SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES meet basic human needs, preserve and build on local assets, and go beyond preserving existing environments to restore natural systems through advanced operations and design.  In our view, to do this with efficiency and equity, sustainable development tends to favor local independent businesses with socially and environmentally advanced business models, and connects a region globally from a stance of local strength.  Sustainable enterprises and regional policies therefore choose appropriate technologies that are environmentally and socially beneficial, right-sized and guided by community values. Economics, and economic development, are in the midst of an important re-assessment to create new systems for measuring value in the natural and social arenas as well as in traditional economic terms.  These developments allow communities to take a more subtle look at the ways they evaluate economic progress - not just more jobs, but more jobs at living wage... in businesses that recirculate dollars in the community... The U.S. Society for Ecological Economics (www.ussee.org), the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics (http://www.uvm.edu/giee/), and Redefining Progress (www.rprogress.org) are recommended entry points into new economic frameworks and tools, as well as Peter Barnes' paradigm-shifting book, Capitalism 3.0 (www.capitalism3.com).  Some other entry points for the exploration of economic sustainability are:

• Business Alliance for Local Living Economies www.livingeconomies.org
• Initiative for a Competitive Inner City www.icic.org
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation www.lisc.org
• Natural Capitalism Solutions www.natcapsolutions.org
• Regional Technology Strategies www.rtsinc.org

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