The Natural Step

As stewards of this land and of our world at large, we need to make sure that we are not irreversibly damaging our environment.  Is there a concise way to understand how we can prevent doing harm, whether on a small scale such as in harvesting of wood from this land, or on a large scale such as in slowing down the increasingly frightening issue of global climate change?  At Windhorse Farm we are striving to live within the Earth’s means, which we articulate through The Natural Step (TNS) framework. 

TNS outlines 4 causes of global non-sustainability today, and inspires us to voluntarily reduce our contribution to these problems.  In the wording of the TNS framework, sustainability is expressed as follows:

The 4 System Conditions for Sustainability
			(1) Substances from the Earth’s crust must not systematically increase in the biosphere. We are currently unsustainable because we’re mining materials at a faster rate than they can be reabsorbed into the Earth. This includes all products made from fossil fuel, metals, and minerals.
			(2) Substances produced by society must not systematically increase in the biosphere. We are currently unsustainable because we’re using substances that cannot be quickly broken down by natural processes, or that are highly persistent. These substances include paints, greases, plastics & polymers, agricultural chemicals, and many household chemicals.
			(3) Nature's functions and diversity must not be systematically impoverished. We are currently unsustainable because we’re harvesting food, wood, textiles, and other living organisms at a faster rate than they are replenished, such as through overharvesting trees or fish. We’re also damaging nature by other forms of ecosystem manipulation, such as paving over fertile land, causing soil erosion, and introducing invasive species.
			(4) In order for a society to be sustainable, resources must be used fairly and efficiently in order to meet basic human needs globally. We are currently unsustainable when we’re using energy and resources in wasteful ways, such as by consuming more products than we really need to or wasting gasoline by driving inefficient cars. We further undermine people’s capacity to meet their needs by using products and materials produced by oppressive industries such as “sweatshops”, or ones that result in human suffering, such as disease and death brought on by pollution and climate change.

TNS provides a methodical planning system for helping us to reduce our non-sustainability in a careful, systematic way.  For more information, please visit www.naturalstep.ca

Each icon above represents one of the 4 fundamental ways that we need to practice living more sustainably.  On this website you will see these 4 icons reappearing on different pages.  Each time, they indicate how Windhorse Farm is trying to reduce its contribution to these 4 areas of non-sustainability.  Each of our land stewardship practices helps us get a little closer to living within the Earth’s means, and you can discover the story that each one tells: composting outhouses, electrical energy, food, forestry, green building, heating, meditation, and organic gardening.

Of course, we’re not living sustainably yet, and we’ll be the first to say that we still have a long way to go.  Our intention is to use this knowledge to continuously refine our land stewardship practices in such a way that they support us in living within the Earth’s means and reduce the harm we cause to other people and to our living planet. 

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