If we want to become more sustainable as a city we are going to have to make sure we all have a complete picture.

Just about anything with an environmental flavour has the potential to become a political football and frequently does. We need to find a way where all the relevant information can be shown in a neutral way, where we can all get a good idea of how well, or not, we are doing in certain areas.

Part of becoming more sustainable as a city is a need for our democratic processes to become more open. If Christchurch is to work toward strengthening our environment it can only be done with the support, and participation, of the public. It will be a learning curve for all of us.

Starting next year, the Christchurch City Council plans to introduce more direct ways of making sure everyone has a good chance of getting the whole picture on how we are going as a sustainable city.

One of the most potentially informative steps will be the adoption of an idea called the Alberta GPI Sustainable Well-Being Circle Index. The GPI bit stands for Genuine Progress Indicator. Plainerspeaking folk might like to call it a graph.

Using a circular shape this index will show at a glance how well, or otherwise, we are doing on a scale from 0 to 100. It can measure everything from the sustainability of our energy use patterns through to areas of social sustainability such as crime and problem gambling.

The index can cover, and track, virtually any area of our natural and developed world that is deemed important to our over-all sustainability and well-being.

The idea was developed in Alberta, Canada with great effect. One of the people involved in developing it is former MP Marilyn Waring, who will soon be spending some time working directly with the Council’s sustainability people to help evolve and adapt the index for Christchurch.

It will be a powerful tool, allowing us all to see at a glance how we are going on a huge number of fronts. Like any great idea it is deceptively simple because so much work has gone into developing the idea.

It will make a huge difference to both the quality of information available to the general public and also in our ability to look at the total functioning of our city. It is planned to introduce the Index for inclusion in up-coming Annual Plans.