Thinking Globally, Acting Locally:
Local environmental activism gets a new lease on life.
By David Kyler
The Center for a Sustainable Coast
Sparked by a backlash against runaway and poorly planned development, widely known as 'sprawl' more and more people are questioning
the growth decisions being made by local governments.
"As population growth fuels soaring demand for housing, roads, and related services, millions of people see the effects of sprawl
paving over the natural landscape and eroding the character of their communities." Apart from frustration with traffic congestion
and the roadside blight of parking lots, billboards, and franchise architecture, "there's mounting concern about increased pollution,
strains on local water supplies, and the rapid loss of trees, wetlands, farmland, wildlife habitats, and open spaces."
Visions for their communities and goals vary depending on local conditions, but concerned citizens agree that we must change the present
pattern of land use so as to preserve valued features of the natural landscape. Furthermore, we must prevent further erosion of the
ecological functions needed for a healthy environment, including clean air and water.
"We must turn away from obsolete preoccupation with human-centered decisions (dominated by zoning and subdivision regulation) toward
a new process based on the capacity of natural systems that are needed to sustain our communities."
Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has declared that we must turn away from obsolete preoccupation with human-centered
decisions (dominated by zoning and subdivision regulation) toward a new process based on the capacity of natural systems that are
needed to sustain our communities. Environmental scientist William Honachefsky condemns the influence of zoning as a land-use control
because it usually supercedes a more comprehensive approach based on ecosystem assessment and community values. "Zoning codes and maps
dictate land use in the near future, without considering the consequences it will have on a community decades later," he explains in his
recent book, Ecologically Based Municipal Land use Planning.
He condemns the influence of zoning as a land-use control because it usually supercedes a more comprehensive approach based on ecosystem
assessment and community values: "Zoning codes and maps dictate land use in the near future, without considering the consequences
it will have on a community decades later."
"Incorporate the local 'ecological infrastructure' into
the municipal master plan for primary consideration in
decisions about development and land use."
"Over the past 30 years, the establishment of agencies for environmental protection have lured people into a false feeling that
environmental problems can be fixed by a [simple] cure."
Honachefsky advises that representatives from all sectors of a community should be involved in local decisions about land use,
especially to decide what features of the landscape must be preserved at any cost. He argues that solutions to local decision
processes must be built upon a realization of ecological constraints.
For more on this topic, please go to http://news.nationalgeographic.com &
www.sprawlwatch.org
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