We have designed a process for exploring sustainability potentials on Lopez island. As we progress, this flexible framework will inform how we undertake initial research, engage with the Lopezian community, and communicate our results in a meaningful way. The below explanation provides a brief outline of our process:

In order to formulate long-term sustainability scenarios for Lopez Island, we need a better understanding of a diverse array of indicators – demographics, transportation statistics, electricity and heating data, agriculture practices and statistics, water usage, capture, and loss, and waste stream management information and data. The Internet can only take us so far and so deep, so we are connecting with local experts in these areas. For example, who knew that the right people to contact for information on fuel infrastructure and supply would be the Hazardous Materials Emergency Planning folks?

We will visit Lopez for a week long period in which students will have a series of meetings pertinent to the areas of study. These meetings provide an opportunity to ask pressing questions, gain meaningful insight, and have informative conversations with key individuals and organizations on Lopez. We will share our initial findings with the Lopez community at an event designed to engage community members and generate a rich conversation regarding opportunities for a more sustainable Lopez.

To help us gather baseline data, to help us understand key issues and preferences on Lopez Island, and to help us introduce our project to more Lopezians, we will create and distribute an online survey to as many Lopez islanders as possible. Questions like how far a person drives each week, how serious they think a particular long-term issue is, and an introductory explanation that provides users with our contact information will help us accomplish these goals. We will analyze the results, and share them with Lopezians in the coming weeks.

From our baseline data, site visits on the island, and meetings with experts and Lopez Island residents, we will develop scenarios such as: a business as usual trajectory, and one based on sustainable, long-term transformations in transportation, electricity, heating, agriculture, water, and waste.

The next-to-last step in our process will entail the creation of a narrative, substantiated by data and real-world research, that gives life and structure to the two scenarios we construct. We’ll highlight key opportunities and leverage points that exist on Lopez Island to achieve longterm environmental health and island-scale resilience. The narrative will include discussions of costs and benefits, potential sources of revenues, and social considerations for each area we cover.

Once we finish our written report, we will disseminate it broadly on Lopez Island so that it can serve as a seed of change on the island. We’ll also use the report to apply for a grant that can provide the capital necessary to kickstart some of the “low hanging fruit” changes that we will identify in our report.