Finding the facts

When a community examines its economy and overall health, analysts look at median income, gross domestic product, unemployment rate and other traditional indicators. While these measure spending power and the strength of financial systems, they often don’t explain the big picture. Numbers on job growth, for instance, show new employment but rarely indicate whether or not these jobs offer benefits or pay a living wage. Traditional indicators also fail to explain the links between the economy, the environment and society. To provide Spokane-area residents with a more holistic perspective on its overall health, Community Minded Enterprises — a non-profit which partners with hundreds of organizations to address healthcare access, community and economic development, environmental sustainability, equity and other social issues — has come up with its own measurement: the Community Sustainability Report Card. The CME Report Card uses the following indicators: the annual low-flow mark of the Spokane River; greenhouse gas emissions per capita; tooth decay among second- and third-graders; income at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level; the amount of locally-grown food donated to area food banks; and the degree of locally-owned enterprise. “The world is moving into a period of crisis,” said Dan Baumgarten, CME’s executive director. “We can’t live without cognizance of the resources we are using up. With the way things are going, we will have a less stable infrastructure on a global scale.” Since 1996, CME has played promoted collaboration by bringing people together to seek community-based solutions for economic development, health care, early childhood learning, alternative energy and youth development. By creating the Report Card, CME hopes to promote awareness of issues that affect Spokane’s sustainability — which Baumgarten defines as a community’s long-term ability to support itself and its environment, even during times of crisis. “We have a ways to go, but on the plus side, we have a right-size community that’s closer to the earth with lots of natural space to grow food,” Baumgarten said. “There’s potential here in Spokane.” Before embarking on this research, Baumgarten and others at CME collaborated with local experts including environmental activist and attorney Rachael Paschal Osborn; Patrick Jones of Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis; and Lyndia Tye of the Spokane Regional Health District. CME staff spent more than 200 hours studying reports and compiling information to craft the report card. They found some things difficult to quantify. Baumgarten and others felt it was important to figure out how much food is being grown locally instead of relying on products shipped from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. Most people who buy local food usually support farmers’ markets, he noted, but there was no system in place to weigh how many pounds of food are sold each week at the markets. One available statistic was the amount of locally grown food donated to area food banks. During fiscal year 2009, more than 1 million pounds of locally-grown food was donated in Spokane County, according to CME. This not only provided an indirect measurement of how much food is produced locally, Baumgarten said; it also showed the level of local generosity. In addition to providing information about the various sustainability indicators, the Report Card includes suggestions on what people can do to live in a more sustainable manner. “Part of having a successful and sustainable community is getting everyone to participate in building it,” Baumgarten said. “If we don’t have a shared vision of where we’re going, it’s hard to know how to participate.” To improve the health of the Spokane River, area residents must conserve water, according to the Report Card. To reduce one’s carbon footprint, people can adopt a variety of changes including walking or riding a bike; weather-proofing their home; buying EnergyStar appliances; and planting a tree. To promote locally-grown food, people can support farmers’ markets, grow their own food or collaborate with neighbors to create a community garden. Many of these changes aren’t always easy, Baumgarter acknowledged. “I think we’re under a lot of stress in our community,” he said. “The economic downturn hit Spokane and we were already a community of people living on the margins and living paycheck to paycheck.” Some people are focused solely on survival, he said, and don’t have “the luxury to think about sustainability.” At the same time, Baumgarten and others at CME believe there’s hope, especially as society becomes more family-oriented instead of consumer-oriented given the realities of this new economy. “What people are longing for is community – local community,” he said. “In the past, they’ve tended to look to systems to solve their problems but these institutions have failed and people are angry. … These problems will be solved but only if we become more self-reliant and self-sustaining.” The Sustainability Report Card is available at www.community-minded.org.