Dear Editor,

Members of the Nederland community met for two hours on the morning of Saturday, April 29, to discuss sustainability with Bernard Amadei, professor of engineering and co-founder of Engineers Without Borders. Sustainability is a buzzword these days, and we lose sight of its meaning in the rapidly changing landscape of green, eco-friendly development. Sustainability means more than an environmental movement.

“Sustainability is a fancy word. I’ve heard of it since 1992 and I still don’t know how to define it except for some kind of indicator between people and their environment. It is some kind of balance. When I look at sustainability, to me, I break it down into two words: “sustain” and “ability.” Ability to sustain. So, the question is: Ability to sustain what and for how long? Replace sustainability with the word stewardship, we are stewards of our community,” Amadei explained.

Amadei has framed sustainability by five components, known as the five Ps: people, planet, prosperity, partnership, and peace. Is a project good for the people and the planet? Does it create prosperity, not necessarily profit, but does it allow people to prosper? Does the project create partnership? This is a business opportunity, what businesses do we need here to keep the population from having to go down to Boulder? And lastly, peace, a project or community cannot be sustainable without peace.

Prior to our meeting, attendees were asked to consider the top three major issues facing the town of Nederland, any issue not necessarily constrained to sustainability. We openly discussed a wide range of topics including public works, disaster planning, community resiliency, housing, tourism, outdoor education, mental health, and jobs. There were several takeaways. I left with a strong urge to understand our watershed and solid waste streams. Where is it collected? Where does it go? I also left with more connection and hope that we can develop more affordable housing options and compassion for people struggling to stay in our community.

“If being together is not a gift, then it is not a community,” Amadei said. He left us with a few questions for our next facilitated discussion. One question was: Instead of focusing on what is not working, what is working that we can build on?

Another facilitated discussion is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 17, from 10 a.m. until noon at the Nederland Community Center. For more information, please refer to the Upcoming Events calendar on the town website ( https://townofnederland.colorado.gov/). We will be discussing individual answers to the following questions:

• What are our strengths as a community?

• What do we want Nederland to look and be like in 20 years?

• What do we need?

This is not a typical or boring government meeting. This is an open and organic discussion about our community, an opportunity to meet like-minded people and make a difference in the direction of our town. All members of the public are encouraged to attend and be heard. For notes from our previous discussion, please feel free to contact Tanya at tanyasunger@gmail.com. All are welcome to join us and help shape our community.

Tanya Unger

Nederland