......Robert's work began with a dream, literally. In 1989, Robert
was struggling to address the surging cancer rates he observed among
young children in Sweden and read about in reports from around the
world. His research and that of others led him to believe that the
one percent a year increases in rates of certain childhood cancers
were tied to environmental factors, not lifestyle. He had to explain
to parents that their children were dying from what we are doing to
the planet.

Robert was frustrated by the scientific community's endless debate
about the causes of the problem. As he says, "The scientists were
like monkeys chattering about the leaves of a tree, while the tree
was dying. We had to get at the trunk and roots to discover the core
principles for addressing the problem."

As Robert struggled with the problem, it began to invade his sleep.
Night after night, he had dreams of a beautiful woman, a temptress.
And then one night she turned into a witch that clawed and attacked
him.

Robert tried to understand its significance. He turned to his wife
Rigmor, a professional therapist, who interpreted the dream to mean
that he was not acting on his desires to build consensus and start
an environmental organization. With this clarity, Robert was
inspired to begin a bold quest for science's seeming Holy Grail — a
set of principles for planetary sustainability upon which leading
scientists could agree. He distributed a paper for comment from
fellow researchers. Comments came back ripping up the ideas
presented. Robert thanked them for their comments and simply asked
what suggestions they had for improving the paper. He initiated a
process by which he incorporated suggestions and continually sent
the document back out.

The Breakthrough
After 21 drafts, Robert finally achieved consensus from 50 leading
Swedish scientists. Then he shared the findings in easily understood
language with corporate heads in Sweden. The corporate leaders
realized that their businesses were in danger from the spreading
cancer among their future customer base and the destruction of the
very resources they needed to manufacture their products. They
agreed to help underwrite the distribution of an easy-to-understand,
attractive educational pamphlet and audiocassette on the scientific
findings. It went to every home and school in Sweden, 4.3 million
altogether.

Robert also shared the pamphlet with other groups, including nurses,
doctors, lawyers, artists, musicians, teachers, architects, and
policy makers. Top performers saw the possibility of using this
powerful tool to educate a nation and volunteered to do a major
television special, if the network would agree. In short order,
Robert not only lined up the network, but was able to get the
blessing of the King of Sweden as a royal patron.

The Natural Step (TNS, or in Swedish, Det Naturaliga Steget) was
officially launched in 1989 with a nationally broadcast television
show featuring Robert with Sweden's leading musicians, artists, and
cultural leaders. This was soon followed by an eco-train, which
stopped in cities and towns from one end of Sweden to the other and
carried educational exhibits on sustainability sponsored by
corporations.

TNS was established as a nonprofit educational organization with the
purpose of developing and sharing a common framework comprised of
easily understood, scientifically-based principles that serve as a
compass to guide society toward a just and sustainable future.

While the idea of TNS was being formed, Swedish communities began
creating "ecomunicipalities" by combining economic and ecological
development. It didn't always go smoothly; Swedish eco-municipality
leader Torbjorn Lahti found himself sorely limited by a lack of
public awareness and official support. To spread the word, Lahti
invested his life savings and offered Sweden's first eco-community
conference in 1990 at Orsa. Last-minute registrations, inspired by
word-of-mouth, packed the conference, which succeeded in its goal of
firmly establishing the eco-municipality movement.

But it achieved far more. This event will perhaps be marked as a
watershed in human history because it was there that Dr. Karl Henrik
Robert met leading physicist Dr. Karl-Erik Eriksson and his young
Ph.D. student John Holmberg. Their interaction led to the
development of The Natural Step's basic principles for
sustainability .........
Terry Gipps,Take the Natural Step,
www.consciouschoice.com/1995-1998/cc115/naturalstep.html