The

Winnersof the Blue

2000

PlanetPrize

2000Blue

PlanetDr. Theo Colborn(U.S.A.)
SeniorScientist

Contaminants

and Director,
Program,World

Wildlife

andWildlife

Fund

Prize
Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert(Sweden)Chairmanof TheNaturalStep(NGO)At the 2000 Blue Planet Prize Awards Ceremony, the opening
slides highlighted the tones generated by the gene sequences ofliving things. Tones found in the heartbeats and voices of allliving creatures and in the sounds of nature inspires our original score "Resonance,"
and the image sequences.
165

His Imperial

Highness

Prince Akishino

congratulates

the laureates.

Hiromichi Seya, chairmanof the Foundation,delivers
theopening address.
The prizewinners
receive theirtrophiesand certificatesof
merit from Chairman Seya.
Upper: Dr. Theo Colborn
Lower: Dr. Karl-Henrik
RobertThomas S. Foley, Ambassador of the UnitedStates to Japan (left), and Krister Kumlin,
Ambassador of Sweden to Japan (right), congratulate the laureates.

Prior to the awards ceremony, the award recipients meet the press.
From right: Dr. Robert; Dr. Colborn; Chairman Seya; and KimihikoSato, senior executive director of the Foundation.

166

The Blue Planet
Lectures.

Prize

CommemorativeProfile

Dr. Theo
SeniorScientistand Director, Wildlife

AcademicandColborn

and Contaminants

Professional

Program,World

Wildlife

Education

and

1927

Born in March in the United States.

1947

B.Sc., Pharmacy, Rutgers University.

1981

M.Sc., Fresh Water Ecology, Western State College of Colorado.

1985

Ph.D., Zoology, University

Fund

Activities

of Wisconsin-Madison.

1985-1987

Congressional

1988-1993

Researcher,World Wildlife Fund.

Fellow, Office of Technology

Assessment.

1990

Fellowship,

W. Alton Jones Foundation.

1991

National

1993

Pew Scholars Award.

1993—

Senior Scientist and Director, Wildlife and Contaminants

Water Alliance Award.
Program, World Wildlife

Fund.
1994

National

Conservation

1997

UnitedNations

Environmental

Achievement

Award.

Environment

Programme,

1997State of the World Forum, Mikhail Gorbachev

1999

NorwegianInternational

Dr. Colborn investigatedtion, behavior

Women

Leadershipin theAward.

declining

and immune

populations

systems

wildlife in North America's"Change Makers Award.""Rachel Carson Prize."
and abnormalities

and other phenomena

in development,that had caused concern

Great Lakes area in relation to cancer-causing

she was unable to find a correlation
esized that these phenomena

betweenreproducabout

agents. However,these data and cancer. At that point, she hypoth-might be related to the disruptionof endocrine

systems by syn-thetic chemicals. As she continued to analyze mountainsof studies, she confirmed

this hypoth-esis, revealing

into the environment

were being

concentrated

that certain

chemicals

being

via the food chain and disrupting

released

the endocrine

In 1991, she invited 21 expert researchers
Wisconsin
ruptors

State in the United States to scientificallyon the reproductive,

developmental

humans. The "Wingspread

Consensus

advised that the endocrine

disruptor chemicals

future survival of humankind,

to a conferenceinexaminethe effects

of endocrine

dis-and physiological

functionsof wildlife

andStatement"

and they informed

systems of wildlife and humans.

from various disciplines

announced

that threatenedby the conference

participants

wildlife were endangeringthethe world that this was a problem that had to

be dealt with expeditiously.
In 1996, Dr. Colborn aroused
Future a book she co-authored.

the world's attention

with the publication

It explains in simple terms how persistentof Our Stolen

synthetic chemicals

167

are collected
endocrinein the body,systemThrough
the United
Japan
lem.

168

how

they

cause

and how they adversely
the submission

Nations,

to undertake

abnormalities

the OECD

countries,
studies,the functionsof theaffect the next generation.

of her information

full-fledgedby disruptingon thesethe Northresearch

problems,

AmericanDr. Colborn

and Europeanand countermeasures

prompted

countries

andto deal with the prob-

EssaySay 'No'

to Toxic Hitch-hikers

Dr. Theo

Colborn

June 2001

Scientists, industrialists and governments are seemingly locked in a perpetual battle over theissue of climate change. As the parties come closer to agreement on the need to address the
problem, cost-benefit analyses will drive political decisions on how and what should be done
next. It is time that a new set of benefits that have heretofore received little attention should be
included in the strategies for reversing the warming trend. Global climate change has clearly
been identified as the result of atmosphericaccumulation of greenhousegases that include carbon dioxide (CO2),methane (CH4),nitrous oxide (N20), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)and a number of the ozone-depletingchlorofluorocarbons.The largest source of these gases that trap andhold heat in the earth's atmosphere is combustion. Combustion of fossil fuels also produces
dangerous compoundsthat pose a threat to our children before they are born, and to their children and grandchildren. These compounds include some well-publicized, persistent,
organochlorine chemicals such as dioxins, also called TCDDs, furans, hexachlorobenzene(HCB), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and trace metals like mercury and cadmium. The
amounts of these toxic hitch-hikers might seem insignificant compared to the tons of greenhouse gases that are released. But their impact on human and wildlife health and the global
economy is significant. Unfortunately,their toxicity is so great that only the newest, most sensitive instrumentation can measure the concentrations at which they can injure living organisms. Their invisibility, similar to the nature of their toxicity, is so insidious that when environmentalists and climatologistsbegan to focus on the problem of global warming, their role
was not yet understood.
Dioxins, furans, HCB and PCBs are associated with serious widespread human andwildlife health problems. Human prenatal exposure to PCBs, dioxins and mercury has beensignificantlycorrelated with impaired intelligence,behavior, immune competency,reproductive success and metabolism. Wildlife exposureto these same chemicals, especially in aquatic
systems where the chemicals readily biomagnify in the food web, has led to severe reproductive problems in a number of species with occasional regional extirpation of some populations.
The economic benefits from lowering emissions of these compounds could be astronomical.
Reductions would improve the quality of life and assure the integrity and perpetuation of all
species, including humans.
The Great Lakes basin of the United States and Canada offers an example of the dam-169

age these toxic substances can cause. In the late 1890s and early 1900s,the chlor-alkali industry started to produce free chlorine (a chemical that has improved the general health of theworld) at a number of locations on the shores of the Great Lakes. Industrialistshad no idea thatthey were inadvertently producing dioxin and causing widespread contamination. By the
1930s and 1940s, top predator fishes, herring and lake trout, began to disappear in the Great
Lakes,resultingin the declinesof severalhuge commercial fisheries. It took until the 1990s forscientists at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to discover that very low concentrations of
dioxins in lake trout eggs injure embryos so that they are unable to reach maturity. About thesame time, EPA scientists doing core drills in Lakes Michigan and Ontario discovered that
dioxin concentrations in the lakes were high enough in the 1930s and 1940s to prevent these
top predator fish in the lakes from reproducing. This raises questions about whether the lossof some of the major ocean fisheries in the world might not have been in part the result of the
global dispersal of dioxins, furans, PCBs and similar organochlorine chemicals. Black-footed
albatrosses that feed only on the surface of the North Pacific Ocean and nest on Midway Island
are already carrying elevated levels of furans, dioxins and PCBs near or above concentrations
at which aquatic birds are being affected in the more highly contaminated areas of the Great
Lakes.
It has taken the regulatory community years to reach the conclusion that dioxin is ahuman carcinogen. Reducing cancer associated with exposure from stack emissions is a hidden benefit. But cancer is only one of the many impacts these chemicals can have on animals
and humans. The greenhousegases' co-contaminantsare also endocrine disruptors,chemicals
that look like or interfere with the hormones that control the developmentof an individual fromconception to birth. Their effects are insidious and can undermine an individual's ability toreach his or her fullest potential. Biologists have learned how devastatingimpacts like this canbe on a population from their experience working in the field with wildlife. They warn that
endocrine disruptors can lead to the loss of wildlife populations without societyknowing what
is happening. They also agree that endocrine disruptors can change the character of humansocieties. These chemicals can interfere with the developing brain and nervous system, andhumankind, again, could miss what is happening. As a matter of fact, cancer is essentially arare event compared with the impact of these chemicals on populations of wildlife andhumans. Cancer has never led to the extirpation of a wildlife population, but prenatal damage
as a result of exposure to PCBs, dioxins and furans has caused populations of fish and birds todecline dramatically or disappear.
Among humans, for those individuals who survive birth, insidious health effects suchas susceptibility to disease, autoimmune problems, learning problems, early or delayed
puberty, abnormal urogenital development, reduced sperm count and fertility problems may
not be terminal or lethal, but certainly impair quality of life. And their social costs can be significant.
For example, prenatal exposureto background or ambient levels of PCBs can interferewith the development of the brain. This is reflected in reduced Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
scores and disturbing behavioral changes. Children exposed prenatally are hyper-reactive,
cry a lot, are fearful and do not settle down well; they do not habituate well to strange or170

unpleasant surroundings. They have difficulty reading and processing information , and can be
as much as two years behind in school by the time they reach the 6th grade . Their odds of
becoming law-abiding, tax-paying adults are reduced as a result of their prenatal exposure to
PCBs, dioxins and furans. Their lifetime earning ability is jeopardized.
PCBs and HCB were not considered harmful when they were first produced on a large
scale. And dioxins, furans and mercury, as by-products of combustion, were never intentionally produced or released. The impact of these chemicals on behavior and function is not easily identifiable at the individual level. It has taken expensive, long-term epidemiological studies, some as long as a generation (20 years or more), to determine the damage from exposure
to these greenhouse gas hitch-hikers in humans. It is clear what society has to gain by removing them from the environment. And as analytical chemical protocols improve , more hitchhikers may be discovered spewing into the air along with the greenhouse gases that have been
overlooked thus far. There could be a lot more to gain than meets the eye. It is time to tally up
the benefits and take action.

171

Lecture

Inner
AssuringSpace

the Integrity
Dr. Theo

Research:of Future

Generations

Colborn

I want to thank the Asahi Glass Foundationfor providing me the opportunity to come to Japanto speak to you. It is with great humility that I stand here, because the research behind my message was not done by me, but by vast numbers of scientists around the world. It is the cumulative result of their research that the Blue Planet Prize is recognizing. I only come to thispodium with my interpretation of their story.
I am going to share with you some of their remarkable findings that have led to concern
on the part of many scientific and public health professionals about the manner in which governments have managed the man-made chemicals that you encounter in your daily lives.
Second, I am going to provide several examples of what has prompted this concern. Some ofyou may feel a little uncomfortable with what I am going to say. That is because I am going todescribe some disturbing health problems that are not generally discussed in front of large
audiences—a fact that may be contributingto the health authorities' difficulty in dealing withthe problem—because not enough people are aware of the problems. And, I will close withsome options for addressing the problem—for it is not just governmentsand corporations thatneed to address this problem. There are things that we can do as individuals as well.
Inner Space
Today,I want to take you on a journey into space. Not to outer space to explore the surface ofMars, but to inner space where every one of you has been already.To the womb—where, fromthe moment your father's sperm entered your mother's egg, until you were born, you spentapproximately 266 days.
In the inner space of your mother's womb, with unbelievable precision, your cells replicated, moved about, and formed buds that grew into limbs and brains and sensory and reproductive organs, contributing to the most miraculous phenomenon on Earth. You. From themoment of your conception, your development was orchestrated solely by chemical messengers called hormones. Constantly shifting blends of hormones told your cells when to divide
and where to move as your endocrine system supervised your construction. Only within thepast decade have scientists been able to measure the infinitesimally small concentrations ofhormones that engineered you. From recent laboratory studies we now know that your developing systems were so fine-tuned that they depended on shifts in hormones in concentrations
as little as a tenth of a trillionth of a gram when you were in your mother's womb environment.
That is as inconspicuous as one second in 3,169 centuries.
The technology that provided these insights on inner space is dragging years behind the172

outer-spaceand cyber-spacethat every
beforetechnology

one of you is carrying

the 1920s.

There

body

is now undeniable

these

chemicals

when

she breast feeds—chemicals

evidenceof the systems,

capableSome chemicals

thatof interferingor morea pregnant

woman

sharesconcentrations

with the natural

realizingers and interferethat man-madesystems

into commercemones.

are often foundTheythan the natural

hormones

as well—such

hormones

than the natural

hormones,

naturalhormonein numerous

tionaltoxicology

interfere

chemicals

wildlife

with the ability

doing,are infinite

there

and function

damageto modulatethat the genes

unfortunately,

structurepro-messengers

thatand brainbarri-

releasedor interfere

concentrations

large

volumeswith naturalhor-

in humantissueAlthoughthey may bethat high, they can out-compete

chromosomes

at detectingof genesthat tell theas improperly

the placental

even higher.

ofor perturb

ways.

cals such as hormones—so

the development

highertissue,at concentrations

do not damage

is directedpiercethat can mimic

at 100- to a 1,000-times

themselves—insignals

could

we have in the 20th century

and the environment

weakerThesechemicalswith fetal development,of chemicals

some

not only with the actual physicalof thesetowith her baby

the brain so that an individual
does not respond to the hormone
would control how he or she functions
later in life.

Withoutchemicalsthat no one was exposedat even higher

can interfere

but with the imprinting

to the 500

today—chemicals

with her baby in her womb—andbaby how to develop.

gramming
ordinarily

that have contributedin yourand thus have eluded
to chromosomes.

the production

cannotexpress

In terms

and action

chemicalsof signaling

gene expressionof qualityof tradi-

thesewhat they have evolved

ways that disrupted

of an individual.

us. Much

Instead,chemi-

to do. In so

can interfereof life, the costs

withcan be high.

Exposure
You, your children
not exposed

and your grandchildren

to one chemical

by hour,

dependingexposure

in your homes,

airplanes

and the outdoors.

Manyerationon where

Othersproducts,

includingto these kinds

mixtureare and the environment

schools,

hotels,meetingbuild up in the body
everydayproducts

toys, food containers,of chemicals.

of chemicals
yourooms,

and remain

do not build up in tissue,

lives. They are in the common,as plastic

you

offices,of these chemicals

to the next.

are all exposed

at a time, but to a complex

You arethat changes

are in. You cannot
gymnasiums,

in humanbut are constantlyhour
escapeautomobiles,

tissue from one genpresent

in your

daily

upon,

such

peoplehave become

dependent

medicalequipment,

automobiles,

TVs, cell

phones and computers.
They are used to line food and drink cans, and to make compact discs,
sporting equipment,
high-impact
parts for vehicles and vast amounts of construction
material.
They
are found

range

from

in fast foods,

Let me reinforcethatindustrial

chemicals,

deep ocean

fish and even the most rigid,

to pesticides,

what I have said so far: wildlife

containschemicals

can undermine

behavior,

and the endocrine,

perpetuityof species.
A growing collection

immune,the development
and reproductiveof wildlife,

human

to perfumes

tissueorganic,

vegetarian

from the Arcticof the brain,systems—vitaland laboratory

and cosmetics.

studies

They

diet.

to the Antarctic

and intelligencesystemsrevealsthat assure
that

some

and
the
of

173

thesechemicals

can affect our children's

ease

and to reproduce.

link with exposure
not the initially
A groupchangeUnfortunately,

to a specificexposedto learn,

to sociallyinvisible,

delayedeffectschemical—especiallyindividual—andof international

the character

abilityexpertsof humanrealizing

what is happening.

to practice

prevention—rather

societies

The group

the effects
unanimously

whenor destabilize
calledthan continuing

for usinganimalto try to develop

cures

to

generation.

of this nature

populations

precaution—toare difficult
is the offspring,in the nextthat chemicals

wildlife

to fend off dis-such as these

the target

are manifested
agreedintegrate,

reducewithout

society

exposure

for conditions

can

and

that can-not be repaired.

Neurodevelopmental Impairment
The concept of endocrine disruption emerged from a 1988 analysis of the health status ofwildlife around the North American Great Lakes, the largest body of fresh water in the world.
Where the adult animals,if present, lookedfine—but their offspring,if theyhad any, rarely survived to adulthood—andif they did survive to adulthood, they rarely could reproduce.
In response to concerns like these about the health of wildlife that consumed fish fromthe Great Lakes, a human epidemiologicalstudy was started in 1979,comparing children bornof women who ate Great Lakes fish and those who did not eat the fish. The results of that early
study combined with a series of newer studies contributed in part to the issuing of the consensus statement I just mentioned. The first study commenced 20 years ago; others have followed.
These studies have confirmed that prenatal exposure to a group of widely dispersed,
persistent industrial chemicals, such as PCBs, dioxins and similar chlorinated compounds,
can undermine neuromuscularand neurological developmentthat trained technicians can measure at birth in humans. The infants' parents or family physician would not be able to detect
these problems.
PCBs are oily, very stable, and thus persistent liquids that were used as fire retardants
in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical and construction products. They were produced under the name Kanechlor in Japan. Their production was banned in Japan in 1972,seven years before they were banned in the U.S. where they are still widely used in closed systems at low concentrations. They will be in the environment for hundreds of years.

174

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
1954

1959

1964

1969

Year

Figure1. Annual

Kanechlorproductionin Japanfrom

1954-1971.

(Source: Loganathan et al. Environmental

Pollution, 1993)

Two Great Lakes studies confirm that as the prenatally-exposed children mature, they
exhibit short-term memory problems and are difficult to calm down in unpleasant situations.
In the earliest study, the more highly exposed children's average reduction in IQ was 6 points
at age 11, with some of the children more than two years behind in reading and school performance.

175

Table1. Lake Michigan

Findings

At Birth:

Mothers'
Fish
Consumption

Poorerneuromuscular

HigherPCB

cordmaturity
serum

levelsFein, et al., 1984
HigherSerum

PCB Cord
LevelsJacobson

At Ageand Jacobson,

Poorershort-term
memoryLower cognitive
processing
Auditory
verbaldeficit
Quantitative
memorydeficit
Lower visual discrimination

1993

At AgeJacobsonand Jacobson,

4:

6.2-point

1996

memory11:

deficit

6 to 12 months

speed

in 10
behind

in

word

and

readingcomprehension

Another independent

study using only healthy mothers

and infants 12 years later fol-

lowed the protocols in the first study, but also utilized more psychologicalalso had the same memory problems and difficulty with processing
concentrations

tests. These children

information

relative to theof PCBs they were exposed to in the womb.

Using a new psychologicaltest to determine

temperament,that the affected children cried more, laughed less, expressed

the second team also foundmore fear and did not habituatewell to changes in their environment.
There was a marked increase in the mothers'
fish prior to their pregnancy

and throughout

PCB blood levels if they ate Great Lakes

their pregnancy comparedstopped eating GL fish when they found out they were pregnant.
reductionin the mother'swith those mothers who

There was an even greater

blood PCBs if they stopped eating GL fish in 1984 when the first fishadvisories were released. Even with convincing

research results such as this, there are those ingoverning positions who do not want to release fish advisories because they might discourage
tourism. They argue that it will have a negative impact on the recreation industry around theLakes.

176

No fish
0.16

To 1984
To pregnancy
Throughpregnancy

0.12

0.08

0.04

0

Recencyof Fish Consumption

Figure 2. C17-C19 PCB congeners in controls, women who stopped consuming fish in 1984, women who stopped
consuming fish upon learning of their pregnancy, and women who ate fish throughout their pregnancy. (Source:
Stewart et al. Environmental Research, 1999)

Note the relationshipand their
scoreschildren's

decreased

tent highly

betweenability

to habituate

in a dose-response

chlorinatedthe PCB concentrations

PCBs

to changes

mannerin theiras the mothers'in the mothers
environment.
blood

levelsduringTheirgestation
habituationof the more

persis-increased.

7.75
7.5
7.25
7
6.75
6.5
6.25
6

0 (ND)

>0

>24

>133

Highly Chlorinated PCBs (ng/g fat)
8
7.5
7
6.5
6
No FishLow Fish
Fish

High

Fish

Group

Figure 3. Habituation (48 hrs. postnatal). (Source: Stewart et al., 1999. Neurotoxicology and Teratology)

177

The average
at whichsourceof PCBs.

like this—andleaders.

PCB

the affectedlevel in all of us in this roomchildrenSocietyin the studies

is going

today

exposedto have to decide

It will also have to decide
education

An entirely

classes

differenturban

and suburban

Great

Lakes

whetherand under

study, but it did detect

responses,

study, the mothers

which

Table

with exposure

scientists,

educators

and world

to reduce

the odds

that children

will endof socialdelays,2. Netherlands

servicemothers

and infants

measuredodds

agencies.

psychologicalin the otherthey werehypotonia

the range

to gamble

at healthy

to the results
becauseare not the only

the extensive

neuromuscular

is similar

were not selected

n=418*

it wants

did not include

withinFishfuturethe surveillance

study that also looked

Netherlands

is undoubtedly
prenatally.

if it wants

risk the loss of our best and brightest—our

up in special

mal reflex

werefrom both thetestingused in theas hypotonia

and abnor-

mother-infantstudies.

In thisfish eaters.

Studies

43%

22%

reflexmuscletone

CD4 T-cell
receptors(birth)n=207**

n=105***

CD4 andCD8
T-cells(18 mos.)

Monocytes
andgranulocytes

freethyroxine
andtotalthyroxine*Sauer

The researchers

also foundthe mothers'

blood during

and reduced

thyroid

disturb

system.

to PCBs

mediatefrequency

linkedto difficultywith increased

with increased

changes

Scientists

that thyroid

loss of motorin rat pups.

with phonics,

Loss of auditory

reading,learningand dioxin

insystems

call audio-visual

discrimination—whichand scholastic

problems.

for proper

brain

ways in which

PCBs

it was demonstrated

and loss of hearing
discrimination

and ultimately

what

178

et al. 1994

immuneare criticalinnumerable

studies,coordinationin the PCB studies

readingof PCBsin the children's

hormones

have discovered

rats, the children

to the children'slevels-Esseboom

levels.

Like the laboratory
psychologists***Koopman

et al . 1995

In one series of laboratory

causessounds-Kuperus

an associationfor over a century

and intelligence.

the thyroid

tal exposure**Weisglas

gestation,

hormoneIt has been known
development

et al . 1995

I mentionedthat prena-

for low and inter-such as this has been
intellectual
earlierdevelopment

had difficulty

they will tell you could

withhave led.

Hypothyroidism

PTU

Hearing
Motor

PCB
AroclorHearing
Motor

1254

Loss
Loss

Loss
Loss

ReducedPCB + Thyroxine

Hearing
Motor

Loss
Loss

Figure 4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Studies. (Sources: Goldey et al., 1995; Herr et al., 1996; Goldey
and Crofton, 1998)

A medical doctor and thyroid specialist on my team recently published a literature
review on the effects of environmental chemicals on the thyroid system. We were surprised at
the length of her list of environmental chemicals that affect the thyroid. Although this information is published in prestigious scientificjournals, governments do not regulate chemicals
based on what is found in the literature. Because of the increasing number of new chemicals
introduced into commerce each year, governments are forced to depend on the informationindustry providesthem about the safety of their products. To date, industry has no standardized
protocols to test chemicals for these effects.
Population-Level

Impairment

The second set of studies that I want to tell you about also comes from the Great Lakes region.
In this study, researchers

administeredcutting-edge,

low-doses

They found that the very low doses, orders of magnitudeused before, could have significant
of hatchingof dioxin to rats and fish.
lower than anyone had evereffects on male sexual development

embryos in fish. This data has never gotten the recognition

in rats—andsurvival

it deserves by fisheries

managers

or risk assessors. The battle over the safety of dioxin continues

cinogenic

effects. Beware, because cancer in the case of dioxin is like a red herring, detracting

attention from what could be, its far more prevalent, insidious,

to focus on its car-developmental

effects.

Based on this data, later in 1995, organochlorine
analyses of core drills of Lake
Michigan sediments revealed that there was sufficient dioxin in the Great Lakes as early as the
1940s to prevent lake trout and other top predator

species in Lake Michigan

from maturing.

Further testing of core drills in Lake Ontario provided

the same evidence.

findings coincide with the first large-scaleof free chlorine using the chlor-alkali

production

process along the shores of the lakes. The fish disappeared

Historically,

thesefrom the Lakes about the same time179

as giant industrial and pharmaceutical industries adopted catalytic chlorine chemistry technology. The dioxin-exposed fish eggs hatched, but they suffered from edema and hemorrhages
and did not survive through swim up.
Today, Canada and the U.S. combined, spend approximately $50 million a year raisingand stocking the lakes with top predator fish because most populations of top predator fish arestill having trouble reproducing there. Fisheries managers still insist that over-fishing, habitat
destruction, and the lamprey eel caused the crash of the top predator fish in the Lakes in the
1950s. Managers are reluctant to get involved with the issues of contamination and their effects
on the development and reproductive success of fishes. This holds true with managers not
only of freshwater species but marine species as well.
Seventy percent of the world's commercial marine fish stocks are threatened withextinction. No one can deny that over-exploitation of the fisheries resource is a serious problem, but with the evidence available today, it is time to add contaminants considerations to the
management of all free-ranging species.
We must take precautionary steps to reduce the release of dioxin and other persistentorganic chemicals, called POPs, that eventually move to the seas and oceans and to the animals
that live there.
Let me recapitulate for a minute: there is clear evidence that, in less than a century,
humankind has changed the chemistry of the Earth with compounds that were considered safe
because they did not cause cancer or other very obvious toxic effects. And over the past
decade, we have begun to recognize the fact that indeed, some of these chemicals do enter thewomb environment and cause irreversible changes—changes that are invisible and sometimes
not expressed until an individual reaches adulthood—but changes that ultimately undermine
the individual's potential in endless ways. Many of the chemicals of concern are either residuals from past use, or current-use pesticides and industrial chemicals upon which we have been
told repeatedly that our survival and economy are based. Yet it appears that some of these products may be costing a lot more than their market price when their generational effects aretaken into consideration.
Individual-Level

Impairment

I want to tell you about one more condition that is visible at birth as the result of something that
goes wrong during sexual differentiation in the womb during a limited period of time. The condition is called hypospadias, one of the most common birth defects in the U.S. today, although
it is not talked about much. Hypospadias

is a condition where the urethra does not open at theend of the male external organ. In mild cases, the opening

is near the head or the end of theorgan. In the more severe cases, the opening is located anywhere
scrotum. Hypospadias

has only one treatment.

the body, the more difficult

the surgery. The difficult

cases

Embryologists

know that this abnormality

starts somewhere

womb—when

the urethra and male organ begin to lengthen

A very special male steroid hormone
place, and scientists have now discovered180

along the shaft or even in the

Surgery. The closer the urethral opening is to

is required

cannotalwaysbetweenday 56 and 84 in the

be corrected.

and enlarge together.

for this remarkablea number of chemicals

process

to takein various ways can interfere

with the production

and activity

Hypospadias
matelydoubledof this hormone.

between

1 in 125 boys. The more1970 and 1993

severewith hypospadias

have a significantly

and reproductive

problems.

do to the qualityof life of thesecases

appeargreater

It behooves
young

in the U.S. and now
to be increasing

risk in adulthood

us to try to understand
men

more

occursin approxi-

rapidly.

Boysof developingwhat

testiculara conditionborncancerlike this canas they mature.

40

35

30

25

20

15

10
70

72

74

76

78
Year

Figure5. Hypospadias

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

of Birth

rates: 1970-1993. (Source: Paulozzi et al., 1997)

Just think about this—if wildlife biologists had not discovered that a large number ofalligators from Florida's Lake Apopka had small phalluses, or external male organs, and werebarely capable of reproducing, scientists would probably never have discovered that there arechemicals in the environment that can interfere with male hormones, the testosterones. No one
knew that there were any environmental anti-testosterones until six years ago.
When the wildlife biologists showed some alert Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) toxicologists pictures of their alligators' unusual external male organs, the EPA men
asked immediately what the alligators could be exposed to. The biologists thought that perhaps
DDE, the breakdown product of DDT, might be involved. Much to everyone's surprise, it was.
Not only do the male offspring of rats fed DDE suffer from hypospadias, they also suffer fromundescended testicles and other disturbing developmental problems. I will make a bet withanyone in this room that at least 95% of you will have measurable DDE in your bodies. To be
sure, the women who have breastfed several babies will have the lowest DDE concentrations
because they will have unknowingly released an appreciable part of their body burden into

181

their babies

while

nursing.

This is somethingthat womenshouldnot have to accept

or worry

about.
Thanksto somecides used on fruits
dias in humans

forlorn

alligatorsand vegetables,

if the timing
usedin Florida's

someof exposure

a drug

DDE-fedrat. This is the son of a fungicide-fed

Let me repeat

behavioral

here,that thereor any of their

impairment

and corporations

castratemen

and DDE
DDEwith prostateearlier.

could

cause hypospa-

is one-tenthpesti-as potentasThis is the son of ato screeneffects,

Consequently,that someis vinclozolin.

protocols

in use today

knowcancer.

rat. The fungicide

hormone-disruptingthat any productwe now

Amazingly,

are no standardized

otherthat I mentioned

can assurecomponents

is correct.

flutamide,

for hypospadias

to chemicallyplastic

swamps,there

is safe—not

and test chemicals

includingintellectualandis no way governments
until thesetests become

available.
Developing

the tests is goingcals are now an integral
like PCBs
accumulatingand DDT

to requirepart of the global

flow on air and waterin animaland human

tissuean international

effortbecauseso many

economyand commerce.

and oceancurrents

as well as in commerce,

And persistent

thousandsof milesfrom where

chemi-

chemicals
and arethey were used.

Entering the Inner-Space Age
In 1996, it looked like the U.S. was going to take the lead on this issue. The U.S. Congress
wrote into the reauthorization of both the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Food Quality
Protection Act—the U.S. pesticide law—that EPAmust come up with a set of protocols to test
chemicals for their endocrine disrupting effects and get a program in place by 2000. There wasgreat expectation at that time that the U.S. government would take the lead and establish sucha set of tests that could be used globally. Unfortunately, here we are almost through the year
2000 and not one test has been standardized or validated yet. It is very apparent that if we wait
for the U.S. government or any other government to move on this, we will continue to use ourchildren as substitute laboratory subjects—and wildlife species will continue to slowly disappear.
Are we going to wait until every child is affected? Are we going to continue to gamble
that our sons will not be hypospadiacs?
The individual costs and societal costs are just too high not to change the system. We
must move from complacency and from assuming that governments will provide protection
from chemicals of this nature. We must act as soon as possible. Manufacturers of products thatenter our homes want a set of tests to assure that their products are not posing risks to us andfuture generations.
isItobvious. We need a new inner space effort that is funded as generously as previous
outer space efforts. It must be an international, independent research effort that moves aheadrapidly to undo what has evolved as the result of the chemical technology that grew out ofWorld War II. Governments, by nature, will not move forward fast enough. Consequently,
industry is going to have to take the lead and come forth with the money.With sufficient funding and shared goals, industry could give the world, in a very short time, the rudimentary
screens and assays for detecting chemicals that are endocrine disruptors. As the new inner182

space program probes deeper into the mysteries of development, more and better assays will
be proposed. In light of what already has been discovered in the past 10 years and the complexity of the endocrine system, it is apparent that the commitment to this research must be
long term.
There is no doubt in my mind that industry can do this. We just saw what industry can
do if it wants to. In less than three years, it spent billions of dollars preventing a Y2K crisis, andat the same time it helped the economy. The effort I am calling for would require far less ofindustry's time and investment.It would also createjobs, and it would assure a healthier, moreproductive society. I envision a three-branched infrastructure, with industry on one branchproviding the money. The second branch would handle the money and provide a buffer
between industry and the third branch, comprised of scientific experts.
The process of framing the research, conducting the research, evaluating the results andsharing the information with the public must be beyond reproach. The credibility of the effort
will hinge on keeping industry and government and other funders from influencing how the
research is designed and the results reported.
This is important because the public has lost faith in industry's research when it comesto health issues. Many business people agree that even if industry were to do good science, thepublic would not believe it. It is to industry's advantage to have the research done independently. In no way should the shame of "cigarette science" taint this effort.
I have learned from previous speaking engagements that many of you are wondering
how you can become involved at the personal level. How you can you protect yourselves andyour families?
First of all, you can become more knowledgeable about the products you bring into yourhome. Ask for more information on the labels of the products you purchase. Call and write
manufacturers and tell them you want assurance that there are no endocrine disruptors in theirproducts. Tell them to support the international research effort.
Seek safe alternatives for the pesticides you use in your homes, gardens and lawns .
Purchase organically grown food whenever you can. In so doing, you not only reduce yourexposure but that of thousands of farm workers. And by reducing the use of pesticides in thefields, you are also protecting the beneficial attributes of natural systems that are essential forsustained agriculture.
Never heat something in plastic in your microwave even if the container says
"microwave safe." That statementis based on whether the chemicalsthat leak from plastic containers cause cancer, not whether they have endocrine system effects. Wash children's hands
frequently.
At the community level, get involved in neighborhood groups to discourage the use ofpesticides in your area, and urge your schools to join a nationwide campaign to remove pesticides from schools and playgrounds and gymnasiums. On a broader scale, perhaps through abreast cancer or prostate cancer action group, insist that they support research that is based on
prevention not just treating symptoms, because, as I mentioned with hypospadias, there is
growing evidence that prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptors can lead to sex-organcancers
later in life. Few research dollars are directed toward the impact of prenatal exposure to syn-183

thetic chemicals on cancer incidence. Yet, a great deal of evidence has accumulated over the
past 10 years suggesting that this could be a factor in secondary sex-organ cancers.
At the international level, Japan has a critical role to play in the international treaty
negotiationson Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which will reach closure in December.
You need to urge your government to support elimination of the 12 targeted POPs, to incorporate precaution as a guiding principle of the treaty, and commit sufficient technical andfinancial assistance to ensure that all nations can participate effectively in the new treaty's
implementation.
In addition, the Blue Planet Prize grew out of activity from the 1992 Earth Summit inRio. Endocrine disruption was not on that agenda. It is imperative that Endocrine Disruption
gets on the Agenda of the 2002 Earth Summit—the Rio +10 high-level conference. I hope I
can encourage every one of you here today to make this one of your near-term goals.
In light of the momentum already generated by the amazing discoveries that have surfaced through endocrine disruption research over the past decade, I have great hope that innerspace research will go beyond learning more about signaling chemicals, embryonic and fetal
development, establishing screens and assays to detect endocrine disruption, and come closer
to assuring a cleaner womb environment for future generations.
And as we move into the inner-space age, we will also probe more deeply into thehumanity in each one of us so that society getsits priorities straight and beginsto think in termsof future generations, not just in terms of the bottom line, the Gross National Product, or theoutcome of the next election. For it is going to take a major societal change in order to place
the value of quality of life before the Gross National Product, and it would be much better if
this change took place voluntarily rather than necessarily.
In closing, for our children's sake, let us make the new millennium the Inner Space Age.
Thank you.

184

Major Publications
Dr. Theo Colborn
ArticlesColborn, T. "Aquatic Insects as Measures of Trace Element Presence: Cadmium and Molybdenum."
Master's Thesis, Western State College of Colorado, 1981.
— . "Aquatic Insects as Measures of Trace Element Presence in Water: Cadmium and Molybdenum."
Aquatic Toxicology and Hazard Assessment. Ed. J.B. Pearson, R.B. Foster and W.E. Bishop.
ASTM: STP 766 (1982), 316-325.
— . "Measurements of Low Levels of Molybdenum in the Environment Using Aquatic Insects."
Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology,29 (1982), 422-428.
—. "The Use of the Stonefly, Pteronarcys Califomica Newport, as a Measure of BioavailableCadmium
in a High-Altitude River System, Gunnison County, Colorado." Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Wisconsin, Department of Zoology. 1985.
—. "The Use of the Stonefly, Pteronarcys Califomica Newport, as a Measure of Biologically Available
Cadmium in a High Altitude River System, Colorado, USA." Water Quality Bulletin, World HealthOrganization, 11 (3) (1986), 141-147.
—. "Pteronarcys Califomica Newport: Mortality and Cadmium Accumulation at Three Stations on the
Gunnison River, Gunnison County, Colorado." In Heavy Metals in the Environment. Ed. S.E.
Lindberg and T.C. Hutchinson. 2 (1987).
Blackwelder, B., T. Colborn and B. Harding. "Alternatives to Traditional Water Management in the
United States." AMBIO, 16 (1) (1987), 32-37.
Barnard, W., T. Colborn, P. Johnson and D. Pauli. "Using Desalination Technologies for Water
Treatment." Congress of the United States, Office of Technology Assessment, 1988.
Colborn, T. "The Great Lakes Toxics Working Paper." Environmental Interpretation Division,
Environment Canada, 1988.
—. "The Use of ToxicityEquivalency as a Complement to Biomonitoring and Wildlife Research in the
Great Lakes." Report to Environmental Results Branch, Office of Policy, Management, Planningand Evaluation, U.S. Environmental Policy Agency, 1988.
—. "Background Paper—An Overview of Toxic Substances and Their Effects in the Great Lakes Basin
Ecosystem." Report to Health Effects Committee, Science Advisory Board, International Joint
Commission, 1989.
Colborn, T., J. Chudnoff, R.M. Friedman, K. Harrison,J.B. Milford, R.D. Rapoport and N.B. Szabo, ed.
"Catching Our Breath: Next Steps for Reducing Urban Ozone." Congress of the United States,
Office of Technology Assessment, 1989,238.
Colborn, T. "The Impacts of Great Lakes Toxic Chemicals on Human Health." A Working Paper
Report to the Environmental Health Directorate, Canada, 1989.
—. "The High Price of Progress ." Rev. of High Tech Holocaust. Ed. J. Bellini. Chemical andEngineering News, 67 (44) (1989), 65-68.
—. "Innovative Approaches for Evaluating Human Health in the Great Lakes Basin Using Wildlife
Toxicology and Ecology." Report to the Health Effects Committeeof the ScienceAdvisory Board,InternationalJoint Commission, 1990.
Colborn, T. and R.A. Liroff. "Toxics in the Great Lakes." EPA J., 16 (6) (1990), 5-8.
Colborn, T. "The Wildlife Connection: Wetlands and Toxicology." National WetlandsNewsletter, 12(5) (1990), 17-18.
Colborn, T., A. Davidson, S.N. Green, R.A. Hodge, C.L. Jackson and R.A. Liroff, ed. "Great Lakes:
Great Legacy?" The Conservation Foundation and The Institute for Research on Public Policy,
Washington, D.C.: 1990.

185

Colbom, T. and J.P. Myers. "Blundering Questions, Weak Answers Lead to Poor PesticidePolicies andRebuttal: Immense Unknowns Characterize the Assessment of Pesticide Risks." News Forum,
Chemical and Engineering News (1991), 40-43.
Colbom, T., A. Duda and M. Gilbertson. "IJC Fosters Use of Forensic Approach to Identify Ecosystem
Effects of Persistent Toxic Substances."Focus on International Joint CommissionActivities, 16 (2)(1991), 7-10.
Colborn, T. "Environmental Degradation and Health Care Costs." Rev. of Health and the Global
Environment.Ed. Ross Hume Hall. Chemical and Engineering News, 69 (50) (1991), 25-26.
— . "Global implications of Great Lakes Wildlife Research." J. International Environmental Affairs, 3(1) (1991), 3-25.
—. "Epidemiology of Great Lakes Bald Eagles." J. Toxicologyand Environmental Health, 33 (1991),
395-453.
—. "Nontraditional Evaluation of Risk from Fish Contaminants." In Proceedings of a Symposiumon
Issues in SeafoodSafety.Ed. F. Ahmed.Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 1991,
95-122.
Clement, C. and T. Colborn, ed. "Chemically-Induced Alterations in Sexual and Functional
Development: The Wildlife/Human Connection." 403. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Scientific
Publishing, 1992.
Colborn, T., co-author. "Health Effects Section" of the EPA Great Waters Report to Congress, authorized under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.1992.
Colborn, T., A. Soto and F. vom Saal. "Developmental Effects of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in
Wildlife and Humans." Environmental Health Perspectives, 101 (5) (1993), 378-384.
Colborn, T. "Chlorine: Dispelling Seeds of Doubt and Disaster." Ed. W. Reilly. Environment Strategy
America (1994/5), 60-61.
— . "The Wildlife/Human Connection: Modernizing Risk Decisions." Environmental Health
Perspectives, 102 (12) (1994), 55-59.
Colborn T., M. Gilbertson and R.M. Rolland, ed. "Wildlife Development, Environmentally Induced
Alterations in Development: A Focus on Wildlife." Environmental Health Perspectives
Supplement, 103 (4) (1995).
Colborn, T. "Pesticides—How Research Has Succeeded and Failed in Transforming Policy:
Endocrinological Effects in Wildlife." Environmental Health Perspectives Supplement, 103 (6)(1995), 81-85.
—. "Environmental Estrogens: Health Implications for Humans and Wildlife." Environmental Health
Perspectives Supplement, 103 (7) (1995), 135-136.
Colborn, T. and M.J. Smolen. "An Epidemiological Analysis of Persistent Organochlorine
Contaminants in Cetaceans." Rev. of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 146 (1996),
91-172.
Colborn, T. "The Great Lakes: A Model for Global Concern." In Interconnections betweenHuman and
EcosystemHealth. Ed. R.T. Di Guillo & E. Monosson. London: Chapman & Hall Publishers, 1996,
86-102.
Colborn, T., D. Dumanoski and J.P. Myers. "Our Stolen Future." N.Y.: Dutton (1996), 306.
Colborn, T. "From Silent Spring (1962) to Wingspread (1991)." Comments on Toxicology,4 (4-5)(1996), 319-328.
Colborn, T. and P.L. de Fur. "Endocrine Disruptors: Opening Pandora's Box." SETACNews, 16 (4)(1996), 10-11.
Auman, H.J., T. Colborn, L. Froese Kenneth, et al. "PCBS, DDE, and TCDD-EQ in Two Species ofAlbatross on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, North Pacific Ocean." Environmental Toxicology andChemistry, 16 (3) (1996), 498-504.
Jones, P.D., D.J. Hannah, S.J. Buckland, T. Colborn, et al. "Persistent Synthetic Chlorinated186Hydrocarbons in Albatross Tissue Samples from Midway Atoll." Environmental Toxicologyand
Chemistry, 15 (10) (1996), 1793-1800.
Colborn, T. and M.J. Smolen. "Endocrine Disruption:Hidden Threats to Wildlife." Endangered Species
Update, 14 (9-10) (1997), 6-10.
Colborn, T. "Screening and Testing Chemicals for Prenatal Exposures and Effects." The RiskAdvisory(December), American Chemical Society. Washington, D.C.: 1997.
Auman, H.J., J.P. Ludwig, J.P. Giesy and T. Colborn. "Plastic Ingestion by Laysan Albatross Chicks on
Sand Island, Midway Atoll, in 1994 and 1995." Albatross Biology and Conservation . Ed. G.
Robinson & R. Gales. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, 1997,239-244
Ludwig, J.P., T. Colborn, et al. "The Roles of Organochlorine Contaminants and Fisheries Bycatch in
Recent Population Changes of Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses in the North Pacific Ocean."
Albatross Biologyand Conservation.Ed. G. Robinson & R. Gales. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping
Norton, 1997,225-38.
Colborn, T. "Building Scientific Consensus on Endocrine Disruptors." Environmental Toxicologyand
Chemistry, 17 (1) (1998), 1-2.
Colborn, T., F.S. vom Saal and P. Short, ed. "Environmental Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Neural ,Endocrine, and Behavior Effects." J. Toxicology& Industrial Health, 14 (1-2) (1998), 365.
Colborn, T., M.J. Smolen and R. Rolland. "Environmental Neurotoxic Effects: The Search for New
Protocols in Functional Teratology." J. Toxicology& Industrial Health, 14 (1-2) (1998), 9-24.
Ankley, G., T. Colborn, E. Mihaich, R. Stahl, D. Tillitt, et al. "Overview of a Workshop on Screening
Methods for Dectecting Potential (Anti-) Estrogenic/Androgenic Chemicals in Wildlife ."Environmental Toxicology& Chemistry, 7 (1) (1998), 68-87.
Colborn, T. "Endocrine Disruption from Environmental Toxicants." In Environmental andOccupational Medicine, 3rd Edition. Ed. W.N. Rom. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Publishers,
1998,807-815.
Short, P. and T. Colborn. "Pesticide Use in the US and Policy Implications: A Focus on Herbicides."Toxicologyand Industrial Health, 15 (1) (1999), 240-275.
Colborn, T., R Short and M. Gilbertson, ed. "Health Effects of Contemporary-Use Pesticides: The
Wildlife/HumanConnection." Special edition of Toxicologyand Industrial Health, 15 (1-2) (1999),
275.
Devito, M., L. Biegel, A. Brouwer, S. Brown, F. Brucker-Davis, A. Cheek, Oliver Cheek , R.
Christensen, T. Colborn, et al. "Screening Methods for Thyroid Hormone Disruptors ."Environmental Health Perspectives, 107 (5) (1999), 401-415.
Fournier, M., V. Degas, T. Colborn, F.O. Omara, F. Denizeaui, E.F. Potworsk and P . Brousseau.
"Immunosuppression in Mice Fed on Diets Containing Beluga Whale Blubber from the St.
Lawrence Estuary and Arctic Populations." ToxicologyLetters (2000), 112-113; 311-317 .
Colborn, T. and K. Thayer. "Aquatic Ecosystems: Harbingers of Endocrine Disruption." EcologicalApplications, 10 (4) (2000), 949-957.
Colbom, T. "Peace." In Architects of Peace. Ed. M. Collopy and J. Gardner. Novato, CA: New World
Library, 2000.
Brucker-Davis, F., K. Thayer and T. Colborn. "Significant Effects of Mild Endogenous Hormonal
Changes in Humans." Environmental Health Perspectives, 109 (1) (2001), 21-26.
Colborn, T. "Endocrine Disruption: Interface between Wildlife and Humans." Conservation Medicine,2001. (In press)
Colborn, T. and M.J. Smolen. "Cetaceans and Contaminants." In Toxicology of Marine Mammals:
Target Organ Toxicology Series. G. Bossert, J. Vos, M. Fournier. Ed. Taylor and Francis . UK:
2001. (In press)
Baskin, L.S., K. Himes and T. Colborn. "Hypospadias and Endocrine Disruption: Is There aConnection?" Environmental Health Perspectives, 2001. (In press)

187

Profile

Dr. Karl-Henrik

RobertChairman of The Natural Step (NGO)

EducationandAcademic

and

1947

Born

in Octoberin Sweden.

1975

Medicallicense,

Karolinska

Institute.

1979

Ph.D.,

Medicine,

Karolinska

Institute.

1984

SwedishHematological

Association

1985-1993

Division

Head,

Hematology

Huddinge

Hospital.

ClinicalResearchAward.

and Oncology,

Departmentof Medicine,

Chief

1989

Founded The Natural Step (NGO).
Best Social Invention, Institute for Social Inventions, London, England.
Stockholm City Council Prize.
Professor of Resources Theory, University of Gothenburg.
Swedish Forestry Association Prize.
Green Cross Millennium Award for International Environmental Leadership.

1994
1995
1996
1999

Reviews

Activities

1987-1993

1991

Editor,Professionalin Oncology.

Feeling an impending sense of doom about the degradation of the environment, Dr. Robertthought that to avoid further ravaging the environment it would be necessary to follow natural
cycles and create a societyin which resources were consumed within the scopeof nature's processing ability.In short, he believed that we had to develop a sustainable society.Based on discussions with prominent Swedish scientists, he derived the following four systems conditions
that would serve as the principles of a sustainable society.
In a sustainable society,nature is not subject to systematically increasing:1) concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust,2) concentrations of substances produced by society,3) physical degradation,
And, in that society:4) human needs are met worldwide.
Then, based on these conditions, he created a new framework for corporations to determine the steps that they should take to help realize a sustainable society.
In 1989,Dr. Robert set up "The Natural Step" NGO in Sweden. This organization provides corporate management and policy makers with the decision-making standards andmethodologies to formulate plans from a sustainable perspective. The organization is a collection of entities bound by these concepts and has won the approval of numerous companies
and government bodies that are putting this thinking into action.

188

The advanceda modeleight

activities

in this field of Dr. Robert's

for the rest of the world.

To date, The Natural

nativeland,

Step activities

Sweden,have

are serving

alreadyspreadas
tocountries.

189

EssayThe Second

Arena

Dr. Karl-Henrik

RobertMay

2001

The objective of The Natural Step (TNS) is to create more solid platforms for decision-making through systems thinking. A dialogue between scientists and decision-makers in businessand science—ongoing since 1988—has created The Natural Step Framework. The
Framework, with its "funnel," the system conditions at its opening, the self-benefit in avoiding its walls, and the methodology to strive to compliance with the system conditions while
improving bottom-line business, is described elsewhere in this book. The Natural Step
Framework, created to further a more constructive dialogue and provide a basis for strategic
decisions, has changed many firms and municipalities around the world.
But change doesn't only occur as a consequence of everybody taking part in a conscious
dialogue. It is fine when that happens, but it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of the small changes that occur as a consequence of much more subtle influences, a combination of direct and indirect spin-offs from the big and visible events. It is billions of communications in a web of interacting questions and answers that eventually lead to culturalchange—like a slowly growing breeze that eventually fills a sail. I am proud to say that TNS
has played a devoted and passionate role to fill that sail through the education of hundreds ofthousands of decision-makers about the funnel, the self-benefit in avoiding its walls and therationale behind our framework. Our impact is far greater than the relatively few firms andorganizationsthat apply our framework as intended. The really systematic firms can merely be
regarded as "laboratories" in which it has been demonstrated that it actually works, and as"locomotives" at the leading edge of societal change. And through their influence and guidance, the changing wind has become so much stronger than it would have been without theirpresence, through all the indirect effects.
But I am aware that we cannot just sit and wait for a slowly growing number of firmsthat apply a sustainabilityperspective to their work, and for the others to continue with theirad hoc programs even if they get somewhat more radical. Working ad hoc has been the moss
typical way during the 90s in general, and we can call that to be active in "Arena 1."Whereas
the few systematic "laboratories and locomotives" that apply backcasting from a sustainability perspective—firms like S cangaSaby Conference Hotel, Scandic, Swedish McDonalds
Interface, Collins Pine, Patagonia, Body Shop and a few more—are in Arena 2.
From

190

a businessperspective,

the two arenas

can be characterizedas:Arena 1= Lantern-Navigation• Ethics , market, profitability• Head of environment• Environmental management system (EMS)• "Eco-efficiency"• Indicators/key-figures

In Arena 1, firms have realized that it will be necessary from an ethical point of view to takesustainable developmentseriously. Profitability will gain from this in the long run, partly due
to the ethical reasons, partly because of higher "eco-efficiency"—waste is money.To that end,
firms in Arena 1 have selected a head of environment and an environmental performance system. To demonstratethe seriousness of all this, they run a number of projects ad hoc. And they
have a number of indicators and key figures to monitor progress for these ad hoc projects.
Those projects and indicators are selected in terms of what the market likes or wants right now,and in terms of what legislators are likely to say soon. This is like orienting on the lanterns ofother boats in an archipelago full of rocks, and will not be sufficient in the long run.

Arena 2 = Lighthouse• Systems perspective••

Navigation•

Social , ecological,
Course-corrective

•

Head

of environment

in management•

EMS is business-strategic

tool

economical
investments

sustainability
team

In Arena 2, firms have realized that it will be necessary to have a sustainabilityperspective forplanning. These companies generally talk more about social, ecological and economical sustainability,than about the "environment."Profitabilitywill rise only if objectives and strategies
are planned with a backcastingperspective from principles that are robust enough to cover ecological and social sustainability.In those companies,the head of the environment is part of, orclosely allied with, the management team. The EMS is a business-strategictool, not a dust-collector on the book shelf of a frustrated "Head of Environment."This is like orienting from fixed
lighthouses, and the risks of hitting rocks further ahead are highly reduced.
In the new millennium, we need a new awakening of society at large, much in the same
way as when Rachel Carson wrote her book. But the problem is that this time the sense ofurgency is much less than it was then. Firms were then caught off-guard, birds were dying, andthey didn't know what to do about it. Today,many Arena 1 firms believe that they are in control just because they have a "green" manager and an environmental management system.
However, there are probably few professional groups in society today that are more frustrated
than green managers at large companies. They are rushing around screwing on filters and asking for higher budgets, whereas the dynamic top management team is running business moreor less as usual. If the CEO is asked—for instance by journalists—reference is made to this191

poor chap, who sits there in his green office with his EMS that nobody reads. I am not certain
what will be needed to make the majority of firms want to break up with Arena 1 and make it
to Arena 2. But I hope that we won't have to wait for more and more powerful build-ups of natural catastrophes to make it happen.
A somewhat paradoxicalperspectivemay actually be the rescuer here. I think that social
sustainability(system condition 4) may hold the key to our salvation. To be a contributorto theviolation of that system condition will cause very serious backlash effects just like for the first
three system conditions, and it is as bad a business idea in our funnel as anything ecologicallylinked to non-sustainability.However, most firms have not reflected on social non-sustainability,or how they are active parts of the problem in this aspect. This means that today's nonsustainable social make-up of modem society holds a potential for a "big bang" awakening—
just like when Rachel Carson raised the first awareness of ecological non-sustainability.If thegreen movement plays its cards well, social sustainability may become the vehicle for a new
dawning of urgency that may bring the whole sustainability perspective into focus. In fact, it
is difficult to even perceive a successful cultural change, built on visions of an attractive sustainable society,without a deeper and systematic view also on ecological sustainability.
The protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in Fall 1999 is an
example of a possible dawning of a more powerful social awareness on the global scene. WhenI was invited to the Year 2000 World Economic Forum, I got further evidence that social
responsibility is likely to build momentum.
World

Economic

Forum,

I have many impressions

Davos, February

2000

and thoughts from this meeting, but I will restrict myself to two thatcan exemplify the differencesin awarenessof ecologicaland social non-sustainability,

respec-tively.

The Greenhouse EffectA positive surprise was that scientific knowledge about global climate change seems to havefinally reached decision-makers.It was commented on over again, and I didn't see one single
example of an effort to sweep the issue under the carpet. A questionnaire amongst the delegates showed that a clear majority was of the opinion that the greenhouse effect deserves
stronger political measures. The nebulous attitude that characterized mass-media discussionsof global warming during the last years wasn't present. The general message was that we must
cut down on the global use of fossil fuels by much more than half in a few decades in order toavoid increasing risks. This, of course, means even greater reductions in the industrializedpartof the world.
During one of the seminars, the international head of Greenpeace, Tilo Bode, and thechairman of Shell, Mark Mudy Stewart, reached consensus on the need for significant reductions in fossil-fuel combustion. They also reached consensus that the road to success lies in a
sped-up transition to other fuels, and that the only economically possible way is reduction in
overall fuel use: in other words various means of improved resource efficiency.

192

Global Social Inequity
Down the road from the Congress Hall, activists were smashing windows at the local
McDonald's. President Clinton, in his address, spent considerable time on the growing gaps in
the world, and warned that it would be a great mistake not to take protest activities of this kindseriously.
According to Clinton, the Davos meeting ought to sketch out attractive future scenarios
where the gaps have been bridged, where programs for the transition ought to be designed totake us there (backcasting). The trustworthiness of the politicians when it comes to shaping
such visions was, according to Clinton, limited. In other words, Clinton asked for help.
Perhaps we can look forward to more politicians realizing that the growing gaps
between rich and poor are untenable and a threat to all. Isn't it even likely that this will be thecase, in consideration of today's worrying trends?

• More and more people spend time on investing in shares on the stock market without having a clear idea in what way this is beneficial to society. Larger and larger
sums of money are turning over in shorter timeframes. The short-term profits are
generally without any linkage to human services or value-added. We are drifting further and further away from what work and being economical are all about. In short,money has taken on a life of its own.
• Heads of business, when asked on TV about their ambitions, are eager to testify thatthey are "serious" and trustworthy. In the terminology of the 90s, this has begun tomean that they only think about profit and shareholders. Almost nobody dares any
longer to claim that he or she has more ambitions with his or her firm than earningmoney—no agendas for any other purpose. Almost without us noticing, money haschanged position from being a means for society to become the goal itself; the onlygoal.
• Money is allocated to the sectors of society where the opportunities for growth andprofit are largest. At the same time, schools and medical care are being deprived ofresources. Who expects the teaching of kids and treatment of patients .to grow incompetition with the Internet? But isn't care for children and the infirm and theelderly the major sign of a culture?
• If, from time immemorial, cultures have been held together by "living stories ofmeaning," what is the story of our times? That everyone should take care of him- or
herself? That economical growth is the tide that sooner or later will lift all boats—also the poor ones? We live in a world where we can phone anybody anywhere in a
few seconds. Is it then reasonable to envision a rich and happy world—fencedin andsurrounded by even more starving people than today's one billion of them, who do
not even have access to safe drinking water or enough food? Is it even theoreticallypossible to expect this development to be possible?
The question

now is not only a moralpart of the world

seems

to be moreone, it is also an issue

focusedon consumptionof common

sense. Today,

than on worthy

globalthe richvisions.

If

193

that trend should
tions

that

be allowed

are needed

to continue,

we will fail to develop

for the inclusionof the developingworld

the wherewithal

and institu-

intoand secure

meaningfulprosperity.
Is it possible that only the poor part of the world will be affected
The TNS "funnel"
denotes that the room for maneuveris diminishingtainability.

"Degreesin ecosystems
walls

of freedom"while

demandsof this funnel

narrowing:

will constrain

green taxes,

But in what
activities

1. Anxiety

way are social

andtensionLosseffects

andof a living

less secure.
seen

non-sustainable
that could

cascadeA few examples:on undergroundChildrenculture,

cars:

"You

startedto kill

Certainly

there

have evenis a bad substitute.

using

and sense

more

fossilof self since

we are violating

to do to you, youfuels per capita

shouldn't

the golden

do to them."

than we would

to do, and we buy resourcesfrom poor countries
at such low prices
costs are not paid for. Many people feel an increasing
uneasiness

would

probably
costs—forwater,

small

be preparedinstance

eruptionsManyof violence,

environmental
Examplesgreenhouse
resources.

effectworries,consequences
includeandhave alreadybeen

Nations—to

ecological

what

deal

refugees

the

loss

startedof poor peopleof poverty

deforestation

to do.

withconflicts

and famine

are alreadycontributingof biologicalto influence

stigmatizedaboutcatastrophes

hitting

diversity"the market."the rich world

to aroundand20%

thereby

Examplesof thefutureare companies

due to internationallyinequitablebehavior.

Shell'sin Nigeria,

is but one example

that costfor instance,

billions.

that of course

have manymore

the channelingof more money

Thirteenof funds

means

if they only knew

that
and

year after year.

indirectly.

Worries

for actionof the UnitedWe

like Chinese

peoplesocialThetheet cetra.

a connection?

you do not want others

percent

the Davos

194

your present."

insteadrule:

this company(i)we destroy

our conscience

exploitation

are causingof events

to start seeingthat have

2. Thesewill sociallya series

We violate"whatliabilities,

and how

The graffiti

how thefor creating

increased

It is easy to foresee

alienation.

productivity

to imagine

responsible

costs,

becomesare increasing(v)

are relatively. The rich part of the worldare, for instance,

(iv)

that

costs, insurance

loop:

our future,is reason

(iii)

firms

due to reduced

It is not difficultin a self-perpetualeach other. Money,(ii)

diminishingincrease.

part of the funnel,

firm?

of culture

destroythosematters

and third-order(i)systems

waste management

affect the individual

into second-

are systematicallyon living

if we fail?
due to non-sus-

meetingmoney

in 2000.

into another.

Isn'tplacedof the funnel

continue

States were

Althoughwithdrawn

walls

than

along new pathways

in the United

is being

being

mechanisms

from

there

the ones

discussedin the market.

ethically

is not muchdiscussion

industry

investedare:atyet, thisor company,

it likely that this trend will continue

to lean inward?

Examplesreported

one sector,

above,

andas long as the

(ii)

(iii)

Certain private funds are allocated directly to certain projects in the developingworld. For instance, Bill Gates has donatedbillions of U.S. dollars to vaccination
programs for the poor.
Certain firms have started to launch projects in poor regions of the developingworld. Shell, for instance, has recently started installing solar photovoltaics inSouth African townships using so-called"smart cards" costing residents no morethan a month's worth of kerosene.

3. The more good examples we get on the list above under Point 2, the easier it will be forproactivepoliticians to start acting. This is probably what Clinton meant when he asked forhelp in Davos. In a democracy, politicians have difficulties to take the lead setting goals inthe beginning of a paradigm shift. For example, politicians cannot implement heavy taxes
on fossil fuels until the alternative fuels exist on the market. A changing policy generally
starts as a dialogue between proactive people and proactive firms. New political means,laws, money for welfare projects and institutions for social justice will only be feasible toimplement when there is a growing political "market" for it. Then, good cycles will drive
developmentmuch faster. It will be easier to put more good examples on the list above andthen it will be even easier to speed up the political development.
For those

firms

and institutions

that are today

to the have-nots,

and that there

is nothing

tryingto hide behindthat can be done

the idea that it is far away

anyway,there

wall between

poor

is a growing

the thinking

will backfire.

For those

who want a brickthe reason

to contemplateanotherbrickwall in our history,

the Berlin

downwith such surprising

rapiditythat all the defendersof the wall couldcamerisk thatand rich, thereWall.

is allThe breaking
not catchup.

The next Davos meeting in 2001 had a new overriding theme: "Bridging the Gap." Clinton
actually opened the way. Cultural change might eventuallyoccur, fostered by the only "living
story of meaning" I can think of at this point—the vision of an attractive sustainable society.
A "Taking Care of the Planet Culture." As far as I can understand, it's not even feasible that
ecological sustainabilitywould be left out. It is my hope that we havejust seen the dawning ofit, and that the relative lack of social awareness of the green movement—that goes for The
Natural Step too—is the reason why we have had to wait so long.

195

Lecture

Planningfrom

Principles

for Success— Lecture on The Natural Step Framework —Dr. Karl-Henrik
A Framework

for Strategic

RobertPlanning

During its evolution, nature has slowly grown cleaner as a result of the workings of life. Plants
have concentrated

and organized

has enabled the development
complexityand diversity.

increase—witha parallelmatter on earth through the process of photosynthesis.

of ever more sophisticatedWith the appearancelife-forms,of animals,

increase for plants. Because

tributed organic waste that plants could use. Animals

This

in an almost inconceivablebiodiversity

registeredanotherof their ability to move, animals disalso helped plants with pollination.

Inother words, nature evolved.

Sustainability

Figure1. The humanand sustainable

development

affectingnatureso that society's

complex.

So is a description

rent non-sustainable
Environmental

and services
tal damage

196

cycles.

only becamewith natureof all the environmental

important

was no longer

problems

once people

sustainable.

that follow

from

were

Naturesociety's

is

cur-

course...

from a host of diffuse
on manufacturers

co-evolution

and natural

damageis not usuallycausedsources.

All serious

environmental

and factories.

we consume,
are rarely

direct.

Somecausesand the transportation
There

by a small number

have more

problems

simplyto do with our behavior—the

we use. Besides,

is often a deferredof `hotspots,'cannoteffect. Oncethe effects
ecotoxins

but rather,be blamed
goodsof environmen-

have been appliedin the productionof our goods,

most people

are aware

now global

ratherof a great

than regional

This is the underlying

reasonevery

media.

day in the mass

it oftentakes

complexity

a long time for themin environmental

and it is difficult

for all the endlessFigureto find direct
debate2. Newspaper

betweento be released.

Nowadays,problems.

Manyinstancesof cause

problemsarescientists

that we see and hearand effect.

clips.

Often, different environmental problems have a knock-on effect. Acid rain speeds up theleaching out of metals from the soil to waters, which, in turn, causes toxic effects in the ecosystems. As a rule, it's not possible to recognize today's environmental problems using our own
senses. It's even more difficult to predict tomorrow's environmental problems lying dormant
in the system. With this knowledge it is obvious that we need a framework to be able to handle complicated environmental problems.

The Natural Step
I'm a medical doctor and a cancer scientist. Through insights from working with cells, I
launched a consensus-buildingprocess amongst some of Sweden's top scientists. The objective was to come to grips with the confusion that came from all the complexity of the environmental problems that were caused by our non-sustainable society. To turn everything upside
down in relation to the fascination over disagreement and polarities, I asked, "What can weagree on?" Impelled by an understanding of the value of establishing basic fundamental principles for the structuring of data in order to make better sense for decision-making, my colleagues merged forces to do their best. Imagining that if a society could share the same understanding of how a sustainablesociety could interact with the cycles of nature and thereby sharethe same principles for sustainability,then it could take on the challenge of sustainable development in a strategic way. The scientific consensus process yielded several benefits that continue to serve as societal drivers towards sustainability.The most touted is the first consensus
document, which roughly outlines the way in which the cycles of nature work, how they arebeing disturbed, and that society—not least the individualswho are part of the problems rather
than the solutions—willeventuallypay prices for this economically, socially and ecologically.
Equipped with this quite unique document, I began to recruit the necessary players in197

order to spread the news to a slightly larger audience—the entire Swedish population.
Momentum was created in a step-by-step process, recruiting more scientists, then entertainers,
then Swedish television, the government and eventually the Swedish King. This was enoughfor the sponsors to hop on board. As a result, a thirty-seven-page booklet emblazoned with Det
Naturliga Steget (The Natural Step) and an audiocassette was mailed to every household in
Sweden, 4.3 million copies, and thus the organization, The Natural Step (TNS), was born in
April 1989.

The Natural Step and The Natural Step Framework
Variousactivitiesthat sought new and strategic social engagement and public education sprang
up due to motivated individuals:the Environmental and Challenger trains (mobile educationaland marketing trains that covered the country), the King's Challenge (a tetra-annual competition for the best eco-municipality),the Youth Parliament for the Environment (an annual TV
broadcast event that engages around 50,000 students), and more and more municipalities(soonthe majority of them) that adopted The Natural Step Framework as their planning platform fortheir Agenda 21 work. Another outcome, partly due to aspects of Sweden's cultural character,
was the number of self-organized professional networks for the environment. These groups
ranged in size from thirty to hundreds of people, and represented most major professions: scientists, engineers,doctors, nurses, et cetera. Academia, industry and informed actors produced
a series of consensus documents, which outline an agreed-upon vision of the sustainablefutureof that sector.
The Natural Step Framework
The Natural Step Framework is a methodology based on planning from a 'future sustainable
perspective,' known as backcasting. Backcasting is a method of looking back from an imagined point of time in the future. To begin with, we envisage a successful result in the future.
Then, we ask: "What can we do today to reach this goal?"
Planning with backcasting is especially effective if there is a high level of complexity,
a pressing need for fundamental change and when dominant trends are part of the problem. As
all three of these are currently very much in evidence,backcasting plays a useful role in planning for a sustainable future.
Nobody can look into the future, so it cannot be described at the detailed level. But at
the principle level, we can define it! Backcasting must occur from basic principles, or conditions that need to be in place in any sustainable society. This is much like playing chess. It isbackcasting from the principles of checkmate that provides the strategic framework of thegame. The major achievement of The Natural Step is that we developed such a framework,
which includes such basic principles for social and ecological sustainability,named "System
Conditions." In this context, backcasting means planning from a "future sustainability perspective" by asking the following question: "What shall we do today to increase our chances
to comply with the System Conditions tomorrow?"
The Natural Step works with organizationsthat want to become good examples and rolemodels—firms, municipalities and other organizations—askingthemselves this question. We

198

coachthem strategicallyoff also

economically.

Framework,

which

systematicallyspective,"fixing"
reduceThe

so that their programs
To that

means

end,

to applyand strategicallyfor social and ecologicalorganizations

a sustainability

in the right

are trained
perspective

direction.

With

responsibility

to useto planning,
the help

The

Naturalwill pay
Step

and then to moveof a sustainability

per-many organizations
have been able to avoid the problem of "rushing after reality," andproblems
from principally
non -sustainable
planning . Thereby,
they can successfully
costs,

improvequalityand identify

new customers

and markets.

Natural Step Framework is a planning methodology with the following components:
The Funnel: Reflects society's diminishing room for manoeuvre. The long-term
prospects of organizations will improve if operations are steered in a sustainable direction, toward the opening of the Funnel.
The System Conditions: First-order principles that define a sustainable society (at the
opening of the funnel).
Strategy for Action: A four-step program where backcasting is used in a way that helps
organizations to move toward sustainability while at the same time maximizing financial returns.
Belowfollows

a comprehensive

descriptionof thesecomponents.

The Funnel
Life-sustaining natural resources are subject to increasing deterioration from human activity.
Species extinctionis gathering pace. Productivity of forests, agricultural land and fisheries are
declining.To harvest or catch as much as we did last year, we have to put in more resources—
to obtain the same amounts of food, wood and other raw materials, we need bigger fishingboats, more energy,more pesticides and more fertilizers.
The reason for this reduction in productive potential is that we are polluting and displacing nature in various ways. Renewable resources are being used up at such a rate thatnature does not have time to build new ones. In the same time, we get more people on earth andthe gap between rich and poor is widening. It's as if civilizationis moving into a funnel whose
narrowing walls demonstrate that, in the quest for good health, welfare and economics, thereis less and less 'room for manoeuvre.'

199

Figure

While

There

is a potential

suddeneconomiclier investments
ety. Thoughsibility

self-benefit
setbacks

in techniquescertainfor the world

in being

part of the solution

may be viewed

or activities

companies

3. The funnel.

as tadthat go against

can still earn money

we live in, the statisticalfromchanceratherthan

luck,' they are usually
the conditions
not takingof avoiding

the problem.
causedby ear-for a sustainable

part in our shared
the consequences

socirespon-decreaseover time. A new way of planningmust be put in place to avoid problems
such as:• higher raw materials costs,• higher energy costs,• harsher environmental
legislation,• differentiatedtaxation,• rising insurance
premiums,• lower credit ratings,• criticism in the media,• eroded public confidence,• loss of environmentallyaware customers,• recruitment
problems
and difficulties
in retaining
quality staff .
Althoughsustainablelong-term

direction,

200

results

will improve

they also need to be profitable

long term can be mergedof The Natural

financial

into a strategic

Step Framework.

program

if operations

even in the shortis describedunder

are steeredin a more

term. How shortterm andthe two following

aspects

The System Conditions
To be able to handle the complexity of environmental problems, we must move from assessing impacts in nature from human actions to finding the root-causes for these effects.
Can we sum up the root-causes for non-sustainability? There are essentially only threemechanisms by which human society can damage nature.
• Nature is damaged if concentrations of substances that are extracted from the Earth's
crust are continually rising because they are dispersed in nature faster than they are
returned (re-deposited in the Earth's crust).
• Nature is damaged if concentrations of substances produced by society are continually rising because society disperses them faster than they can be broken down andbuilt into new resources by nature (or deposited in the Earth's crust).
• Nature is damaged if it is continuously degraded by physical means . This occurs
either by extracting more than nature can build up again (for instance, more timber
or fish than can be regenerated) or by other forms of ecosystem manipulation (forinstance, altering the water table, soil erosion, unforeseen accidents with genetic
manipulation, over-harvesting or covering fertile land with asphalt).
By looking at these three ways of damaging nature, and then adding the word 'not' toall of them, The Natural Step has defined the three first-order principles that establish theframework for a sustainable society. A sustainable society is characterized by the fact that it isgood at satisfying human needs, but within this framework. The fourth fundamental principle
takes into account the ability of a sustainable society to satisfy human needs everywhere.

The Four System Conditions
In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematicallyincreasing...
I....concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth's crust
2....concentrations of substances produced by society
3.... degradation by physical means
and, in that society.. .
4.... human needs are met worldwide.
These four basic principles, known as the four System Conditions, make up a framework defining the prevailing conditions that will apply in any sustainable society.
In the illustration below, the four System Conditions are shown in relation to natural
cycles and human society as an integrated system where flows are balanced and "left over matter" does not increase in concentration in nature.

201

Figure 4. The sustainable society: natural cycles (the larger circle) surround society and define the limits which
we have to live within. In a sustainable society, plants (on the left-hand side) build up enough renewable resources
to satisfy consumption by animals and humans (on the right-hand side). Various agents break down the waste fromanimals, thus making it available, as a resource, to plants. The sun provides energy, and heat radiates into the universe. Society lives partly on small flows of metals and minerals from the earth's crust (1) and on larger flows fromnature's production (3). A flow of substances produced in society leak into nature, but no faster than they can be
broken down or assimilated in the natural cycles (2). In this society, resources are recycled and used efficiently sothat human needs can be fulfilled effectively (4).

Strategy
Firms

for Actionthat are applying

The Natural

Step Framework,

structure

the work in the followingway:

A Sharing The Natural Step Framework
Discuss the Funnel, and the System Conditions, and the A,B,C,D-analysis that is presented
below, among all participants who are going to be part of developing the program for transition. It is important that critical questions are allowed, so that the team eventually has a clear
picture of how much they share on the principle level. This refers to the strategic competence
to move in the direction of social and ecological sustainability, and the economical self-benefit that lies in doing so.
Finns that have done this, generallydefine their overall objectives in the following way:
Our ultimate sustainability objectives are to:
1. ...eliminate our contribution to systematic increases in concentrations of substancesfrom the Earth's crust.
2. ...eliminate our contribution to systematic increases in concentrations of substances
produced by society.
3. ...eliminate our contribution to the physical degradation of nature through overharvesting, introductions and other forms of modification.
4. ...contribute as much as we can to the meeting of human needs in our society andworldwide, over and above all the substitution and dematerialization measurestaken in meeting thefirst three objectives.

202

Figure5. The Natural

Step Framework.

B How Does the Organization Look Today?
To find out how our organization is impacting the environment, we need to carry out an environmental review (see B in Fig 5). This review will provide the foundation for specific environmental targets and planning. The environmental review should map out such flows andpractices in the organization that are critical from a sustainability perspective— with regard to
the ultimate sustainability objectives of the organization (see above).
An organization is like a box with various flows going into, or coming out of it (see Fig
6). If these flows are analyzed in relation to the System Conditions, we end up with a list of
problems, or environmental aspects, that have a sustainability perspective (not only a "today's
impact perspective,"— such effects in nature or society—occurring from violation of the system conditions—that we are already familiar with). We already know that nothing disappears,
so it seems logical to start by looking at the flows of raw materials and energy being imported
into 'the box' . That way, we can eventually relate these to what is being exported.

Figure6. Environmental

review.

203

It's importantto involveall employees,as everyonehas some impact on the flows of raw
materials and energy. Whoever is responsible for a particular task or process should knowwhat flows arise out of that process. To achieve this, the same individual must be drawn into
the process of identifying problems and developing specific measures, and then be responsible for the implementation of those measures. At The Natural Step we have found the best
results are obtained if employees themselves carry out the environmental review —backed up
by resources, such as questionnaires, that examine the position of the organization in relation
to its ultimate sustainability objectives.
Sustainability Objective 1
Examples ofproblems include rising levels of heavy metals in the soil, phosphate in lakes, sulphuric acid in forests and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Nature cannot sustain systematicincreases of any substance. Every single atom of mercury, lead, zinc, copper or coal that we
extract from the Earth's crust, must end up somewhere.
Make a list of the critical flows of your firm, such flows that are likely to contribute toproblems of this kind, problems with reference to sustainabilityobjective 1.
Sustainability Objective 2
Examples of problems include a number of non-biodegradable substances not found in nature,such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), many pesticides,
dioxins,bromide anti-flammablesand many additivesin plastics such as chlorinated paraffins.
The manufacturing of substances is either intentional (such as in the chemicals industry) or
unintentional (such as by-products created during waste incineration). Substances not broken
down and integrated into the natural cycles will build up in the environment. When emissions
are large, naturally occurring compounds may also increase in concentrations. For instance,
NOx that cause problems such as eutrophy, acidity and ozone depletion.
Make a list of the critical flows of your firm, such flows that are likely to contribute toproblems of this kind, with reference to sustainabilityobjective 2.
Sustainability Objective 3
Examples of problems include clear-cutting of forests, spreading deserts, loss of nutrients,
constructionof roads and buildings on fertile land, over-fishingin seas and lakes, mass tourism
in pristine areas of nature and damage to sub-soil water flows.
Make a list of the critical flows of your firm, such flows that are likely to contribute toproblems of this kind, problems with reference to sustainability objective 3.
Sustainability Objective 4
Examples ofproblems include the uneven distribution of resources within humanity, leading
to problems like famine and lack of safe drinking water in large regions of the world at thesame time as the industrialized world spends more resources than we want on, for instance,
trafficjams, and suffers from alienation and loss of cultural meaning.
Make a list of the critical flows of your firm, such flows that are likely to contribute to204

problems of this kind, problems with reference to sustainability objective 4.
C How Does the Organization Look in a Sustainable Society?
Here, we develop a vision of how a sustainable organization might look. The point of the exercise is to 'lift the vision,' look for solutions and free oneself from preconceptions based on prevailing conditions. The way to approach this is to learn to envisage the organization as a service provider. What utility is the customer really looking for? What needs are fulfilled by ourorganization? How can we satisfy the customer's needs in a sustainable society? Are we selling cars or mobility? Are we selling kilowatt-hours or light and heating? In what way is fairness at the global level important to our activities?
Next, we list every conceivable means of meeting the needs of our customers withoutcompromising our ultimate sustainability objectives. It is not enough to take action to avoid themistakes that have already started causing environmental damage.
If this process is overseen with proper care, there can be far-reaching consequences andopportunities. The organization may even, as a result, change its mission statement and find
new and promising market segments.

Sustainability Objective 1
Sustainable options are to switch to renewable fuels and materials such as wood, fibers, ceramics, glass, et cetera.We can also discriminatein favorof metals commonly found in nature. The
more common a metal is in nature, the more freely we can use and recycle it without fear ofrising concentrations. Aluminum and iron, for instance, are considerably more common innature than copper and cadmium.Using metals efficiently and establishing sophisticatedrecycling systems, are other ways of avoiding rising concentrationsin nature. Even in a sustainable
society, it may be necessary to increase mining of particular substances in the short term. An
example of this would be certain rare metals needed in solar cells—and later recycled, ofcourse. The effects would be beneficial, as solar cells reduce the need for non-renewable fuels.
List solutionswith referenceto the general descriptionof options presented above,makea list of all the options with reference to sustainabilityobjective 1 that would be availablefor
your firm. It is important that this is done through brainstorming. Everything that is theoretically possible should be listed.
Sustainability Objective 2
Sustainable options include the phasing out of substances that do not readily biodegrade andare not commonly found in nature. It may also be necessary to control a range of other substances that, even though biodegradable, are nevertheless building up in nature because ofexcessivelyhigh volumes in use. This can be done by using substances efficiently and establishing sophisticated recycling systems. Even in a sustainable society, it may be necessary tooccasionally use non-biodegradable substances not normally found in nature. Such as, forinstance, important pharmaceuticals, which can later be separated from body secretions.
However,this will only apply if there are no better alternativesthat are safe to use without constant monitoring.

205

List solutions, i.e. —with reference to the general description of options presented above—add to the list of solutions all the options with reference to sustainability objective 2 thatwould be available for your firm. It is important that this is done through brainstorming, i.e.
everythingthat is theoretically possible should be listed.
Sustainability Objective 3
Sustainable options are to buy sustainably grown food and raw materials from well-managed
forestry plantations. By locating new factories on the foundations of old ones and planning all
construction with respect for nature, we can minimize our presence in nature. Another sustainable option is to become more efficient —for example, companies can plan strategicallyto
reduce the need for long-distance transportation.
List solutions, i.e. —with referenceto the general description of options presented above,
add to the list of solutions all the options with reference to sustainability objective 3 that would
be available for your firm. It is important that this is done through brainstorming, i.e. everything that is theoreticallypossible should be.listed.
Sustainability Objective 4
Sustainable options. These all include measures to increase the human utility per resource unit.
Examples are to find completely new, and more sophisticated ways of meeting the same
human needs. For instance, IT technologies can substitute for transport and provide morehuman benefitsat the same time. Other examples are various ways of reducing resource flows,
and thereby costs, to make such products that are important for human needs available also for
relatively poor people. For instance, filters that can manufacture drinking water from polluted
water, rather than exporting drinking water at large financial and ecological costs. Other
options are to move into markets in developing parts of the world, and to find ways of adding
social costs to prices of resources purchased from such areas.
List solutions, i.e. —with reference to the general descriptionpresented above, add to thelist of solutionsall the options with reference to sustainabilityobjective 4 that would be available for your firm. It is important that this is done through brainstorming, i.e. everything thatis theoreticallypossible should be listed.
D Strategyfor Action
Environmental programs with targets and measures to improve profitability are designed inthis step.
By choosing measures from C that stand up favorably to the key questions outlined
below, long-term and short-term profitability are linked —and each step becomes profitable initself:
1. Are we moving towards our objectives? Each suggested measure is assessed against theenvironmental objectives.Does the measure reduce our dependence on, for instance, heavy
metals (sustainability objective 1) or non-biodegradable substances not usually found innature (sustainability objective 2)?
2. Are we creating a flexible platform for further improvements? It's important to choose

206solutions that are as flexible as possible, so they can be further developed in a sustainabledirection. Otherwise, we might end up in a cul-de-sac. If technical or economic conditions
change, investments in flexible solutions will ensurethat adjustments do not bring punitive
costs. Can our new, lean-burn engine be modifiedto use renewable fuels? Is this expensive
plant for recycling of heavy metals really a smart decision – shouldn't we substitute thosematerials for others instead?
3. Willthe measure bring quick enoughfinancial returns? We prioritize low-hanging fruit' –in other words, measures that bring improved profitability even in the short term or in otherways generate comparatively quick returns on investments. Does the measure bring
resource savings? Can this measure help improve our sales figures? Can this measure help
us reach a new market segment? Can it generate profits through new marketing strategies
to increase customer brand loyalty?

FigureBy using The Natural
measureswith maximum

term. With

cleverinto the future.
direction.

Step Framework
flexibility

planning,

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for Action.

in our planning,

we can choosein the long term and maximum

it's possible

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the

207

planningprocess of a sense of direction
can sometimes
be counter-productive,

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changeseven if they are reducing
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An Example from Electrolux
An example of concrete planning comes from Electrolux, which started the planning to get ridof CFCs by forecasting. The first option they considered was to substitute HCFCs for CFCs
since HCFCs have a lower impact on the ozone layer. This plan was further supported by an
LCA that had the forecasting-perspective. It had revealed a tradeoff between HCFC on the one
hand (with its uncertainty on the future market), and the high efficiency of HCFC-produced
insulation on the other. Considering that the main environmental impact from a refrigerator is
not during its production (relatively small amounts of HCFCs), but during the time it is used(relatively large amounts of emissions from the energy-sector), this forecasting analysis had
favored HCFC technology. However, by applying backcasting from the system conditions, themanagement team of Electrolux realized that the switch to HCFC would imply an expensive
transition into a blind alley, since there was no room for the relatively persistent HCFCs in their
future scenarios (based on system condition 2). So instead they chose a "flexible steppingstone" by using the chemical R134a as an intermediate step. This technology fit in well as aflexible platform from which to move to the next generation of hydrocarbons and, at the sametime, R134a fit in well with current trends in the market. Electrolux was first in launching awhole family of freon-free refrigerators and freezers. The result was increased market sharesin several important markets and relatively higher revenues from those particular products.
An Example from IKEA
The following example comes from Russel Johnsson, head of environment at IKEA at thetime. Replacing an incandescent lamp with a CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) will give considerable savings in energy consumption and electricity costs (roughly a factor of 5) and a considerable increase in product life (factor of 8-10). But the high price has been an obstacle forthe private households to dare to prove these facts to themselves in practice. The typical pricelevel in Sweden at the time was 120 SEK (15 USD) for an 11 W CFL (corresponding to 60 W
incandescent lamp). Another problem is that CFLs have higher mercury content than incan-

208descent lamps.
The trade-off problem is between higher use of mercury (sustainability objective 1),
lower expenditure of energy (sustainability objective 1 and 2) and higher costs for the lamps
lowering their availability to the public (sustainability objective 4). A more creative methodology than trying to estimate if the impacts outweigh the benefit, is to start the planning procedure from a point where the tradeoffs don't exist—backcasting from compliance with thesystem conditions. In short, these were the steps to move in that direction:
Russel Johnsson: "We identified a producer who could provide a good-enough combination of the listed criteria to serve as a platform. We wanted a good reliable CFL witha maximum of 3 milligrams of mercury per lamp, which can be compared to therequirements in the European Union environmental labelling system for such lamps,
which is a maximum of 10 milligrams on the global market (factor 3). A Chinese manufacturer, outstanding both from product design and production technology points ofview, could meet those requirements at the same time as he was competitive enough on
price.
We let this producer and his competitors know that as long as he would be aheadof his competitors as regards price, energy expenditureand mercury contents, he would
continue being a supplier to IKEA.
During the fall of 1997, we started the Swedish marketing campaign for CFLs. It
consisted of the following steps, which would bring us further in the right direction:
Price cuts to 1/3 for the 11 W (ca 5 USD) and less than 1/2 for the other lamp(i)sizes.
Cooperation with the largest Swedish environmental organisation, the Swedish(ii)
Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), around a public information campaign
about energy (and cost) saving possibilities for households.
(iii) Advertisingin all major daily newspapers, offering all households to collect (during a two-week period)—free of charge—an 11 W CFL in our stores in order toconvince themselves that CFL is a very profitable choice for their homes.
Somewherebetween 500,000 and 600,000 lamps were given away.
(iv) Before launching the campaign we visited, together with SSNC technicalexpertise, our CFL supplier in China. We met their management, made a thoroughreview of the factory with special focus on the company's environmental management system and practices, work and worker's conditions. We also visited the
supplier's RD&E department and discussed possibilities for further reducing the
mercury content and other potential environmental improvements. We documented our visit on video and edited video cassettes were later distributed to all
our Swedish stores.
We informed customers about the very serious environmental dangers with mer(v)cury and offered to take back (free of charge) all their used light sources containing mercury to IKEA stores. We made a contract with a major recycling company (RagnSells) to take care of all such returned light sources with mercury,including all those we generate ourselves in stores, warehouses and offices.98%

209to 99% of the mercury

is recoveredby a specialist

company

in Germany.

Together with SSNC, we made a thorough review of this company

also and doc-

umented it on the video cassette mentioned

above."As a result of this campaign, the private household sales of CFLs in Sweden haveincreased considerably. The competition had to decrease their prices . Our CFL sales
have increased. IKEA's campaign has been good for everybody—for
the customers andfor the country—except

the manufacturers

every Swedish household

replaced

CFLs, the resulting

and importers

of incandescent

20 pieces of 60 W incandescentlamps. If

lamps with 11 W

yearly energy savings would equal the productionof one of theSwedish nuclear reactors."

How Does The Natural Step Framework Relate to Tools for Sustainable Development?
We have presented a general framework to plan for sustainability. This framework follows
from principles for how a system is constituted (ecologicaland social principles), and contains
principles—thesystem conditions—for a favorable outcome for the system (sustainability),as
well as principles—strategic principles—for the process to reach this outcome (sustainable
development).The system conditions define the favorable outcome and direct problem-solving upstream toward problem-sources. A program of activities is then constructed by backcasting from defined outcomes to the current problems. This should be followed by "metrics,"
which are various concepts for measuring and monitoring the activities so that those are reallycomplying with the strategic principles to reach the favorable outcome in the system we havejust described.
Most concepts and tools for sustainable development function as metrics, includingLife Cycle Assessment (LCA), Ecological Footprinting (EF) and Factor X. When used in a
strategically smart way, those tools are selected and designed in a way that helps the firm toactuallyreach its environmentalobjectives.A framework such as The Natural Step Framework
is a methodology to create a sense of direction to the planning, and tools are then used to seeto that the process actually complies with the overall planning.
An EnvironmentalManagement System (EMS), like ISO 14001 or EMAS, is an administrative vehicle that should systematicallyalign a firm's specific outcomes, activities and metrics with a general framework for sustainability.From a strategic point of view, metrics shouldmeasure alignment of activities with the principles contained in a.framework for sustainability.
Of this, it follows that a framework is not an alternative to various tools for metrics. We
need them all because they represent differentinterrelated levels of strategic planning. (Fig. 8)
Imagine the analogy of running an airplane where:• the firm is the airplane,• the framework is the guidelines for planning this particular journey (to sustainability),
including the map with the objective, plus a description of the principles for reaching that
objective,• the EMS is the manual and checklists needed to handle that specific airplane in line withthe framework,

210

•

the activities•

and the metrics

are everything
are performed

so that the activities

complythat takes place

on board,

with the instrumentswith the planneededfor that airplaneon this route,for the flight.

1.Principles of Ecosphere (Social and Ecological Constitution)

2.System Conditions (Principles for Sustainability)
The

NaturalStep

Framework

3.Strategy (Principles for Sustainable Development)

4.Activities(i)5.Concepts and TDols (Metrics)

ii)
Negative

FigureEffectsin Nature

8. Hierarchicalrelationships

betweenprincipally

different

levels of planningin a complex

system.

211

Major Publications
Dr. Karl-Henrik

RobertBooks
Robert, K.-H., S. Edman, K.E. Eriksson, M. Falkenmark, J. Holmberg, B. Hubendick, T. Kaberger, P.
SOderbaum, m fl. Nationalencyklopedin. Miljo fran A till O. Svenska Folkets Miljolexikon.
(Dictionary) Bra Wicker, Hoganas: 1992.
Robert, K.-H.Det NodvtindigaSteget. (TheNecessary Step)book. Ekerlids Publisher, 1992. (Translated
to Japanese).
—. Den Naturliga Utmaningen. (TheNatural Challenge) book. Ekerlids Publisher, 1994. (Translated
to Japanese).
—. The Natural Step Story. Under publication. 2000.

Articles and Book Chapters
Robert, K.-H. "Educating a Nation: The Natural Step." In Context,No. 28, 1992, 10-15.
— . "The Natural Step—A Broker of Good Environmental Ideas." Reported by Helen Sandberg.
StockholmWater Front—AForum for Global Water Issues, No. 2, June 1993.
— . "The Hope of Our Hidden Leadership." Perspectives on Business and Global Change. No. 2, 13,
June (1999).
— . "Varfor gar det pa manen men inte har? eller De osynliga ledarna." The Aptit pa livet eller en bok
Om vart valbefinnande. sid 51-59, 1999. (The Energy Issue from a Sustainability Perspective.
Chapter in utility company Vattenfalls' millennium book. English translation available).
Refereed Scientific Papers (Published or In Press)
Eriksson, K.-E. and K.-H. Robert. "From the Big Bang to Sustainable Societies." Reviews in Oncology,
4/2 (1991), 5-14.
Holmberg, J., K.-H. Robert, and K.-E. Eriksson. "Socio-Ecological Principles for Sustainability." In
Getting Down to Earth—Practical Applications of Ecological Economics. Ed. R. Costanza, S.
Olman and J. Martinez-Alier. International Society of Ecological Economics. Washington, D.C.:
Island Press, 1996.
Robert, K.-H., H. Daly, P. Hawken, and J. Holmberg. "A Compass for Sustainable Development." Int.
J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol., 4 (1997), 79-92.
Azar, C., J. Holmberg, and K.-H. Robert. "Fossil Fuels and Corporate Economic Risk Assessment."
Perspectives, 1999. (In press).
Broman, G., J. Holmberg, and K.-H. Robert. "Simplicity without Reduction—Thinking Upstream
towards the Sustainable Society." Interfaces, International Journal of the Institute of Management
Sciences and the Operations Research Society of America, 1999. (In press).
Holmberg, J., U. Lundqvist, K.-H. Robert, and M. Wackemagel. "The Ecological Footprint from a
Systems Perspective of Sustainability." Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol., 6 (1999), 17-33.
— . "An Approach to Sustainable Product Development in SMEs." In SMEs and the Environment. Ed.
R. Hillary. Sheffield, United Kingdom: Greenleaf Publishing, 1999. (In press).
Robert,K.-H. "Tools and Concepts for Sustainable Development:How Do They Relate to a Framework
for SustainableDevelopment, and to Each Other?" J. Cleaner Production, 1999. (In press).
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert. "Backcasting from Non-Overlapping Sustainability Principles —A
Framework for Strategic Planning." Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol., 2000. (In press).

212

Scientific Papers Submitted for Publication
Robert, K.-H., J. Holmberg, and E. U. Von Weizsacker. "Factor X for Subtle Policymaking—Objectives, Potentials and Obstacles." Submitted for publication in Environmental Science &Policy, 1999.

Conference Proceedings
Robert, K.-H. "Non-Negotiable Facts as a Basis for Progress." Presented at the Third Stockholm Water
Symposium, Stockholm, August 10-14, 1993.
— . "The Natural Step—A Framework for Achieving Sustainability in Our Organizations." Presented
at Pegasus Communications'
Systems Thinking in Action Conference,
1995. Pegasus
Communications, March 1997. Web address: www.pegasuscom.com.
— . "Cycle of Nature." Presented at Schumacher Lectures, October 21, 1995, Dartington, Totnes.
Resurgence, No. 178 (1995), 18-22.
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert. "The Practical Applications of Socio-Ecological
Principles in
Backcasting Planning within Swedish Business Corporations and Municipalities." Presented at theInaugural Conference of the European branch of the International Society for Ecological
Economics, Paris, May 23-25, 1996.

Abstracts from King Carl Gustaf's Environmental Symposium
H.M. The Swedish King, Peter Raven, Molly H. Olson, Paul Hawken, K.-H. Robert, Donald Aitken,
Christian Azar, Jonathon Porritt, Lars Bern and Anna Lindh. Stockholm, November 28, 1996.
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert. "The Rationale behind the System Conditions and their Applications."
Presented at the Natural Step US Workshop: Scientific Principles of Sustainability in Racine,
Wisconsin, U.S.A., February 22-24, 1997. At the Natural Step Australia Scientific Forum in
Melbourne, Australia, February 12-13, 1998. At the Natural Step UK workshop: Sustainable
Development:Putting Science to Work,London, U.K., July 6-7, 1998.
Robert, K.-H., J. Holmberg, and G. Broman. "Simplicity without Reduction—Thinking Upstream
towards the Sustainable Society." Houston, Texas: Rice University. Energy & Environmental
Systems Institute, March 1997. Publication EESI-03. E-mail: eesi@rice.edu.
Robert, K.-H. "ICA/Electrolux – A Case Report from 1992." Presented at the 40th CIES Annual
Executive Congress, Boston, June 5-7, 1997.
—. "Den attraktivahallbara kommunen." 2000-talets miljoarbete i kommunerna – sa arbetar du vidare
mot en hallbar miljo-. IIR, Stockholm. mars 30-31, 1998.
— . "What Is a "Sustainable Enterprise?" United Nations Environment Programme. UNESCO. Paris,
October 14, 1998.
--. "Tools and Concepts for Sustainable Development: How Do They Relate to a Framework for
Sustainable Development, and to Each Other?" Presented at the Japanese Business Leaders'
Conference on Environment and Development. Keynote speech, "Strategic Leadership in
Sustainable Development." Tokyo, Japan, November 4-5, 1999. Organized by Nihon Keizai
Shimbun, Inc. (NIKKEI Journal).
Robert, K.-H., J. Holmberg and G. Broman. "Simplicity without Reduction: Thinking Upstream
towards the Sustainable Society." Presented at the International Conference on Zero Emissions in
IndustrializedSociety. Keynote speech,"Systems Thinking for Strategic Decision Making." Tokyo,
Japan, November 8-9, 1999. Organized by the United Nations University, the 168 Committee of theJapan Society for Promotion of Science, and the Japan Management Association.

213

TNS Consensus Documents (In Swedish)Engstrom, K., K.-H. Robert, m fl. "Energifragan i ett naturvetenskapligt perspektiv." Stockholm: Det
Naturliga Steget, 1990. ("Energy policy from an ecological perspective." Draft English translation
available).
Arrhenius, E., K.-H. Robert, m fl. "Styrmedel pa vag mot det barkraftiga samhallet." Stockholm: Det
Naturliga Steget, 1992. ("Political and Economic Measures toward a Sustainable Society." Draft
English translation available).
Eriksson, K.-E., K.-H. Robert, m fl. "Metallfragan i ett naturvetenskapligt perspektiv." Stockholm: Det
Naturliga Steget, 1992. ("Metal Issues from a Scientific Perspective." Draft English translation
available).
Andersson, R., K.-H. Robert, m fl. "Den Livsviktiga Naringen." Stockholm: Det Naturliga Steget, 1993.
("Agriculture from a Scientific Perspective." Draft English translation available).
— . "PA skogens villkor." Stockholm: Det Naturliga Steget, 1997. (Forestry from a Sustainability
Perspective).

Interactive Training Manuals
Robert, K.-H., and J. Holmberg. The Natural Step Curriculum: A Manual for Teachers. Stockholm,
Sweden: The Natural Step Foundation, 1998.

The Natural Step/US Materials
VIDEO - Robert, K.-H. An Overview of the Natural Step. Robert introduces The Natural Step to the
Bank of America and responds to audience questions. 78 minutes.

1998 Chicago Conference Tapes
Robert, K.-H. Overview of The Natural Step. 60 minutes; video and audio.
— . Building Consensusand Applying the Compass. 90 minutes; video and audio.
Robert, K.-H. and John Holmberg. The Science and SystemConditions—Part 1.60 minutes; video andaudio.
— . The Science and System Conditions—Part2. 60 minutes; video and audio.

Papers in Non-Scientific Journals on Development and the Environment (In Swedish)Robert, K.-H. "Tomtarna i Man-- ett tankeexperiment kring termodynamikens lagar." ("The Elves in
the Box—An Experiment of Thought about the Laws of Thermodynamics.") Tidskriften Det
Naturliga Steget, 1/95 (1995), 14-15. (English translation available).
Krankningen – "Dagens trafiksystem bryter mot alla de fyra grundvillkoren for saval valfard som
Overlevnad."("Today's Traffic Systems Violate All Four Conditions for Our Well-Being, and, inthe Long-Run, Our Survival.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 1/95,21-22.
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert. "Solenergi — ett salt att losa varldens framtida energiforsorjning."("Solar Energy – A Way to Solve the World's Future Supply of Energy.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga
Steget, 1/96 (1996), 28-29.
Broman, G., J. Holmberg, and K.-H. Robert. "Enkelhet utan reduktion Principerna som kan ersatta
forvining." ("Simplicity without Reduction—Principlesthat can Replace Confusion.") Tidskriften
Det Naturliga Steget, 1/96(1996), 38-41.
Robert, K.-H. "Har journalistiken forlorat sin heder? Journalistik i kris?" ("Has Journalism Lost Its
Honor? Journalism in Crisis?") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Seget 2/96 (1996), 42-44.

214

Robert, K.-H., B. Bokalders, L. Trulson, B. Wallgren, H. Nordin and R. Olsson. "Plastdebattutan rod
trad." ("The Incomprehensible Plastic Debate.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 3/96 (1996),
22-27.
Robert, K.-H. "Tankefel som far kompassnalen ur kurs – Hur ska man bara sig at for att to ut rat kurs
pa vagen mot en uthallig verksamhet?" ("Errors of Thought that Make the Compass Needle Miss
North—How Do We Provide the Right Direction to Planning?") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget,
4/96 (1996), 30-34.
— . "Genmanipulation och maktarrogans – Vilka ar mest rationella – experterna eller allmanheten."("Gene Manipulation and the Arrogance of Power – Who are Most Rational—The Experts or the
Public?") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 2/97 (1997), 40-42.
— . "Ekologiskafotavtryck – en modell for att math.miljopaverkan." ("Ecological Footprint – A Modelto Assess our Environmental Impact.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 3/4/97 (1997), 24-31.
Robert, K.-H., and J. Holmberg. "Ekonomiska verktyg ar medel, inte mal." ("Economical Tools are
Means, Not Goals.") SvenskaDagbladet, Brannpunkt, 10/10-97 (1997).
— . "Anvand inte Kyotoprotokollet som underlag for investeringsbeslut." ("Don't Use the Kyoto
Protocol as a Basis for Decisions.") SvenskaDagbladet, Brannpunkt, 3/12-97 (1997).
Robert, K.-H. "Fossila branslen & vaxande risker." ("Fossil Fuels and Risk Assessment.") Tidskriften
Det Naturliga Steget, 5/97,20-21,1997— . "Bransleceller 2000 talets elteknik." ("Fuel Cells—The Power Technology of the Next
Millennium.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 5/97 (1997), 43.
Robert, K.-H. and J. Holmberg. "Kyoto Protokollet politisk grafitti for den amerikanska hemmamarknaden." ("The Kyoto Protocol—Political Graffiti for the American Home Market.")Tidskriften Det Naturliga Steget, 6/97 (1998), 26-27.
—. "Foretagen leder miljoarbetet." ("Proactive Business at the Frontier of Sustainable Development.")
Finanstidningen, Dagens debatt, 14/1-98 (1998).
— . "Det Naturliga Stegets Systemvillkor." ("The Natural Step System-Conditions.") Tidskriften Det
Naturliga Steget, 2/98, (1998), 6-8.
Holmberg, J., K.-H. Robert, and T. Ekvall. "Branna eller atervinna? Manga brister i norsk studie."("Incinerate or Recycle? Many Intellectual Deficiencies in Norwegian Study.") Tidskriften Det
Naturliga Steget, 2/98 (1998), 27.
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert. "Karnkraft bygger pa planekonomi." ("Nuclear Power is Built on a
Planned Economy.") Finanstidningen, Dagens debatt, 4/2-98 (1998).
Holmberg, J. and K.-H. Robert, T. Ekvall. "Tre forskare om kallsortering. Osaklig kritik mot kallsortering." ("Three Scientists about Sorting Waste: Irrelevant Critic against Sorting of Waste.")Finanstidningen, Dagens debatt, 23/4-98 (1998).
Robert, K.-H. "Det osynliga ledarskapet." ("The Invisible Leadership.") Tidskriften Det Naturliga
Steget, 1/99(1999), 50-53.
Other References
Major Publications by The Natural Step

Refereed Scientific Papers (Published or In Press)
Azar, C., J. Holmberg and K. Lindgren. "Socio-Ecological Indicators for Sustainability." Ecological
Economics, 18 (1995), 89-112. (Also in Spanish in La realidad Economica. Buenos Aires. In
press.).
Andersson, K., E.M. Hogaas, U. Lundqvist and B. Mattson. "The Feasibility of Including Sustainability
in LCA for Product Development."Journal of Cleaner Production, 6 (1998), 289-298.

215

Holmberg, J. "Backcasting — A Natural Step when Operationalising Sustainable Development."
Greener Management International, No. 23, 1998.
Messerle, H. K. "Eco-Effectiveness and Sustainability." ATSE Focus, No. 108, Nov./Dec. (1999),16-20.
Other Theses
Collado, F. R. "Sustainability
and Green Trade Applied to the Leather Industry in Norrbotten—A
within a Framework
Providedby The Natural Step." Master of science programme.
University of Technology. 1999.

Study
Lulea

Books
Bern, L. Uthalligt ledarskap. (Sustainable Leadership) Book on environmental management. Ekerlids
Publisher, 1993.
Nattrass, B. and M. Altomare. The Natural Stepfor Business. British Columbia, Canada: New Society
Publishers, 1999. www.newsociety.com.

Conference Proceedings
Holmberg, J. and S. Karlsson. "Socio-Ecological Indicators." Presented at the 6th Association ofEuropean Schools of Planning (AESOP) Congress, Stockholm, June 3-6, 1992.
Carlson, U., C. Azar, J. Holmberg and K. Lindgren. "Socio-EcologicalIndicators Related to the Energy
Use in Gotland, Sweden." Presented at the Second International Workshop of the International
Societyfor Ecological Economics (ISEE) Russian Chapter. "Socio-Ecological-Economic Systems:
From Informationto Simulation." Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia: July 16-21, 1995.
Holmberg, J., U. Carlson, C. Azar and G. Berndes. "Socio-EcologicalIndicators for Sustainability for
Gotland,Sweden." Presented at the International SustainableDevelopment Research Conference inManchester,March 18-19, 1996. Conference Proceedings, 1996, 97-102.
Holmberg, J. and U. Lundqvist. "On Sustainable Product Development." Presented at Partnership andLeadership:Building Alliances for a Sustainable Future. The Greening of Industry Network, Rome,
November 15-18, 1998.
Articles and Book Chapters
Bloodsworth, D. "Area Sustainability Addressed." Gainesville Sun report of The Natural Step presentation to Gainesville, Florida, as the first in a series of lectures to educate the community about sustainable development. 1997.
Burks, P. and Kurt de Boer. "The Natural Step & Green Plans." Earth Light, Spring 1996. Describes
The Natural Step scientific consensus process in Sweden.
Frankel, C. "The Visions Gap." Global Environment Business, Vol.V, No. 3, 1995. Describes TNS as
an organizational learning style (a la Peter Senge) or approach that focuses on sustainability. Lists
four system conditions. Briefly describes early stages of TNS in the U.S. Suggests TNS consensus
process is an appropriate way to bridge the vision gap by eliminating it.
Hawken, P. "Taking the Natural Step." Originally published in Context, #41, Summer 1995. 36.
www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/Hawken2.htm.
Kranz, D. and S. Burns. "Combining the Natural Step and ISO 14001." Perspectives on Business andGlobal Change, Volume 11, No. 4 (1997). 7-20.
Hays, W. "The Natural Step—What One Person Can Do: The Story of Karl-Henrik Robert." Timeline,
No. 20, March/April (1995).
Toms, M. "The Natural Step to a Sustainable Future." New Dimensions. 1995. www.newdimens-

216

sions.org.
Van Gelder, S. "The Natural
Robert. YES, 1998.50-54.

Step: The Science of Sustainability."
www.futurenet.org.

An interview

with Dr. Karl-Henrik

1998 Chicago Conference Tapes
Anderson, Ray. The Interface Path to Sustainability. 60 minutes; video and audio.
Robin, Vicki. Personal Sustainability and The Natural Step. The Natural Link. Video and audio.
Robert, Rigmor. A Woman's Perspective on The Natural Step. 45 minutes; video and audio.
Cortese, Anthony. The Natural Step and Academia. 35 minutes; video and audio.
Hawken, Paul. Natural Capital(ism). 45 minutes; video and audio.

Papers in Non-Scientific Journals on Development and the Environment (In Swedish)Holmberg, J. "Termodynamik
och samhallelig
barkraft." ("Thermodynamics
and Social
Sustainability.") Tidskriften: Det Naturliga Steget, 2/96 (1996), 48-52.
— . "Viktigt att DNS kunskap formedlas nyanserat." ("The importance of communicating the TNS
framework in a subtle way?") Tidskriften: Det Naturliga Steget, 1/97 (1997), 10.
— . "Australienska forskare provar systemvillkoren." ("Australian Scientists Test System-Conditions."
Tidskriften: Det Naturliga Steget, 2/98 (1998), 52.

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