Sustainability Assessment

Indicators for a food system

(remember this can be done
for anything!)

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to
1. Describe what an indicator is and how an
indicator is used to measure the Sustainability
of a system.
2. Describe how each of the 3 pillars fits into the
food system.
3. Be able to select indicators to assess the
Sustainability of the food system in their
school.
4. Be able to draw a model of the food system.

What are Indicators

An indicator is something that helps
you understand where you are, which way you
are going and how far you are from where you
want to be.
Indicators of sustainability are different from
traditional indicators.
Traditional indicators -- such as stockholder
profits, asthma rates, and water quality -measure changes in one part of a community
as if they were entirely independent of the
other parts.

Indicators addressing the three

pillars of Sustainability

Environment

Economy

Image Source: Sustainable Measures: Indicators of Sustainability

http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/Indicators/WhatIs.html

Society

How does the food you

purchase impact water
quality?

Is there a large
enough profit for
those who are
invested?

Is the food
you
purchase
healthy and
accessible
to
everyone?

How
many
miles did
your food
travel?
How is the
food grown
affecting the
surrounding

Does the food you

purchase support farmers
jobs and fair pay and

Basic Food Systems Model

Source: San Francisco Food Alliance

http://www.sffoodsystems.org/pdf/FS
A-online.pdf

 Think about an APPLE

What is the Life Cycle of an apple?
Are apples sustainable (always,
sometimes, never)?
What makes one apple more sustainable
than another?
Where do the apples
you eat (or your company purchases)
come from?

Possible Food Systems Indicators

Environmental

Economic

Pesticides

Impact on
Natural
Resources

Food
Prices

Social
Promotes
good
health

Farmers
Wages

Supports the
local
community

Food Security
Provides
Educational
opportunities

Impact on Air
Quality
Food
Miles

Using indictors to measure

sustainability
Characteristics of a good indicator:
Comprehensiveness
Clarity
Measurability
Availability of data
Relevance
Validity
Consistency and reliability

 When trying to determine the sustainability of

something, you must determine what indicators you are
going to use to measure
An audit refers to a process of observing, checking,
recording and compiling clear information which
illustrates the environmental, economic or social
situation of a defined area.
An audit contains a set of indicators that are capable of
addressing multiple parameters (i.e. 3 pillars) of a
system.
Consequently, audits are all different depending on what
they are trying to assess and correspond to certain
indicators.