Overcoming Institutional Barriers to
Sustainability: Four Steps to Restoring
Local Community Resilience
by
Paul Edwards
Overcoming Institutional
Barriers to Sustainability is an inspiring and informative presentation by
best-selling author and public affairs consultant Paul Edwards on how local
communities can change laws and ordinances so they don’t hinder but ease and
encourage the shift to a sustainable, resilient, locally-based way of life.
Paul’s presentation covers four steps local
communities need to make to recast local policy towards sustainability.
The steps are:
1. Step One: What’s in the Way of Transition?
2. Step Two: Where to Start: Deciding What to
Focus On
3. Step Three: Choosing How to Invest Your Energy
4. Step Four: What Methods Do You Use?
Paul identifies the major targets for reform and
discuss underlying strategic approaches and key resistances to overcome. He
describes tools such as strategic social marketing, lobbying, ballot
initiatives, and campaigns to elect slates of local officials.
Paul has worked with a wide range of corporate,
governmental and non-profit organizations throughout his career. During the
past four years, he has been instrumental in organizing and launching Let’s
Live Local, a Transition Initiative in Pine Mountain Club, CA, now the 11th
official US Transition Initiative. He has also completed Training for
Transitions workshops as well as other sustainability training programs.
Paul’s consulting includes assistance with ballot
initiatives and campaigns for electing slates of local officials with the
vision to lead their community into a sustainable future. You can see a
fuller description of his services and background on his web site at
www.publicaffairsservices.com He is co-author,
with his wife Sarah Edwards, of “Middle Class Lifeboat.”