Sustainable Fox Valley Natural Step "Study" Circles

These are a small groups of people who come together to explore new ideas.  They can be composed of co-workers, neighbors, members of a faith congregation, or any interested individuals from the community at large.

Sustainability may seem like an overwhelmingly complex problem. However positive changes for our communities result from many people understanding and applying the four simple sustainability objectives of The Natural Step.

The goal of our community sustainability circles is to strengthen people's ability to move forward together in the same direction, make the changes they need to make, and build new relationships all at the same time.

Our circles are based on the concepts in the United States Sustainability Primer

Most previous sustainable community awareness efforts across Wisconsin have been based on The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices by Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti, so we incoprorate some of the ideas in that book into our discussions as well. 

As a Circle participant you will get to know some other great people, learn about the basic principles of sustainability, and develop ideas about putting them into action in the Fox Valley. Perhaps most importantly you will be able to engage with other people in your community who also want future generations to have a good quality of life.

Here in the Fox Valley, at least a dozen study circles have completed their learning and discussions about sustainable practices.  Out of those conversations have come such local projects as neighborhood community gardens, the adoption of sustainability principles by several local municipalities, and an inner-city neighborhood revitalization project.