Critical Thinking for Sustainable Community Decision-Making

The document introduces a community leadership tool designed to improve decision-making by evaluating proposed actions against 15 sustainability factors. It emphasizes the need for diverse participant perspectives and impartial facilitation to ensure a comprehensive analysis of long-term, environmental, and social implications.

• The tool is designed to move community decision-making beyond standard financial and technical information to include factors that influence quality-of-life, helping leaders identify the best of several alternatives or modify a proposal to be more compatible with the environment, economy, and community.
• For the tool to be effective, the process must include participants with differing political views and technical backgrounds, and be led by an impartial, skilled facilitator in a neutral location.
• The decision-making matrix utilizes 15 specific factors to evaluate proposed actions, 'no-action' alternatives, and other alternative actions using a seven-symbol scoring system ranging from highly positive (++) to highly negative (--), as well as indicators for neutral effects (0), lack of information (?), or non-applicability (n/a).
• The 15 evaluation factors cover a broad range of sustainability and systemic impacts, including long-term, off-site, and cumulative effects; community self-reliance and economic/environmental diversity; growth and throughput; fairness across demographics; public services; finances; natural resources; waste; and the ability to provide multiple benefits.

APA

RMI (2000). Critical Thinking for Sustainable Community Decision-Making. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER00-30_CriticalThink.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Critical Thinking for Sustainable Community Decision-Making. 2000. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER00-30_CriticalThink.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Critical Thinking for Sustainable Community Decision-Making |date=2000 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER00-30_CriticalThink.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2000critical, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Critical Thinking for Sustainable Community Decision-Making}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2000}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_ER00-30_CriticalThink.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }