, the New Economics Foundation found that this has led to managers switching procurement to larger suppliers, perversely failing to achieve best value or efficiency targets – public spending better delivers public benefit if it remains localised.  Every £1 councils spend with a local supplier is worth £1.76 to the local economy, while untargeted expenditure is worth an average 36p.  Following a year-long collaboration with NEF, Northumberland County Council prioritised local procurement to bring £1 billion to the north east.

ghost town   In contemporary usage this is the term applied to city and town centres no longer serving the economic and community purposes for which they were developed.  A combination of business practice (such as the development of retail parks) and political policy (such as benefit payments being switched from post offices to bank accounts) brings about the loss of local shops, post offices, pubs, entertainment provisions, public facilities.  > New Economics Foundation

globalisation

GPI A General Progress Index  is a more holistic and sustainable state of the nation indicator embracing such merits as quality of life, community strengths, living environment, family networks.

greenhouse effect

greenfield land  This is undeveloped or vacant land best understood in terms of land not defined as brownfield.

green fundays   One way for councils and third sector organisations to pay lip service to S&P, these events may focus on environmental awareness raising and depend upon a broad base of participants, but they’re of questionable effort effectiveness and generally lack any clear or measurable objectives.  See displacement activity above.

Green New Deal  A programme bringing together experts in finance, energy and the environment to promote employment through the expansion of work opportunities to help us live more sustainably, eg in insulation or renewable energy

greenwash

global flip  The theory that an accumulation of perhaps even minor environmental changes could lead to other more serious biospheric impacts.

globalisation   A term that can be applied to culture, information services, entertainment, crime – a whole range of social activities – but most commonly applied to the economic activities of the market sector.

grandparent mortgages   Money borrowed and repaid by successive generations of a family.

Green Papers The Government publishes Green Papers as discussion documents as distinct from White Papers, which follow as statements of policy.  Wheras Green Papers can include different sides of an argument, a range of evidence and other content to inform debate and gather public responses, White Papers are written to persuade readers of their proposals' merit.  

green revolution This was a corporate initiative presented as an answer to world food shortages.  However, the real answer lay not in maximising the profitability of food but in revising an economic system that denied the majority world the means to buy it.  The cynically named 'green revolution' was based on farming's increasing centralisation and privatisation.

growth  The single word growth is invariably used to mean economic growth and imply that from this will trickle down an abstract universal growth in all that is good.  The mounting realisation that growth actually undermines the sustainability of the human species, if not the planet, necessitates a sea change in the way we all think. Difficulties arise with attempts to factor the concept of infinity into any system of thought and these, often philosophical, complexities become more apparent where there are clearly practical contradictions – such as that between the idea of exponential global growth and finite global resources.  

Contrary to popular belief, the need for economic growth does not derive from a humanitarian need to alleviate poverty but from an economic need to service capital

“Current economic goals will lead to massive global destabilisation and continuing environmental catastrophe; new strategies need to be developed to raise public awareness and change expectations”

WSSD 2002 Briefing - International Institute for Environment and Development

“The energies of society’s leader figures would… be more humanely and sensibly employed studying the towering problems of transition, than in straining for either personal gain or the wider goal of economic growth.”

 Patrick Taylor - The Survivalists, 1975

  

H

happy planet index  An alternative measure to GDP, this calculates wellbeing and footprinting as output, against the environmental and human resources input.  Its proponents say it “unmasks a very different world order to that promoted by self-appointed global leaders, the G8”.  Top of the happy planet league is the Pacific island of Vanuatu.  The UK ranks 108, the top European country being Switzerland. The USA is placed at 150, Zimbabwe bottom.  Islands scored particularly well on the index, owing to their strongly developed sense of community and proximity to the natural environment.  > NEF and Friends of the Earth

HCFC

The top five uses of hydrochlorofluro carbons are: vehicle air conditioning, commercial refridgeration, commercial air conditioning, polystyrene and other foam blowing, home air conditioning.  It has been estimated that global HCFC emissions will exceed a billion tonnes by 2015.  > IPCC / TEAP Special Report on Ozone and Climate.

Highly Indebted Poor Country   HIPC promised lasting exit from debt for third world countries, but those achieving ‘completion point’ do not necessarily find themselves able to repay their debts without serious social consequences.  The P of the abbreviation can also stand for Prosperous – Jubilee Debt Campaign founder Ann Pettifor says; “US foreign debt is almost exactly equivalent to those owed by all developing countries.  Poor countries pay $300 billion a year for their debts of $2.5 trillion.  The US pays $20 billion a year for its debts of $2.2 trillion.  Developing countries pay interest rates up to 18% a year. The US pays interest rates as low as 3% a year.”  

holistic

hypothecation   See taxation below.

I

ice caps

icentric

An anthropocentric view or belief is one shich is human centred and places our species at the centre of the universe.  It does so as if cosmic vastness and infinite complexity exists for no other reason than to enable humans to realise our own ambivalent ends.

The concept follows through to individuals' self perception.  If humans are at the core of all that exists, the I is the axis around which homo sapiens revolve.  

An extreme example of icentric thinking gives the constitutional right for individuals to carry a gun more importance than the social consequences, including the right of schoolhouse psychopaths the right to do so too.  It is seen as a similarly entrenched, though more universal 'right', to be able to drive a 4x4 or eat burgers from cattle grazed on former rainforest lands.  We hear examples of icentric thinking all the time, eg:

"How can leaving everything on standby make me responsible for global warming?"

"I wasn't to blame - I was only following orders."

A new mindset is needed that's evolutionary in scale.  Just as in the past we individuals have gained from humanity's relentless plunderings for our own personal gains, non-icentric thinking recognises that we are all part of - and personally responsible for - the whole.

"Liberty means responsibiity - that is why most men dread it."

Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw.

Index of Multiple Deprivation  This shows the extent of deprivation in a particular area, drawing upon statistics relating to seven categories of disadvantage.

Inspector’s Report  The final policy document outlining development plans for an area.

integrated product policy   See life cycle thinking below.

Integrated Regional Strategy

A region's RDA is responsible for the production of an IRS, which combines the content and objectives of the former Regional Spatial Strategy and Regional Economic Strategy.  The role of Regional Assemblies has been replaced by partnerships between RDAs and local authorities, a region's council leaders now being required to meet as a Leaders Forum with responsibility for IRS scrutiny and signing-off.  Third sector concerns about the unrepresentative nature of RDAs - which promote market sector interests - led to the Government expanding its Duty to Involve to RDAs.

international community

intensive farming   See agribusiness above.

interconnectedness

interdependency

intermediate technology   See alternative technology above.

International Monetary Fund

The IMF was established in 1944 in response to post war recession.  It now lends mainly to developing countries - who must then make economic reforms, such as opening up trade, investment and finance, privatisation and deregulation.

 

J

Judicial Review  In planning this is when there is a legal challenge to the Inspector’s Report - the final policy document outlining an area’s development plans.

  

K

Key Diagram  Map showing the broad locations of policy areas and proposals in a structure plan.

Kyoto Protocol  The Kyoto Protocol was signed by 141 nations, excluding the USA and Australia.  Responsibility for the Protocol's implementation of aviation and shipping emission reduction targets fell to self regulation through the industries' ICAO and IMO, but little action has been taken since.  Even discussion of these bunkers is blocked by certain countries

  

L

land   Economic theory identifies three requirements of production – capital, labour and land.  There is a very strong case for the introduction of a system of taxation that targets those who control and most benefit from using the natural resources that are our common heritage.  The term ‘land’ refers to everything ranging from oil and water to crops and built environment, to airwaves and flight paths.

The Landfill Communities Fund is the new name for the Landfill Tax Credits Scheme.

language   Words are found to enable people to describe those things common in their environment and culture.  When discussing the adoption of a less unsustainable lifestyle one hurdle can be the obscurity, or even non-existence, of appropriate words and phrases.  For example the phrase ‘sustainability imperative’ describes an essential concept, but sounds far too academic, while ‘doing your bit’ is an equally important term, but quite a mouthful.

lawbreakers   Activists, campaigners and protestors occupy the same space in the collective consciousness as those involved in direct action, riotous marches and acts of violence.  However, most work of environmental and social organisations is to either establish new law or ensure market or government sector compliance with existing legislation.  For example, Greenpeace is most associated with harmless high-profile stunts, but the bulk of its work lies in exposing crimes of environmental destruction and the trade in illegally sourced products – and in bringing those responsible to court.

Leaders Forum

See Integrated Regional Strategy.

legislative illusion

LETS LETS enables members of a community to exchange skills for their mutual benefit.  This trading is done in locally determined units of exchange (called, say, TaFIs with each TaFI being roughly equivalent to a pound in value).  Traders agree a price for services and on completion exchange a TaFI cheque, with a duplicate going to the area's LETS co-ordinator.  The amount is then deducted from the purchaser's account and added to the service provider's.  A regular mailing keeps members informed of personal account details, available services and contacts.  Services offered may range from gardening and tuition to DIY and transport; some LETS also include goods, such as own-grown produce.

liberal   The individualistic outlook and liberalism that grew from the European Renaissance had worth in countering tyranny and oppression, but is contrary to the holistic thinking that’s necessary to address unsustainability in an interconnected world community.

life cycle thinking This ensures that all environmental impacts of a product are viewed and evaluated holistically – where assessments are not made in this way responsibility for any damage caused tends to be shifted on to those involved in the later stages of the product’s life.  LCT embraces component sourcing, manufacture, distribution, sale, usage and disposal and enables production processes to implement Integrated Product Policy.

limits   Businesses have traditionally had to operate within the boundaries imposed by economics and the law. The environment must increasingly come to be regarded as a third such area of constraint.

linear change see amplified change above.

Lisbon strategy  At the May 2005 Council of Europe conference it was recognised that the growth and jobs agenda of the Lisbon Strategy could only proceed if embracing a embracing a balanced approach with social goals.

“The European Council should clearly state that the objective of the Lisbon Strategy is to strengthen social cohesion and sustainability throughout Europe”.

The European Commission Annual Report 2006

Local Action 21  While Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 (see Local Agenda 21 below) remain the formal titles of  initiatives established or inspired by the 1992 UN Earth Summit, the 2002 Summit suggested that any local  programmes taking LA21 forward should be rebranded renamed Local Action 21 in order to reflect the shift of focus from thinking to doing, from discussion to implementation.  Many LA21 programmes have been abandoned or ‘integrated’ into other council work, others have been rebranded and / or given a new focus.  Whatever their fate it’s vitally important not to lose site of their seminal origin.

Local Agenda 21

(also referred to as LA21, Agenda 21, Action 21)  

LA21 was the name given in Britain to those council based (‘Local Authority 21’) initiatives intended to take forward the UN’s Agenda 21 and enable people and communities to determine a sustainable agenda for the 21st century.  

Although habitually confused, Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 have always been different beasts, with LA21 failing to realise the legitimising and mainstreaming potential of its parent, at national level failing to gain statutory and resource support (and being routinely excluded from guidance on key policy areas such as local government modernisation, regeneration and cross-sector working) and at local level subject to councils’ political orientations, officer enlightenment and conventional but conflicting responsibilities.  Despite – or perhaps because of – central and local government backing, Britain’s LA21 never even gained as high a profile as, say, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth or Make Poverty History.  

Councils’ adoption of LA21 brought to it resources, but this was not sustainability’s natural home and their programmes were more constrained than they would have been if autonomous third sector initiatives.  As well as bringing some funding, national and local government leadership also ditched the vital perspectives for those defined by, invariably conflicting, short term and parochial election cycles.  See the ICLEI report summary on the International Initiatives (Previously Background Information) page.

“…but we’ve always dealt with environmental issues such as waste and transport”.

Source withheld, though a not untypical local authority comment when approached about Local Agenda 21

Local Area Agreements

A Local Area Agreement is a three year contract between a local area and central Government.  It is negotiated for an area by a local organisation (such as a county LSP) through the Regional Government Office.    

LAAs were introduced to reduce bureaucracy, join up and optimise local service delivery, simplify funding, consolidate LSP working and facilitate local decision making.  They provide a set of short term Government targets an indicators that have been set out in order to enable an area’s LSP to monitor local providers’ performance in the delivery of both Government policy and the up to twenty-year vision set out in its Sustainable Community Strategy.

Another reason for their introduction was to help areas identify and meet their own local needs rather than requiring them to meet national targets as hitherto: the resulting service provision would then be delivered through the joint approach made possible by Partnership working.  

Areas identified as high performing would gain more ‘freedom and flexibilities’ – eg Government funding of third sector activity could be pooled and locally allocated to those projects working most effectively on the four identified themes of:

Children and young people.

Safer / stronger communities.

Health / older people.

Economic development and enterprise.

There was also an optional fifth block of environment and sustainability.

LAAs have mandatory and monitored outcomes, and a clearly defined, complementary role to play alongside areas’ Sustainable Community Strategies.  This can mean that third sector organisations can participate in both decision and provision making – and can also gain financially – see Local Public Service Agreements below.

LAAs were piloted from 2004 and have been rolled out across England since 2007.  Following widespread criticism of the Government’s high number of LAA targets and increased information giving from 2008 LAAs have had fewer targets, with areas having to identify 35 from a set of 198 of the Government’s national indicators.  Funding is no longer being tied to the four thematic blocks. See:  http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/doc/517909

Local Biodiversity Action Plan A Local BAP is adopted as part of the Government’s planned approach to the promotion of biodiversity through the setting of clear targets; for example the UK Steering Group on Biodiversity proposed that 6,000 hectares of new heath land should be developed by 2005.

Local Development Documents These are all Development Plan Documents and Supplementary Planning Documents that comprise an area’s Local Development Framework, and have now replaced local plans.

Local Development Framework A LDF is an area’s collection of local development documents – its Local Development Documents, Local Development Scheme and Annual Monitoring Report – that replace the adopted Local Plan.

Local Development Orders LDOs set out local arrangements for development beyond that nationally prescribed.  Councils are able to introduce these.

Local Development Scheme  The overall work plan for an area incorporating all the local development plans and a timetable for their implementation.

Local (or District) Plan  A detailed statutory land use plan produced by the District or Borough Council setting out specific policies and proposals to be applied to planning applications for all types of development in the area, except minerals and waste.  It is replaced by the LDF.

Local Infrastructure Organisation

An LIO is basically a resource centre serving voluntary and community groups working to meet those area needs not met by public sector provisions.  The LIO does this by, eg, providing funding advice, education, training, and information about developments relevant to the sector's frontline groups.  But just how do these second-tier organisations balance the - often conflicting - needs of their communities and requirements of central Government?

It is an area's communities of locality and interest that are best placed to identify its needs, and how their LIOs can help them address these.  However LIOs are having to spend ever more time grappling with the top down demands being made of them, for example the establishment of their own financial 'sustainability', unprecedented volumes of legislation, a standardisation of training and organisational kitemarking, and the need to become involved in a growing range of partnerships.

While Government increasingly impacts on LIOs through such requirements there are negligible frameworks in place through which they can be mandated by frontline colleagues in their advocacy and sector representative roles.  This inevitably raises the question - just who gains and who loses when Local IOs' agenda and workload are determined through such means as central Government, Regional Development Agencies and other market led quangos?

Local Planning Authority Usually the local council, it is the Local Planning Authority that is responsible for development in an area.

Local Strategic Partnerships  In many areas LSPs were responsible for publishing Sustainable Community Strategies.  Nationally, these LSPs have now become less tangible entities, though some of their original functions have been taken over by new locality working initiatives.  On this website the various terms used to describe them reflects the wide variety of names they’ve been given – eg Strategic Partnerships, Community Partnerships, Community Plan Partnerships, ‘Your Town’ Strategic Partnerships, ‘Your Town’ Partnerships.  Some area’s LSPs have / had neither local, strategic or partnership in their titles.

Local Public Service Agreements  If an area negotiates above normal LAA targets the Government can reward LSP process participants.

Local Strategic Partnerships are responsible for publishing an area Community Strategies.

Local Transport Plan Production of this is the responsibility of local authorities and it should be reviewed every five years and assessed annually.

  

M

macro-sustainability  The mantra goes ‘think global act local’.  Much current policy assumes that an accumulation of ‘think local act local’ schemes will bring about the same result.  In sustainability work it’s always necessary to ask whether the short term and / or the parochial are being served to the detriment of the wider community.  For example, work to sustain an area’s intensive agriculture, and the economy that may have developed around it, will not help current world-wide efforts to sustain soil, food and drinking water quality.

MAI   The Multilateral Agreement on Investment was to be an internationally binding agreement.

majority world   That part of the human population that is not financially wealthy, but on whom those few people and countries that are depend.

Major and Minor Applications  Applications are deemed to be major when proposals for dwellings cover an area of over 0.5 hectares (ie ten or more), and other developments cover 1 hectare or more (1,000 square meters).

Make Poverty History

Since 2000 the number of poor Africans has increased by a third.  Over 300 million people have no access to clean water and 450 million lack adequate sanitation.  80% of the population live on less than £2 a day and almost one child in six will die before the age of five.  Western governments' 2005 G8 promises to double foreign aid by 2015 are not being met.

marginalised

marine pollution

mass balance  The collection of data on resource flows which helps identify potential areas for improvement, by region, material or sector.  This can help address concerns ranging from fridge mountains to climate change.

Materials Recycling Facility  A site where waste materials are sorted, separated or otherwise processed, with at least 70% (by weight) subsequently re-used – as opposed to being incinerated or disposed of as landfill.

McDonaldisation   The standardisation and rationalisation of products and services.

McJob   Low paid service industry work.

Page development

This page is in ongoing preparation.  If you disagree with any of the definitions, think that there any other terms that should be included please contact Sustainability Links 3 Park Road, Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 8LH.  info@sustainabilitylinks.org.uk

Merton Rule  In major developments developers are required to install on site renewables for the generation of 15% of the site’s energy requirements. The term comes from the London Borough of Merton, which required that a proportion of newbuild's predicted energy usage should come from onsite sources.  Although the housebuilding industry opposed the initiative,  Government support has made it the most significant development in UK climate change policy.  Merton set a precedent in councils' environmental policy-making and since 2005 over 150 local authorities have followed the example.

me society  See Greenpeace quote below.   

“The Earth is thought to be around 4,600 million years old… for the moment think of it as someone in middle age, 46 years old.  

The person is a late developer.  Nothing at all is known about their first seven years and only sketchy information exists until about the next 35 years.  It is only at the age of 42 that the Earth began to flower. Dinosaurs and the great reptiles did not appear until a year ago… Mammals arrived only eight months ago.  In the middle of last week human-like apes evolved into ape-like humans, and at the weekend the last ice age enveloped the earth.  

Modern humans have been around for four hours.  During the last hour we discovered agriculture.  The industrial revolution began just a minute ago.  During those sixty seconds of biological time, humans have made a rubbish tip of Paradise…  

We have caused the extinction of many hundreds of species of animals, many of which have been here longer than us, and ransacked the planet for fuel.  Now we stand, like brutish infants, gloating over this meteoric rise to ascendancy, poised on the brink of the final mass extinction and of effectively destroying this oasis of life in the solar system.”  

Greenpeace

meta context   Within any system of thought particular concepts can be explained by their context. However, if these same concepts are assessed on their own merits or in different contexts they may be found to have questionable intrinsic worth.  So much of what we think and do is perfectly reasonable in terms of present cultural norms – eg conspicuous consumption, cheap air travel – but has to be completely re-evaluated as we realise how unsustainable our contemporary lifestyle is.

methane A greenhouse gas 70 times stronger than CO2.

Millennium Development Goals In 2000 the UN Millennium Summit agreed eight goals aiming to cut poverty and improve living standards in developing countries by 2015.  These MDGs are to:

Eliminate hunger and extreme poverty.

Achieve universal primary education.

Promote gender equality and help empower women.

Reduce child mortality.

Improve maternal health.

Combat malaria, HIV / AIDS and other treatable diseases.

Ensure environmental sustainability.

Establish a global partnership for development.

Minerals Local Plan  A detailed statutory land use plan produced by a council setting out specific policies and proposals to be applied to planning applications for mineral working, including sand, gravel hard rock, opencast coal.

Minerals and Waste Development Scheme  Every council should have a scheme to plan the ways in which they will dispose of waste, if there is a development planned for an area the scheme needs to take this into account.

modal shift   In travelling a change from one form of transport to another, eg from train to bike.

modernism This is a term used to describe post-industrial western cultural perspectives and their products. Predictably modernist has been succeeded by post-modernist, although it would have been more appropriate to go straight to a futurist culture – one where the collective focus has moved from an obsession with trivialities and trinkets and on to survival.

multinational corporation or MNC – see transnational corporation below.

mutuality

  

N

name and shame   See transgenerational accountability below

nanny state A pejorative term often used by speakers with right of centre views, who probably once had real nannies.

The term implies that the state should not intervene in citizens’ lives, even when this is for their own protection, scoffing at government’s more caring functions and leadership role.  The context of the phrase’s usage is particularly telling as its survival-of-the-fittest assumptions ignore the high degree of protection afforded much business activity at the expense of individuals, communities and the environment.  

An appropriate example of the double standards at work here is the state’s disregard for the negative nutritional value of the food and drink so cold-heartedly marketed to children and cringing deference to the companies that produce them.

National Association of Councils for Voluntary Services NACVA is a network of over 360 local infrastructure organisations / councils for voluntary service working with more than 164,000 voluntary and community organisations across the country.  NACVS’ role is to promote their work and act as a national voice for the third sector.

The National Cycling Strategy A strategy to increase the use of cycling as an alternative to car use.

National Indicator Set Local Authorities, together with their area LSP, have had to decide on up to 35 outcome indicators from the Government’s list of 198, designed to form the LGPF (local government performance framework) up to 2011.  Each area’s outcome indicators should have been agreed with the appropriate regional Government Office in January 2008.

In addition to these indicators, which allow areas to identify their own priorities, there are 16 mandatory education indicators.  In two tier areas LAAs operate on a countywide level.

A complete list of outcome indicators can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/nationalindicator

Some of those indicators most relevant to S&P are:

3       civic participation in the local area (number of people from equalities categories having a local decision-making role or belonging to a decision-making group, compared with average for the local population)

4       % of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality

7       environment for a thriving third sector (may be judged by whether third sector organisations feel they are benefiting from local public bodies)

167-9   roads and congestion

175     access to services and facilities by public transport, walking and cycling

177     bus passenger journeys originating in the authority area

183     impact of LA regulatory services on the fair trading environment

185     CO2 reductions from LA operations

186     per capita reduction of CO2 emissions in the LA area

188     adapting to climate change

197     improved local biodiversity – active management of local sites

The NIS is the only measure Government now uses to performance manage local government.

Neighbourhood Renewal Advisors Officers giving specialist advise to LSPs and other local initiatives.

news The news, no matter whether printed or broadcast, serves more to fabricate a narrative context to shield people from what is happening in the world rather than report it.  The extent to which this is so can be easily observed when comparing world and national news television / radio bulletins.

new urbanism New urbanism arose in the 1980s as a reaction to contemporary planning conventions; it attempted to create places that would encourage people to change their unsustainable behaviour.  Essential elements in new urban design are the prioritisation of cyclist and pedestrian mobility, and the need to incorporate mixed use, mixed income requirements.  Advocates looked to traditional European urban models for inspiration, and away from the car-based approach that mimicked later American town and city development practices.  New urbanism is driven by a positive 'place making' philosophy and examples of towns where this is evident are Amersfoort in Holland, Hammarby Sjostad in Sweden and Adamstown in Ireland.  When Copenhagen adopted new urbanist ideas the city reclaimed much of the space that had been taken over by roads, parking and motoring signage and  facilities.  Eco towns and villages - which also used off-grid energy - were examples of new urbanist planning, until the eco towns and villages label was misappropriated.

NGOs  

Strictly speaking a Non Governmental Organisation is any organisation not involved in Government or public service delivery, so may just as easily come from the business world as from an environmental lobby group.  However, the term is more commonly understood to mean those organisations involved in work involving political campaigning at international, national and grassroots levels.  

NGOs involved in sustainability work are able to provide a wealth of untapped sustainability-related expertise, so it’s regrettable that area LSP / CSC participation processes don’t develop the valuable advisory role that these organisations’ members could be playing.  

NGOs have been working with other third sector organisations to build an alternative framework of ideas and practice (in everything ranging from education and agriculture to economics and technology) which will serve to ease the difficult transition from the increasingly unsustainable model.

Nitrogen fertiliser is an industrially manufactured, non-organic agricultural chemical.  Made from fossil fuels it is the largest source of agricultural CO2 emissions, as well as of nitrous oxide – a far more powerful greenhouse gas.  Its promotion in the developing world is inappropriate, not least of all because of its links with energy prices.

NI4 See National Indicators above.

Non Agricultural Market Access WTO talks to rid trade barriers like those environmental regulations promoting fuel efficiency and controlling hazardous chemicals.

north-south divide

nuclear energy

 

O

obsolescence   “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption a way of life… that we convert the  buying and use of goods into rituals… that we seek spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption.  We need things burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate.”  Victor Lebrow, a US retail analyst speaking in 1950.

online activism  Traditional ways of campaigning are now supplemented by various new means, such as online petitioning, strategic commercial boycotting, community activist news media and text activism. See the Helpful Websites page.

opinion polls   See participation methods below.

organic

For food to be labelled organic it must conform to standards laid down in European law.  There are numerous health and environment advantages of organic growing:

Only 32 of the 290 food additives approved for use across the EU are permitted in organic food production.

Over 300 pesticide can be routinely used in non organic farming - with residues often  found to be present in foods.

Organic methods use 26% less energy than intensive.

Organic farming encourages wildlife, causes lower pollution and produces less CO2.

organisational development  In the voluntary sector this involves both the  workforce and governance.

ozone   Nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons interact in sunlight to form ozone, which damages crops and other plants.

  

P

parecon  Or participatory economics is the theme explored by Michael Albert in his book Realizing Hope.

parish map   A community record of what it values, made up of written descriptions, photos, drawings, sound recordings, etc.  It typically includes buildings, open spaces, trees, hedgerows, woodlands, wildflower meadows, streams, ponds, characteristic habitats and vegetation, public rights of way, geological features, play locations, tranquil areas, land uses, walls, cobbles, field names.  The parish map can also include social history references, such as the sites of notable events and literary references and the location of former shops and facilities and of current community provisions, such as bus and train services and recycling facilities.

Parliamentary Bill A Bill is a Parliamentary proposal for a new law or changes to an existing law.  There are a number of different types of Bill:

Public Bills.  Introducing laws that affect the public, these are the Bills most frequently put before Parliament.  

Private Bills.  These are introduced by local authorities, private companies or other organisations requesting legal changes of specific concern to the petitioning body.

Government Bills.  These Bills are introduced by ministers to enable the Government to pursue its policy agenda.

Private Members' Bills.  Backbenchers and members of the second chamber enter ballots to be permitted to introduce these Public Bills.

Prior to their introduction to Parliament, Draft Bills are published for consultation and so that any necessary changes can be identified.

Every bill passes through a number of stages in both Houses:

The first reading introduces a Bill.

The second reading allows general debate.

At committee stage a Bill is subjected to examination, debate and amendment.

The report stage allows further amendments to be made.

A Bill first goes to the Commons.  After the report stage it is sent to the Lords to go through the same stages as it has in the Commons.  It is then returned for the consideration of any amendments.  There may then be several exchanges between the Houses until agreement is reached.

A Bill becomes an Act of Parliament when it gains Royal Assent.

participation  Traditionally, calls for increasing community participation have come from two opposite directions.  Firstly, market forces see a community’s identification of its own needs and wants as a good thing, promoting business-like efficiency over nanny state bureaucracy and eschewing the ‘one size fits all’ approach in favour of consumer choice.  The second group of proponents focus instead on people’s citizenship, where their active participation is believed to benefit both the individual and the communities of which s/he is a part.  The sustainability movement has brought a third strand of thought to the discussion (see participatory democracy below).   

“People living in poverty and their organisations should be empowered by… encouraging and assisting (them) to organise… and… involving them full in the setting of targets, and in the design, implementation, monitoring and assessment of national strategies and programmes for poverty eradication and community-based development.”

 Programme for Action - UN Social Summit, 1995

participation imperative   Through marketisation of the third sector and its increasing role in the delivery of political policy the UK Government is increasing its influence upon third sector agendas.  In contradistinction, the participation imperative prioritises the role of the sector in gaining wider popular support for ongoing social, environmental and economic concerns and sustainability policies determined by factors beyond the short term considerations of the electoral cycle.  See third sector participation below.

participation levels  It’s all too easy to introduce ‘participation’ into democratic processes in ways that are tokenistic, merely tipping a nod at the concept.  Consequently, there have been various frameworks outlined to define the possible levels of public participation in policy making.  These show that ‘participation’ can range from the passive use of services to an involvement in surveys of user need or satisfaction, from consultations which aim to simply endorse pre-determined proposals to community self-empowerment.  LTP funding bids

participation methods   

A citizen’s jury is when between 10 and 16 people considers an issue for a number of days.  This can involve presentations, discussions and decision making, although the outcomes are not binding.  

A focus group is a more informal arrangement whose starting point is a commonly held view about, say, the delivery of a particular service.  

Survey panels involve more people but less discussion.  Conferences are a larger version of these and may bring in the results of prior consultations, with consensus building exercises helping to determine an agreed vision or action plan.  

Opinion polls are more widely used than deliberative polls, which require prior information-giving and debate.  

Standing Citizens Panels comprise statistically representative members of a community and enable councils to assess views and / or test options about particular policy proposals.  Representing communities of place (eg neighbourhoods) and / or interest (eg youth, council tenants) local Forums can take various forms.  

The results of Local Referenda may be advisory or mandatory.  

Watchdogs or Scrutiny Bodies include panels of enquiry, public scrutiny committees and participatory service delivery mechanisms.  

Finally, more participatory government means the encouragement of active public involvement in council meetings, through such means as question time, committee co-options, and neighbourhood devolution arrangements.

“The days of the all purpose authority that planned and delivered everything are gone.”

Paper 1, paragraph 1.9 - Modernising Local Government 1998

participatory budgeting Participatory budgeting engages communities in public spending decisions.  The Government's National Strategy for Participatory Budgeting has been published to help all local authorities use PB by 2012.

participatory democracy

Participatory democracy is often considered as an alternative to representative democracy, although in practice political systems can embrace elements of both.  It is increasingly evident that our communities must offer more participatory opportunities, with a greater number of us becoming involved in the sharing of skills, compassion, brainpower, help, eyes and ears, support, caring, and sleeves up, hands on, community work.  Indeed, our lives should come to depend upon a return to the ways of more socially (less economically) developed times, when communities meant so much more.

With local authorities divested of their former responsibilities for service delivery it follows that the democratic contract upon which councils have been built has come to an end.  While districts engage providers from newly marketised public and third sector organisations, local electorates must look beyond one political party or another to not only meet its community’s  needs but also to participate in its policy making.

Moreover, away from party politics and electoral cycles, the third sector’s place on this new democratic frontline must enable its representatives to give a voice to all those disadvantaged we represent – no matter whether from present day communities – or from those future generations to whom we are bequeathing such a frighteningly debilitated world.  

“Sustainable development means that we use our unlimited brain capacity instead of our limited natural resources.”

 Juha Sipila - then director of Helsinki Metropolitan Council

“Sweeping social change can be designed only in the workshop of rational, informed, collective social action.  That we must act is now clear.  The question which we face is how?”

 Barry Commoner - The Closing Circle, 1975

participatory government   See participation methods above.

Partners and Communities Together  This is a process through which communities meet to decide which three local concerns they want community partners to prioritise.

partnerships  Partnership working has become increasingly common in recent years, a practice no doubt inspired and legitimised in no small measure by the importance this was given in Agenda 21.

 PCBs

peak gas  Like oil, gas is a finite source of energy.  Peak gas production levels will come later than peak oil, but supplies will fall more quickly once reached.

peak oil Abundant, cheap energy led to the industrial revolution and similar developments in agriculture, medicine, transport, telecommunications and to the globalised world humans have come to inhabit.  The term peak oil is applied to circumstances where a maximum level of oil is being extracted from an area, beyond which it becomes increasingly less economic to use the resource.  This peak oil point has already been passed in many locations, such as the UK and USA, but it is the rapidly diminishing nature of the world’s total supply that has raised the public profile of the concept.  Geologists have calculated that globally the peak oil point will be reached at some point before 2010.

The social implications of this are far reaching, as recent UK history has shown.  For example, the 1974 and 1979 oil crises and 2000 petrol protests saw not only long queues at petrol stations but also the break down of supermarket food supply networks and impaired delivery of health services.  Worldwide, governments are merely seeking to postpone the effects of peak oil rather than address the causes.

When will the world's oil reserves peak?

The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change Wicks Review (August 2009) gave the looming problem scant attention, though by autumn the UK Energy Research Council had warned of a significant risk of oil peaking before 2020.  During November a Swedish study from Uppsala University estimated that by 2030 the world would have to rely on just 75 million barrels a day, a quantity somewhat less than the IEA, who recently revised down its forecast from 120 to 105 million.

performance framework This is a structure enabling Government and local statutory agencies to measure and improve their effectiveness against an area's targets and action plans as set out in its SCS, LAA and LDF.

permaculture

personal development  While adult education shifted from the provision of personal interest focused courses, such as genealogy and local history, to those enabling learners to enhance their career prospects, subjects like personal development proliferated.  But now (as then) the focus should really be on a form of personal development compatible with our need to live less unsustainably.

“We need to think in different ways, and find new ways to do things.”

Paragraph 3.3 - Sustainable Local Communities for the 21st Century - January 1998

perverse subsidies Government revenues fund a range of social and economic activities.  Some of these public subsidies actually serve to work against specific policies or wider social benefit.

For example, 2008 figures from the Civil Aviation Authority undermined the Government argument that airports should expand to allow the less affluent to enjoy the benefits of foreign travel.  While those in the D and E socio economic groups (see below) constitute 27% of the UK population they made only 6% of all 2007 flights.  During the year 50% of the population took no flights while 25% made just one return journey.  Similarly, Easijet surveys have revealed that a significant percentage of budget airline passengers are people flying light, to second homes abroad.  

"The absence of any tax on aviation fuel or VAT on air tickets is a £9 billion subsidy for the better off."

Clear Skies

pesticides

petroleum club

Full time members of the petroleum club include oil industry fat cats, the leaders of oil rich nations and the drivers of urban gas guzzlers, and many more of us become temporary collaborators when we travel by air or lounge beneath patio heaters.  Nevertheless, membership is exclusive.  Not only is access to such short-sighted, resource-greedy activities denied the majority world, but long term our involvement in them also robs future generations of the precious oil needed to manufacture such commonplace items as paint, antihistamines, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, tights, hairspray, sunglasses, DVDs and CDs, fertilisers and asprins.

place shaper  The role taken by local authorities when acting to develop and deliver a joint vision through Partnership work.

Planning Policy Guidance  The Government’s published guidance on its planning policies, eg PPG is on green belts.

planning gain

plastic bags On average UK shoppers are given 300 bags a year - but we use each one of these for just 12 minutes.  Worldwide we get through a million a minute, ie between 500 - 1000 billion a year.  These bags can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

plusbus

A good example of integrated transport provision, plusbus offers rail travellers unlimited bus travel for a nominal sum.  Travellers shouldpurchase their plusbus ticket when buying their rail ticket - it will cost anything between £1.60 and £3.50, depending on the destination station.  Seven day and month plusbus season tickets are also available.  www.plusbus.info

point of no return

polar melt

The oft-quoted average rise in global sea levels is a useful notion, but misleading. As polar melt is likely to affect the Earth's gravity and rotation, the resulting loss of mass from Antarctia's less stable ice sheets will make their pull and impacts greater in the northern hemisphere.  The Independent, 15 May 2009.

political parties   The influence political parties have in representative democracies is disproportionate to the number of members they have.  Compare the membership of Britain’s Labour and Conservative parties and the membership of organisations such as Friends of the Earth and Oxfam.

population

Population growth is an oft neglected cause of global sustainability that environmental groups find themselves having to work around. References to the problem were omitted from Agenda 21.  An even bigger population blind spot is the planet's still growing livestock population.  There are more livestock animals alive today than humans - and their number is increasing disproportionately. While these animals may not have the same materialistic lifestyles as those consuming them the consequent demand for such resources as land, water, food, labour, energy, routine medications, and the provision of large scale transport and waste disposal networks simply cannot continue to be ignored.

precautionary principle   A key feature of sustainability practice addressing the holistic nature of life on earth, this means opting for a course of action that minimises the actual and potential environmental detriment caused in the pursuit of particular objectives.

predatory lending   Community focused economics and those grassroots advice and welfare agencies dealing with record levels of personal debt believe that predatory lending should be stopped.  Measures proposed include a ban on unsolicited credit offers, a requirement for banks to publicly disclose their lending activities and a cap on interest rates and charges.   > New Economics Foundation

primary legislation An Act of Parliament.  Secondary legislation is that which is made by Government without the need for a new Bill to pass through Parliamentary processes in the usual way.  A Government may be delegated to make changes to primary legislation if eg, these changes relate to technical details.

progress

projection   People and cultures customarily externalise ‘the enemy’, but with sustainability we have to acknowledge that the enemy lies within – and that it is we who must change.  The division of labour concepts promoted by contemporary culture must also be jettisoned – our outlook must shift away from one of ‘they’re not doing this, they won’t do that’ to ‘how can I help?’

Proposal  In planning this is the statement giving the title, subject matter, area, period for representations and related details.

prosperity

protected sites   In planning and development different levels of protection are afforded some land and / or buildings, for example those designated; Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Conservation Areas, Countryside Stewardship Scheme, Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Green Belt, Heritage Coasts, Listed Buildings, Local Nature Reserves, National Parks, National Nature Reserves, Ramsar Wetland Sites, Regionally Important Geological Sites, Registered Battlefields, Registered Parks and Gardens, Restraint Areas, Set Aside, Sites of Special Scientific Importance, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, World Heritage Sites

  

Q

quietism   This is where people fail to take opportunities to become involved in the decision making that affects their lives, perhaps even perceiving a disconnect between the two.  This may be for a variety of reasons, ranging from the need to address more immediate personal concerns to a pre-occupation with displacement activity.

Quality of Life   QoL indicators measure not only economic wealth but also community and individual wellbeing.  These replaced former ‘standard of living’ measures as wealth generation does not provide all social and personal needs and can often work against these.. 

 

R

radiation

Ramsar Site  Internationally important site designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance 1971 especially as water fowl habitat.

real costs  Any extractive, agricultural, manufacturing or other production process  conventionally externalises many of the costs incurred.  Indeed, traditional economics is structured to privatise profits while socialising the costs involved.  Sustainable economics uses real cost accountancy principles to include the neglected social and environmental costs of production into market transactions.

real cost accounting   See real costs above.

real world In S&P the term is applied to a view of the world concealed by western / northern hemisphere perspectives.  In the mid 1990s Real World was a post Earth Summit coalition of over 30 UK third sector organisations committed to raising the importance of sustainability, social justice and democratic renewal.  Their founding statement and book The Politics of the Real World set out an Action Programme for Government containing key reforms in 12 policy areas.  

Coalition members included: Alarm UK, Black Environmental Network, British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres, Catholic Institute for International Relations, Charter 88, Christian Aid, Church Action on Poverty, Forum for the Future, Friends of the Earth, International Institute for Environment and Development, Medical Action for Global Security, Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation, New Economics Foundation, Oxfam, Population Concern, Poverty Alliance, Public Health Alliance, Quaker Social Responsibility and Education, Save the Children Fund, Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment Alliance, Sustrans, town and Country Planning Association, Transport 2000, Unemployment Unit, United Nations Association, World Wide Fund for Nature.

“British politics isn’t working.  Our Parliament, parties and media are consistently failing to address some of the most critical challenges facing this country and the world…  The political system itself is in crisis, with widespread public disillusionment and disaffection.”

 Real World Founding Statement, 1996

recycling

It's self evident that when we recycle items we're avoiding the use of landfill space and of those natural resources that would have otherwise been used in their manufacture.  But by recycling we're also reducing the need for a great deal of the energy that would have been consumed - and our carbon footprint.  Every 1,000 tonnes of glass recycled saves 345,000 kilowatt hours of energy and avoids 314,000 tonnes of C02 emissions.  Similarly by recycling tins we save up to 75% of the energy that's needed for processing virgin materials.  

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Introduced at the Bali conference in 2007, REDD is an international trading scheme established to protect global forest carbon sinks.  However, in its report, A Dangerous Distraction, Friends of the Earth explains how offsetting does not reduce emissions and that in some cases it can even boost them.  The idea behind REDD is that allows rich countries to buy forests in non-industrialised countries - and then continue to emit high levels of carbon at home.  This has led to the eviction of people from land which has traditionally been their source of food and livlihood.

reductionist   The world is no more than mere atoms and genes

Regional Development Agency See Integrated Regional Strategy above and regionalisation below.

road toll  aka road user charging or road pricing.

regeneration

New Economics Foundation

It’s a contemporary received wisdom that the pursuit of economic regeneration through built environment programmes brings with it community regeneration – and there’s been evidence produced to support this policy.  But what is this evidence?  How is it established?  

When substantial public investment is necessary to establish the nature of  consequent regeneration initiatives more heed should be taken of what matters to communities themselves, target setting and meeting and the relative effectiveness of different proposals.  

In S&P thinking community regeneration would be better achieved through first bringing to processes social accounting, participative evaluation and social return on investment tools.   

regionalisation  The term 'regions' can refer to large geo-political areas, such as the Middle East, or to a countries’ largest sub national administrative areas.  For example, England’s nine regions are the north west, north east, Yorkshire and Humberside, west midlands, east midlands, east Anglia, south west and south east and London.  

The English Regional Chambers had members who represented the different sections of civil society - councils, education, health and other public services, employment and businesses.  The third sector was represented by a spokesperson for regional VCS networks. Some Chambers also had a seat for a member of the region’s sustainability forum, although this provision never fully realised its true capacity building potential.  

Regional Development Agencies – whose members promote their region’s business interests – were to have become accountable to elected Regional Assemblies, but plans for these to develop from the Chambers were dropped following a referendum in the north east. The nine Regional Chambers continued, though were subsequently renamed Regional Assemblies.

See Integrated Regional Strategy above.

Regional Development Agencies – whose members promote their region’s business interests – were to have become accountable to Regional Assemblies, but plans for these to develop from the Chambers were dropped following a referendum in the north east.

Regional Planning Body A Regional Planning Body oversees each English region’s development plans.

Regional Planning Guidance  Phased out under recent planning legislation, this provided information on plans made by the RPB on land use and transport development across a region.

Regionally Significant Application  Those local applications affecting the implementation of RSS policy.

Regional Spatial Strategy A Regional Spatial Strategy sets out urban and rural policies relating to the development and use of land for one of the English regions, showing its long term residential, commercial, transport, waste and other infrastructure development plans.  Communities have a right to make an input into their  region’s RSS, and its Local Development Frameworks should then conform to it.  A Core Strategy focuses on sub-regional development, while a Development Plan is a collection of planning documents relevant to a specific area.

Regional Trade Agreements  RTAs are made between rich and poor countries, forcing the poor ones into unfair competition, without reducing their poverty.  NGOs like Oxfam believe RTAs should continue, but be  restructured to put development at their heart.  Examples of how RTAs work can be seen in the 1994 Free Trade Agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico – in ten years this caused life to become much harder for Mexican farmers.  Similarly, current EU proposals for EPAs demand severe tariff cuts by African countries –  and a recent US / Peru deal will cause the price of medicines sold in Peru to rise by up to 100% over 10 years.

renewable energy  renewable energy is that derived from non-finite sources, such as the wind, sunshine and ocean tides.

Renewable Energy Policy  Each national region should have a policy to determine the ways in which it is going to contribute to the development of renewable energy resources.

representative democracy Contact your local MP at: House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or @parliament.uk.  The email address should be prefixed by your MP's surname and initial, eg browng@parliament.uk / thatcherm@parliament.uk

Anyone unsure about who their MP is can check on:  www.locata.co.uk/commons

Revenue Support Grant  Most local authority funding comes from this central Government source, not Council Tax.

right to roam The countryside access rights that came into force in October 2005 opened up about 940 hectares of open space.  This right to roam gave people the opportunity to walk freely on land that had previously mapped under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Activities covered include walking, sightseeing, bird watching, running, climbing and dogwalking (with some limitations). Recreations excluded include camping, cycling, horseriding, driving a vehicle (except disability aids), hand-gliding, organised games or commercial activities, boating, swimming, windsurfing and metal detecting.  The relevant areas can be found on OS Explorer Maps and at www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk

ring-fencing   No matter whether within local authorities or the third sector the established practice is for specific concerns to be addressed by particular departments (eg environmental health) or interest groups (eg medical condition self help societies); our unsustainability is habitually – but mistakenly – perceived as a similar specialist interest.

Rupertainment   Entertainment and light weight news provided by – and rarely if ever the detriment of – global corporate interests.

 

S

scrimp

sector  The word ‘sector’ is used imprecisely, even in technical and academic documents.  Within civil society there are three generic sectors – the statutory sector, which embraces government and public services; the market sector, which includes all business based organisations; and the voluntary or third sector (see third sector).  However, there are other sectors which operate both within (intra-sectoral) and across (inter-sectoral) these groupings.  For example, the finance sector is based in the market sector: and the education sector straddles all three generic sectors.

 sectoral integrity

As the three generic sectors become increasingly involved in LSPs, SCSs and other local and regional decision making processes, it’s important that their representatives do genuinely reflect the their sector’s interests.  While public services traditionally deliver government policy (in theory determined by the electorate) and business activity is linked to the behaviour of capital / pursuit of profit, there is no comparable third sector rationale.  This means that the sector’s representatives should be wary of various processes that skew their direct input into Partnership meetings – such as the need to meet Government determined funding stream criteria.

sentience Sentient life is known to have physical senses, such as the ability to feel pain, and emotions, such as maternal instincts.  Some human cultures have traditionally denied other animals these senses and emotions, although contemporary western societies now tend to  t concede their existence, though at a low level of development.  Perhaps the distinction should really be drawn between the human and other animal species’ respective levels of power and alienation from the eco systems of the natural world.

Shadow Price of Carbon  This is a monetary estimate of climate change damage factored back into the carbon emissions causing it.  For example the Stern Review suggests that if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 reached 700 ppm this would cause climate change damage requiring an SPC of around $312 a tonne.  The theory is sound but the accountancy is faulted; current climate change costings ignore many important factors.

“We underestimated the risks… we underestimated the damage associated with the temperature increases… and we underestimated the probabilities of temperature increases.”

Sir Nicholas Stern on his

Review of the Economics of Climate Change, 2006

Financial Times, 17 April 2008

short termism

significance   There’s a great difference between understanding something – such as sustainability – and understanding its significance.

Significant Major Application  Those proposals that are likely to be controversial owing to scale or impact on local community or environment.

slow food The slow food movement was set up in Italy during 1986 protests against the opening of a McDonalds in Rome.  It aims to address wider food production and consumption concerns, prioritising food that is local, from non-exploitative ethical sources and tastes good. Now active in over 130 countries, the movement's values have an appeal that crosses party political boundries, uniting farmers and anti-globalisation activists and highlighting the links between lifestyle and a healthy diet.  

Local organic food reduces food miles and the use of fertilisers and pesticides.  It increases biodiversity, re-establishes links between growers and consumers, promotes fresher, more nutritious food, encouraging diversity and regional distinctiveness.

sneakerisation   This is product diversification, so called because the market for trainers was once quite narrow, but the industry grew to provide footwear products for a range of occasions.

social centre Across Britain there are self managed, volunteer run social centres where people can establish ventures to aid the transition of our society, its culture and perspectives.  Many of these are also autonomous - which means they're not dependent on government funding, corporate sponsorship, lottery grants or other such resourcing.  

Social centres have been a part of social change networks for many years. They will typically accommodate a range of activities - a wholefood cooperative and / or cafe, meeting spaces, a library or bookshop, a recycling swap shop, workshops on topics such as diet, bicycle repair and growing; there may also be film screenings and information about local VCOs and their work.

These autonomous spaces include Newcastle's Star and Shadow Cinema, Leeds' Common Place, Bradford's 1 in 12, Nottingham's Sumac Centre, Liverpool's Next to Nowhere, Bristol's Kebele and Manchester's Basement.

www.socialcentresnetwork.org.uk

social contract

social ecology  Just as environmental ecology brought a different way of looking at the natural world, where interlinked and interdependent systems mean that changes occurring in one part of the whole can have unforeseeable impacts elsewhere, social ecology raises concerns about communities and civil society and the impact a prioritisation of individual liberties can have upon these.  For example, by giving me the personal freedom to keep a dog, watch hardcore pornography or own a gun, does our culture facilitate animal abuse, encourage sexual offences and promote gun crime?

social enterprise  A community based initiative that uses a market approach to fund its activities and realise its objectives.

socio-economic groupings The AB, C1, C2, D and E system is used for such economic purposes as targeted advertising.  Those in the AB category are in professional or managerial work, C1 administrative or supervisory, C2 skilled manual, D semi-skilled and unskilled and E casual work or claimants.  However, the system can also be used to assess how Government policy is panning out. See perverse subsidies above.

Special Area of Conservation  An SAC is an internationally site designated under Council Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora 1992.

Special Protection Area  Internationally important site designated under Council Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds 1979

species extinction

SSSI or Triple SIs are Sites of Special Scientific Interest designated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

standard of living   

In our personal lives, the term ‘standard of living’ has been outdated by the more inclusive ‘quality of life’, which recognises that income is not a sole measure of well being; and that the creation of monetary wealth can indeed counter this.  

It remains a common misconception that any increases in national standards of living have come about solely through scientific and technological innovation, with improvements in systems’ manufacturing and operating efficiency playing some part – although this is also seen to have led to poorer quality goods and services.  A less widely acknowledged source of our increased wealth is a greater exploitation of the third world, poor people living elsewhere, other animal species, plant life, soil, water, ecologies and the earth’s mineral resources.  Other stealth revenues come from the plundering of assets past and future, through the sale of public land and utilities or the development of facilities to be funded by future generations.

stakeholders in planning are those organisations and individuals with some interest in the LDF or planning processes.

Statements of Community Involvement SCIs set out Councils’ draft strategies for involving their community in LDDs / planning processes.

Statements of Community and Voluntary Sector Involvement

Strategic Environment Assessment  An SAE requires the environmental effects of development to be taken into account at the planning stages of changes in land-use, transportation, waste and water management and energy.

stewardship

structural inertia  

This is systems’ resistance to change.  There’s invariably a correlation between the size of the system and the difficulties incurred in bringing about a significant transformation.  Our world would not be unsustainable if we humans could change the way we live in a week or so, but given our current rate of change and the scale of the necessary lifestyle shift events are set to overtake us all.  The obstacles to achieving cultural / behavioural sustainability are systemic – they’re found in all economic, linguistic, psychological, democratic, spiritual, sociological, built environment aspects of our contemporary lives.

structural readjustment programme

Supplementary Planning Documents These documents are produced by a Council to provide policy guidance supplementing their DPDs.  As they don’t have development plan status they’re not subject to independent examination. The SCI should specify how SDP consultations are conducted.

Supplementary Planning Guidance Guidance that builds upon local plans and gives more detailed advice on certain issues, such as specific land use changes and plans for shop fronts in an area.

survey panels   See participation methods above.

sustainable   ‘Sustainable’ is a word much over-used.  If referring to some activity that goes some way to countering, or otherwise connecting with, our global unsustainability usage is valid.  If used as an adjective to describe short term and / or parochial practices – or simply slipped into sentences simply for good effect – then it’s being misused.

the sustainable option   

The Sane Alternative, James Robertson

It’s generally acknowledged that there are four alternative paths the people of our increasingly damaged world may take.

To carry on as now, ignoring worsening system breakdown.  

For ever more tyrannical economic and political interests to assume control and bring about only those changes compatible with the realisation of their own ends.  

To accelerate current development trends, increasingly exploiting the environment, poor countries, disadvantaged peoples and other animal species – for example, through an ongoing engagement in resource wars.  

To adopt the sort of shared information and responsibility course set out by Agenda 21

sustainability appraisal  In planning this is an appraisal of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the polices and proposals of each LDD

“Sustainability and participation are the perestroika (social restructuring) and glasnost (democratic openness) of our survival.”

sustainability audit   See this site’s Model Sustainable Community Strategy page.

Sustainable Community Strategy The SCS is the Government’s latest re-branding of the Community Strategy initiative.  The term ‘Sustainable Community Strategy’ is one used most frequently on this website though, as elsewhere, various other terms are used, eg Community Strategy, Community Plan, Strategic Plan, Sustainable Plan,  Sustainable Strategy or SCS.  See the Model Sustainable Community Strategy page.

sustainability goals  In 2001 Friends of the Earth defined six sustainability goals; a recognition of the ongoing nature of economic, environmental and social needs, the adoption of a custodial role regarding inter-generational capital, a move to more equitable inter-generational and inter-national resource distribution, the introduction of practical responses to the challenge of finite resources and interconnected eco-systems, a full appreciation of environmental footprint / carrying concept concepts and the maintenance of environmental  quality.

sustainability imperative   The sustainability imperative recognises that sustainability related considerations have to be prioritised in all decision taking.  See third sector participation below.

sustainability principles  A September 2001 Friends of the Earth submission to the national Performance and Innovation Unit set out those conditions necessary for the establishment of a more sustainable way of doing things; the incorporation of sustainability perspectives into all policy making, the adoption of real cost accounting practices in production processes, the move to a wider participation base in decision making and the need to act according to the precautionary principle.

sustainability successes   Many necessary government and democratic changes have been made which are commensurate with the need for people to shift to less unsustainable lifestyles, though it remains for the new processes to accommodate more credible S&P content.  Given appropriate legislation and guidance, for example, local government modernisation and the introduction of LSPs could both take on board the challenges of addressing global unsustainability issues at grassroots level.

Sustainable Retail Strategy This takes into consideration issues such as the delivery of products for sale and the distance they have travelled.

sustainable development

The term ‘sustainable development’ manages to confuse developing sustainability with sustaining development and infer that an aggregation of small, locally focused initiatives is the answer to, rather than a cause of, our global unsustainability.

The term ‘sustainable development’ was first used in the World Conservation Strategy, which was published in 1980 by the International Union for Nature Conservation; this was a theoretical paper that did not address practical solutions, or important economic and political issues.  Our Common Future (the Brundtland report) was published in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development and gave what has become the most popular definition of the term, also identifying the causes of our deteriorating environment, but suggesting that it would be possible to reconcile environmental limits and human needs.  The report promoted the concept of equitable resource use both within and between generations.  Since then it is the United Nations that has had official custody of the concept, organising several sustainable development summits, agreements, declarations and conventions.

ICLEI saw sustainable development as the drawing together of developmental work in the three areas of environment, community and economy.  They represented this as three intersecting circles, with environmental interests promoting resource conservation and carrying capacity concerns, community work focusing on participation, social justice, democratic accountability, local self-reliance and the market sector’s continued privatisation of profits, socialisation of costs and economic growth.  This model also suggested that collaborations between each pairing would deliver community based economic development, conservation and an approach to sustainability influenced by deep ecology (see above).

One programme of national cross sector Agenda 21 workshops resulted in a similar sustainable development model, although this time the three intersecting circles represented the different public, market and third sectors responsibilities.  The public sector – particularly local authorities – would focus on in-service SDE, and the implementation of EMAS.  The first step taken by business would be the establishment of a national green business forum and database, while communities would focus on neighbourhood S&P.  Again pairings would deliver additional benefits.  The public and market sectors proposed a Business Environmental Advice service and EMA workshops on economic development, while business and community representatives would produce locality based green guidelines. Communities would collaborate with local councils to establish S&P funding streams and the appointment of community based LA21 workers.

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Our Common Future, 1987 - World Commission on Environment and Development

“Sustainable development means improving the quality of life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting systems.”

Caring for the Earth, 1991 - Joint statement from WWF, UNEP and IUCN

systemic  Systemic change is needed to address our social, economic and environmental unsustainability, the impending terminality of our human species and of planet Earth.  A metaphorical alternative phrase is DNA-level change.  Also see structural inertia above.  

  

T

talking shop   See third sector participation below.

taxation   Systems of taxation should be reviewed to enable societies to shift to less unsustainable ways of working.  For example, more revenue should be collected from natural resource usage – this would more accurately reflect externalised costs.  With ICT it’s also possible for tax collection to offer both contribution and usage options, ie individuals could make labour as well as monetary payments, and have some say in how their input is used.

tax dodging Poor countries lose incomes totalling $160 billion a year through corporate tax dodging.  Action Aid's Outland-ish Revenue campaign exposed how one company imported a hairdryer into Nigeria for $3,800 and why the Caymen Islands is home to 80,000 international corporations and 10,000 hedge funds.

10:10

The 10:10 pledge requires signatories, no matter whether individuals, communities, businesses, councils, to cut their CO2 emissions by 10% before the end of 2010.  

terminality   Our terminal culture is based upon many practices which are themselves terminal, such as use of finite resources, exponential economic growth, unchecked population expansion, reductionism, a prioritisation of individualism, unrestrained consumption and waste.

terminator gene

thematic compatibility

theme group   One of the names given to those undertaking the field-related work that feeds into LSP processes.  Other titles include working group, working party, forum, network.

third sector  The third sector is the least formal, homogenous, structured and hierarchical of the three generic sectors.   It embraces a wide range of organisations communities of interest, such as neighbourhood groups, national organisations, social clubs, non-governmental organisations ngos, social enterprises, faith communities, sports teams, charities, fundraising groups, co-operatives, campaigns, self-help societies, school governing bodies, events committees.  As the WTO’s GATS aims to bring public services increasingly into the private sector, UK third sector organisations are being resourced to take on ever more public service provisions.

“Environmental problems are really social problems anyway.  They begin with people as the cause and end with people as the victims.”

 Edmund Hillary

Third Sector Assembly As collective representation is always more influential than individual, area TSAs enable VCOs to increase their influence in local, regional and national policy making and practice.  Two significant aspects of this are that:

TSAs have mandates from local VCSs to pursue local concerns through LSPs and other local  decision and provision making processes.

Local VCOs will be able to develop proactive approaches to local issues.

TSAs are founded on the need for a collective and clear engagement between localities' voluntary and statutory sector organisations. They are being established nationwide to provide arenas for information sharing, discussion, action and a strategic voice for the sector.  See sectoral integrity above.

The need for such assemblies was recognised at the 1992 Earth Summit, when the sustainability ball was thrown into the grassroots court.  It is important for civil society to have such a voice and essential that as many people as possible are involved in the very difficult decision making that the imperative to live less unsustainably must entail.

third sector participation   

SCS / LSP participation processes should embrace a number of principles to ensure that the third sector can be involved on terms equal to those offered local council, public service and business sector organisations.  For example, voluntary and community groups should have access to resourcing sufficient to give them authoritative representation and facilitate genuine input into both policy and provision making.  

While local councils and public services will bring government policy and electoral mandates to the table and local businesses will bring profit maximisation and other commercial perspectives, it will fall to those representing community and environment interests to ensure that the sustainability imperative is incorporated in all CSC / LSP briefings, discussions, decision taking and actions.

“The final report of the POWER Inquiry… found that millions of people take part in charity or community work, but political parties and elections have been a growing turn-off for years.  The cause is not apathy. The problem is that not enough people feel that they have any real influence over the decisions made by elected bodies.”

 Dhara Vyga - Policy Officer, National Council for Voluntary Organisations

third sector survey The Government has established performance targets to ensure that it can help bring about those conditions necessary for the third sector to thrive.  The OTS survey is to measure the quality of Government's local third sector support.

third world

Three Mile Island

Tobin Tax   

A tax on international currency speculation, this was first proposed in the 1970s by economist James Tobin.  Its twin objectives are to limit currency transfers and raise sums for development.  The tax penalises those transactions made merely as a short term gamble on exchange rates, not those made for genuine trade or investment purposes.  Up to 95% of the money changing hands on global foreign exchange markets falls into this category – with the amount of money involved rapidly increasing in times of crisis.  Such speculation can devastate national and linked economies.  

Unregulated, speculators can make very profitable short term gains though the practice aggravates effected countries’ unemployment, poverty, personal and national debt and causes a diversion of resources from social programmes to currency support.  The Tobin Tax, even set at a modest 0.25%, would dampen the system’s boom and bust volatility, with inbuilt levy changes acting as a circuit breaker.

Its implementation and collection would be simple given existing international discussion forums and monitoring frameworks.

toxic fuels The term peak oil  is used to denote the situation where energy supplies are threatened by the economies of fossil fuel extraction.  To combat this there has been a big expansion in plans to use 'toxic fuels'.  These are tar sands and shale oil.  Tar sands are made up of sand, clay, water and oil.  Oil extraction from these sands emits three times more CO2 than from conventional oil fields. Shale oil is trapped in sedimentary rock: its extraction emits up to eight times more CO2 than conventional processes. Additional concerns are the damage extraction of these fuels will cause local environments and communities - for example,large areas of Canadian tar sands are found beneath pristine forests and wetlands.

Tradable Energy Quotas or TEQs (aka Domestic Trading Quotas or DTQs) are a market mechanism for combating climate change. They’re particularly innovative as they facilitate the Contraction and Convergence approach, and are built on principles of natural and social equity.

traditional farming  Somehow the definitions of organic, traditional and intensive farming have become confused.  Intensive, chemically based,  farming is often referred to as being traditional, even though it wasn’t introduced and widely adopted until the latter half of the last century, leaving organic farming to be seen as a new fangled idea being pitched against long established agricultural customs.

traffic lights  The government is encouraging a system of at a glance food labelling to show processed foods’ fat, saturates, salt and sugar ingredient levels.  A green circle indicates a low content, amber medium and red high.

transgenerational accountability   It would be salutary to maintain an archive for the reference of future generations.  Such an archive would include summary details of major environmental destruction and S&P activity, the lobbying record of organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and Business Action for Sustainable Development.  It could also highlight government intransigence, such as the US’s repeated refusal to sign the Convention on Biodiversity and persistent lobbying to weaken specific greenhouse gas reduction targets. Another telling feature could be a disclosure of corporate sponsorship of the UN.

transgenerational investment

transnational corporation

transpersonal

transport  Any transport policy that aspires to be sustainable must embrace real cost considerations. Those costs of motoring incurred by drivers fall far short of those met by society at large which picks up the bills for road deaths and injury, accidents, climate change, treating related health conditions (such as asthma), damage to natural capital, air and noise pollution, transport policing and the appropriation of public space (ie parking on footpaths, grass verges, planted areas etc).  Despite the protestations of drivers and the petrol tax lobbies, there’s not only a lack of parity between the cost of private motoring and public transport but also a widening gap in the protestors’ favour.  This becomes even more iniquitous when additional passengers mean that the cost of the travellers’ journey multiplies when using public transport, but divides when travelling by private vehicle.

trickle down   The received wisdom is that to combat poverty economic growth is necessary  – but this is not what actually happens (or indeed why economic growth is necessary).  The recent Growth Isn’t Working report explains how it is that people living below the poverty line received only about 60 cents out of every $100 of global economic growth between 1990 and 2006.   > New Economics Foundation

TRIPS

Turning Point

U

UK Biodiversity Action Plan The UKBAP is implemented by the Government, as a planned approach to the promotion of biodiversity, with clear targets.

unsustainability  

The term is more appropriate than sustainability, sustainable development or any of the other more ambiguous terms used both unintentionally and deliberately to fudge and dodge the issue.  In speaking of our global unsustainability we not only demonstrate that we understand our true predicament, we also bring a sense of urgency to our remedial thinking and doing.

UK21 This was a national third sector based initiative to aid grassroots networking on community based Agenda 21 programmes.

urban heat island Extensive built areas collect and store sunlight, raising both day and night temperatures above that of the surrounding undeveloped land.

Use Classes  In planning, offices, light industry and high technology are designated B1, manufacturing B2 and B8 warehousing and distribution.

  

V 

vegetarianism Traditionally people have chosen a vegetarian diet because they opposed animal exploitation and abuse, preferred to eat healthier food, or for reasons of religious belief or a squirmish palate.  More recently there've been those who opt for meat free meals because they reject the inequity of using resources to grow food for livestock while there are people going hungry: and those who point out the meat diet's unsustainability.  This has led to a recognition of the links between what people eat and climate change. The statistics below were included in a Daily Mail article (08 September 2009) on going meat-free one day a week:

The livestock industry accounts for 21% of the greenhouse gases produced by human beings.

The production of 1 lb of beef creates the same amount of greenhouse gas as driving for 77 miles.

In addition, a cow produces 220 lb of methane annually - the equivalent in greenhouse gases of driving 7,800 miles.

By 2050 world meat consumption will be 456 million tons - double that in 2001.

It requires 7 lbs of grain to produce 1 lb of beef.

Vocabulary

voluntary  The word can be applied to a sector and those organisations belonging to it; in this context it means ‘not statutory’, ie not established through Government legislation.  When applied to work it means ‘not paid’. When applied to individual or collective action it means ‘not compelled’.  

In S&P thinking individuals can live in a more voluntary way by becoming increasingly aware of the extent to which advertising, the media, economics, peer groups, social aspirations, role models – and almost every other facet of our culture – all compel us to think and act in unsustainable ways.  A few examples of what’s meant by voluntary action in this context – economising on energy usage, practising ethical tourism, helping an elderly relative or neighbour, donating to charity, recycling, opting for environment, third world, animal friendly products, patronising charity shops, giving blood, writing to your MP about issues, poop-scooping, living more simply, minimising car travel, investing ethically, fund-raising, consuming less, scrimping,

Voluntary Action An area's Local Infrastructure Organisation / LIO, Local Development Agency or second-tier body can have a variety of names.  In the past they may have been called Yourtown Council for Voluntary Services or Yourcity Voluntary Sector Council, but most have recently undergone name changes and are more likely to be called Voluntary Action Yourcity or Yourcounty Voluntary and Community Action.  Their role continues to be to support an area's 'frontline' or first tier VCOs.

Volunteer Centre

This is a recently introduced brand name for the nationwide network of organisations offering the following services:

Bringing together VIOs and volunteers.

Raising the profile of volunteering opportunities and voluntary work.

Delivering education/training and maintaining good practice.

Developing the scope of volunteering and identifying new modes of involvement.

Responding to, and campaigning for, policy.

The representation of volunteering in national, regional and local strategy development.

volunteering  ‘If unsustainability is the problem, volunteering is the answer’, is a maxim that illustrates the particular significance volunteering has in sustainability thinking and doing.  Volunteering doesn’t have to be organised by others or done with a group; as individuals we can all be volunteers as we go about our daily lives – recycling, buying ethically sourced products, switching off lights and electrical appliances, avoiding waste, litter busting, using public transport, not flying, switching to environment friendly lighting and household items, making dietary changes, shopping locally or at charity shops, saving postage stamps, spreading the word.

vulture funds These funds target developing countries who must repay debts to oversees investors while lacking funds for basic domestic health care and education.  These funds acquire the debts at a fraction of their face value in order to then force repayment in full through international courts.  For example, in 2007 Donegal International acquired a Zambian debt of $55m for $3.3m, which the company thentook the country to court to retrieve in full.

  

W

Washington Consensus

Waste Local Plan  The Detailed statutory land use plan produced by a council setting out specific policies and proposals to be applied to planning applications for waste disposal facilities such as landfill sites, incinerators and recycling depots.

wave surge   An occurrence, linked to climate change, where the combination of gale force winds, high tides and low pressure cause serious coastal and river flooding.

Wellbeing Duty  The duty of wellbeing gives legal status to councils’ community leadership work.  The need for local authorities’ role to shift from that of public service provider to community leader was discussed in the 1998 White Paper, Modern Local Government: In Touch With the People, with its Chapter 8 extending councils’ wellbeing powers “to adopt new and innovative ways of improving quality of life and securing a more sustainable future”.  Through the Local Government Act 2000 these wellbeing powers became a duty and were brought into Community Strategy production and implementation processes, which the Act made statutory.  It is generally acknowledged that the scope for local action depends upon a reduction of national and organisation based targets.  

wealth

Wealth has come to be defined in terms of money.  This measure of social and personal wellbeing ignores such invaluable things as good land, nourishing food, individual and group  creativity, vibrant communities, the health of humans and other animals, clean rivers, rich biodiversity.  Money is but one measure of wealth - it is a medium of exchange, a commodity of trade - yet even in this respect money is no measure of wealth lacking the value commonly attributed to it: over 80% of money is unrelated to either goods or services.

wetlands

whales

White Papers Government White Papers are statements of Government policy.

World Bank

World Court Project  An online network and campaign seeking citizens’ affirmation of the meaning “the public conscience”.  The term is used in international judicial processes and this is an attempt to define exactly what it means, thereby grounding any future World Court judgements on WMD related issues.

World Trade Organisation  WTO Ministerial meetings occur at least once in two years.  WTO General Council meetings involve ambassadors and delegation heads, and occur several times a year.  Since the Ministerial meetings gained a higher profile during Cancun the General Council has been taking more and bigger decisions.

  

X

 

Y

 

Z

zero growth

zero population growth 

 

Page development

This page is in ongoing preparation.  If you disagree with any of the definitions, think that there any other terms that should be included please contact Sustainability Links 3 Park Road, Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 8LH.  info@sustainabilitylinks.org.uk

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