Thursday, October 12, 2023

GreenStep 101: a beginner's guide to the program

In this webinar, presented live on October 10 , 2023, we learned more about the GreenStep Cities, Tribal Nations, and Schools programs.

Summary

  • What is "sustainability"? Sustainability is the interconnection of the environment, economy, and society through shared goals on health, air quality, education, economic development, equity, environmental quality, clean and safe water, affordable energy, community resilience, and our children's future. 
  • What is "GreenStep"? There are currently three MN GreenStep programs: Cities, Tribal Nations (pilot), and Schools (pilot). Key aspects of these programs are that they are free to participants, voluntary, flexible, statewide best practice frameworks, support communities of practice and peer learning, provide recognition, improve health, well-being, environmental quality, equity, and education, and align local action and leadership with common state goals. 
    • Mission: GreenStep programs encourage and support participants' efforts for substantive action and achievement of their sustainability goals through the implementation of best practices and sharing of metrics and outcomes. 
    • Vision: Sustainability is the norm for all: cities, tribal nations, and schools. 
    • Benefits:
      • Serves as a continuous improvement pathway for participants to "go green," becoming more sustainable and resilient.
      • Saves participants staff time in researching proven, cost-effective actions.
      • Best Practices are user-centered.
      • Reduces costs and helps explore how to spend the same amount of money smarter.
      • Designed as a home-grown, independent program tailored to governments of all size and location in Minnesota.
      • Supports sustainable economic development and local economies.
      • Provides maximum flexibility, total control, and choice by councils and boards in deciding how to implement a proven best practice.
      • Participants are supported by a peer learning network and encouraged to learn from each other.
      • Continuously prompts program participants – like an exercise coach would! – to maximize opportunities to accelerate sustainability actions.
      • Encourages public recognition of the good work being done in Minnesota communities.
  • Who is GreenStep? The programs are a public-private partnership that are directed by steering committee. See GSC partner organizations and GSS partners. 
    • 143 cities, 4 tribal nations, 51 interested schools/districts, 44 support organizations, 2 GreenStep Youth Green Clubs. 

GreenStep Cities program 

    • The Steps: 1: pass a council resolution 2-3: implement and report actions 4-5: measure, report, and improve metrics 
    • Best Practices & Actions: There are 29 Best Practices (BPs) and 181 actions (BPAs) under 5 categories of sustainability: Buildings & Lighting, Land Use, Transportation, Environmental Management, Resilience Economic & Community Development. Each BP includes 3-8 specific actions to help guide a community. Each action includes a BP Advisor, 1-, 2-, and 3-star level examples, implementation tools, and a list of who is doing it. BPs and BPAs are structured as a menu of actions, allowing participants to choose the actions that fit their needs best. 
    • Metrics: If you don't measure it, you can't tell results! The menu of sustainability metrics provide communities with a framework for tracking and reporting information needed to set goals, show success, and prioritize actions. Metrics are used to achieve Steps 4 and 5 of the program. 
    • Recognition: Happens annually at the League of Minnesota Cities conference and/or at a Council meeting. Action and metric reports are due by April 1 for recognition in that year. 
      • Categories A, B, and C: A questionnaire about overall community capacity is used to categorize participants into large (A), medium (B), and small (C). The categories are used to determine that challenges for reaching Steps 2, 3, and 4. 
    • Resources: See below. 
    • Gold Leaf Program: Coming soon! A program to help you prioritize high-impact, high-priority pathways for local climate action

GreenStep Tribal Nations Program: 

  • A pilot of the GreenStep Cities program. 
  • Tribal Nation participants: 
    • Determine their commitment, geographic extent, and Category. 
    • Use GreenStep Cities BPs at their discretion. 
    • Utilize GreenStep Cities information, resources, and website. 
    • Are recognized for their accomplishments along with GreenStep Cities. 

GreenStep Schools Program: 

  • What are "Green Schools"?: Improve environmental impact & cost, protect & improve health, provide environmental education 
    • Based on: 
      • Delivery model of MN GreenStep Cities program 
      • Performance areas of Green Ribbon Schools
      • Research on emerging best practices and regional stakeholder needs 
  • Participation Types: 
  • Best Practices: There are 33 BPs under 4 Outcome Areas of: 0. Organizational Leadership 1. Reduced Environmental Impacts & Costs 2. Improved Health & Wellness 4. Effective Environmental Education & Sustainability Education
  • Project Stories: documents BP achievement and shares resources used and lessons learned with peer schools via a page on the GreenStep Schools website. 
  • The Steps: See the process for different participation types. There are 10 steps that provide a framework for reaching higher levels of sustainability. Step 1 is to pass a resolution and Steps 1-5 align with the best practice and metric reporting that the GreenStep Cities program is based on. Steps 6-10 will provide key actions and performance measures for achieving efforts such as net-zero energy/water/etc. 

View the workshop recording: 


View the slides and additional materials:  


Additional resources: 

  • Green STEP Into the Future Report (and 2-page summary): Leveraging the value of sustainability challenge, assistance, and recognition programs - A report of the GreenStep Cities, Tribal Nations, and Schools programs and a discussion on ways to expand outreach and impacts. 

GreenStep Cities: 

GreenStep Tribal Nations: 

GreenStep Schools: 

Register for upcoming GreenStep Cities and Tribal Nations workshops here. You do not need to be a GreenStep participant to attend.
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)