Redefining Progress

Organization Description

Redefining Progress bills themselves as "The nation's leading public policy think tank dedicated to smart economics." RP works to find solutions that ensure a sustainable and equitable world for future generations. Their policy initiatives address such environmental issues as global climate change and natural resource depletion, while ensuring that both the burdens and the benefits of these policies are shared equally among affected communities. Redefining Progress' tools and policies have given rise to the following large-scale initiatives:

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS PROGRAM: The cost of many products Americans purchase each day fails to fully account for their effects on society and the environment. Pollution, traffic congestion, and health risks are examples of such effects. RP's Sustainable Economics Program works to promote creative, market-based solutions to capturing these costs and to balancing a healthy environment, a strong economy, and a fair society.

SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS PROGRAM: The Sustainability Indicators Program documents where communities really stand in respect to their natural and social limits. The General Progress Indicator, for example, is a tool offered by RP that subtracts destructive costs and adds in social and economic benefits ignored by the Gross Domestic Product. Their Ecological Footprint tool tracks the consumption and waste patterns of individuals, communities, businesses and nations, and has rigorously shown that humans overuse the Earth's natural capital by up to 25%.

COMMON ASSETS PROGRAM: The Common Assets program reclaims a community's shared resources as the basis for its common wealth. Resources like water, genetic information, parks, public education and safe recreation areas are critical to ensuring sustainable development and quality of life. RD believes that Americans lose out as these common assets are increasingly privatized, enclosed, divested and depleted.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE: The EJCC is a national coalition of environmental justice, climate justice, religious, policy, and advocacy groups organized by Redefining Progress and representing thousands of communities. The EJCC galvanizes a grassroots base on three major fronts--research/communications, education, and organizing/coalition building--to ensure that policy action is fair and supports our communities.