文档介绍：MEASURING SUSTAINABILITY – PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR
ORGANIC ENTERPRISES
Brookman, Graham
The Food Forest, PO Box 859 Gawler, South Australia, 5118
brookman@
Introduction
Organic Agriculture prides itself on the responsibility it shows toward the environment and claims
more ‘sustainability’ than conventional systems. The certifier of our farm even calls itself the
National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia, yet how many of us know just how
sustainable our enterprises are. anic farmers use more diesel than their herbicide spraying
neighbours? Could it really be environmentally sustainable to export lettuces?
During 2004 our anic permaculture property was required to establish its sustainability
credentials and I drew heavily on the work of the prolific American researcher and writer David
Pimentel. Another major reference was ‘Triple Bottom Line Reporting”(Dept Environment and
Heritage, Australia, 2003), a paper written for the Australian Government, which subsumes the
international ‘Global Reporting Initiative’ protocols for the assessment of sustainability and aligns
with the Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001; this document suggests
arithmetical methods for calculating many specific sub indicators: download from
/settlements/industry/finance/publications/indicators/#download
I propose a number