Measuring Sustainability Report to be Released

The City of Pickering’s Office of Sustainability is set to release its Measuring Sustainability Report that sets a baseline that will allow the City to track its transformation from a suburban community to a sustainable city. It also offers tips on how you can help us achieve new milestones on this important journey.

To be released by the end of the year, the document builds upon a 2010 report that unveiled baseline measurements for 19 of 32 indicators that had been developed in consultation with staff, stakeholders and residents.

Following a community survey and further consultation with working groups, the original indicators have been refined. “Some that were less useful have been replaced with those that will provide meaningful information to the City,” says Chantal Whitaker, Coordinator, Sustainability.

“We now have 55 indicators that we believe best represent the goals of our community and can be accurately measured against our efforts. When reporting on water quality, for example, we will focus our attention on Frenchman’s Bay and our other watersheds rather than Lake Ontario, which is shared by many communities.”

The indicators are grouped into the following 5 areas:

1.    Healthy Environment
2.    Healthy Economy
3.    Healthy Society
4.    Responsible Development
5.    Responsible Consumption

The report will be posted online at sustainablepickering.com. At the end of each section, you’ll find helpful links and information about what you can do in your workplaces, homes and schools to help the City of Pickering achieve new milestones as it moves forward on its journey towards sustainability.  

Your comments, questions and suggestions regarding this report and our benchmarking sustainability project are welcome. Contact the Pickering Office of Sustainability at sustainability@cityofpickering.com.