Skaggs Island Foundation

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
for
SONOMA COUNTY

A sustainable economy requires a robust, recession resistant local economy and a dynamic and competitive export trade economy.

This web site contains essays and links that address economic systems issue. An excellent web site focusing on a comprehensive ecological perspective has been created by Sustainable Sonoma County at http://www.sustainablesonoma.org.


Draft Vision Statement

Sustainable Regional Economic Development

Definition: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." [World Commission on the Environment and Development. Our Common Future, (Bruntland Report). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 8]

Sustainable development is growth in welfare without physical growth. It is a process, not a state, and therefore does not necessarily imply that the population or the economy are static or stagnant. (Ibid., p. 200)

Vision: Sustainable, self-determining economic development in the Redwood Empire based on:


California 2020: Blueprints for a Golden State

Based on a template created by The Politics of Trust Network


Useful Web Links:

Sustainable Community Economics (Skaggs Island Foundation)

A comprehensive database of literature and resources for sustainability.

Sustainable Sonoma County

A learning and action community promoting sustainable development and lifestyle in Sonoma County.

Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy

Giving community leaders the knowledge and skills to advocate and implement sustainable development.

Sustainable Enterprise Coalition

Sponsors of the annual Sustainable Enterprise Conference.

The Livability Project

A menu of options for sustainable, high quality local living. Go to http://www.livabilityproject.org/communities for information on Sebastopol.

Sonoma State University Health Care Crisis Project

Things we can do locally to address the health care crisis without waiting for the federal or state governments to solve the problem.

Performance Management Institute

Tools for improving accountability and performance.

New College (Santa Rosa) Green MBA

Educating business leaders who can make a difference.

New Economy, Working Solutions

An organization that generates policy studies supporting sustainable smart growth.

Habitat for Humanity

Affordable housing.

On the Commons.org /Tomales Bay Institute

The ecological and economic importance of the commons.

Time Banks USA

Companion to Edgar Cahn, No More Throw-Away People (2nd ed.&endash; Washington, DC: Essential Books, 2004).

Earth Policy Institute

Companion to Lester Brown, Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003).

Natural Capital Institute

Companion to Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, & L. Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Boston, Little, Brown & Co, 1999).

Send suggestions for additional sites to Artwarmoth@aol.com


Important domestic economic sectors in Sonoma County include:

Major competitive export trade sectors include:


ECO-ECONOMICS OF THE COMMONS

in Sonoma County


The table below outlines a conceptual framework for thinking about the economics of the commons (socially necessary and collective produced and/or consumed goods and services) in Sonoma County.

ìAccounting Mediaî are the social and accounting systems responsible for resource allocation, ideally including planning and assessment, in the economy of the commons.

ìCriticalî implies that these are systems where the comprehensive redesign of system management strategies is needed for the solution of chronic social problems. They are also major areas of opportunity for economic growth.  There are many other ways of looking at the systems that make up the commons, but many of these are not in crisis, or are in crisis mainly because of the mismanagement of these critical systems.  For example, the principal threat to sustainable rural land use is the encroachment of housing and urban land use.  Problems such as homelessness and gang violence would go away of these systems were appropriately managed.
 
Accounting Media

Politics & Taxes

What portion of the economy of the commons requires mandatory assessments?

Philanthropy & CBOs

What portion of the economy of the commons can be sustained by philanthropy?

Financial Services

What portion of the economy of the commons can be supported by the redesign of financial services ranging from money systems through ownership,  insurance, and investment systems?

Critical Socioecological Systems

Health Care

This includes all aspects of physical health care ranging from education and prevention through complementary and conventional medicine, including psychiatry, to epidemiology and public health.

Education and Social 
Services

This sector includes all institutional arrange-ments for learning how to live well, ranging from preschool and K-16+ education through social services weaving community and teaching life-management skills.

Energy & 
Transportation

The need to find sustainable sources of energy is the most critical environmental problem we face, and transportation is the most energy intensive sector of the economy.

Housing and Urban
Land Use

Sufficient affordable housing and sustainable urban land use is a critical issue that must be addressed on local, regional, and global scales.  Henry Georgeís classic analysis is a good place to start.

Skip Robinson and the Sonoma State University Health Care Crisis Project have been developing a county-wide needs and resource assessment and a comprehensive strategy in the area of health care.  For more information, contact Skip at <skip.robinson@sonoma.edu> or see the Sonoma State University Health Care Crisis Project Web Site.

Art Warmoth, chair of the Psychology Department, and colleagues at Sonoma State University are working on coordination and planning in the area of eduation and social services.  Needs assessment in the area of children and families has been developed by the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council <plancouncil@aol.com>.  Information on the elderly is available from the Council on Aging.  For more information, contact Professor Warmoth at <art.warmoth@sonoma.edu>.


Papers:

Correcting the Design Flaws in Capitalism. A Dialogue between Art Warmoth (Sonoma State University) & Doug McDavid (IBM Business Transformation Architect)

Arthur Warmoth. The Economic Metacrisis in Sonoma County. (2001).

Arthur Warmoth. Threats to Sustainable Development in Sonoma County (2006)

Arthur Warmoth. Outline of the Crisis of the Commons in Sonoma County (2003)

Arthur Warmoth. The Economics of Health Care and the Economics of the Commons (2003)

Arthur Warmoth. Some Possible Tax Reform Options (2003)

Bernard Lietaer & Arthur Warmoth. (1999). Designing Bioregional Economies in the Context of Globalization. In Joseph Kruth & Andrew Cohill, Eds. Pathways to Sustainability.

Introduction to Complementary Economics:

Arthur Warmoth. Governingthe Commons (2003)
Arthur Warmoth. Complementary Economics & Sustainable Economies
& The Five Basic Principles of Complementary Economics (2003)

Web Sites:

Sustainable Community Economics (Skaggs Island Foundation)

Sonoma State University Health Care Crisis Project

Tomales Bay Institute

Earth Policy Institute

Natural Capital Institute

Shared Capitalism Institute

 
Last updated 8/12/06