Albany Times Union
December 20, 2010
By Charles Moore
Published: 12:00 a.m., Sunday, December 19, 2010
We keep hearing that confidence in our leaders is at an all-time low. We can’t trust them to act or if they do, to make the right decisions to ensure a sustainable future economically, environmentally or socially.
Well, relief is here. Definite capacity exists for creating immediate change. Solutions can be acted upon now.
This may dismay some because it is always easier to blame our disappointments on someone or something else. When you know that the power is within your own capacity, the "buck stops here," as President Harry Truman said.
The Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, reports that between now and 2030, the nation will develop another 213 billion square feet of homes, retail facilities, office buildings and other structures, or double the amount of space we are in today. In addition, the country’s population is expected to grow by another 100 million to 140 million over the next 40 years.
Just think of the traffic congestion, sprawl, smog and flooding that will be exacerbated. Meanwhile, a 2003 Brookings Institution report stated that between 1982 and 1997 the upstate New York population grew by only 2.6 percent yet our urbanized land grew by 30 percent. According to a 2007 Yale University report, each year the United States loses about 2 million acres of open space, or 6,000 acres a day, and about 1.2 million acres of farmland.
This cannot bode well for our future when we reflect on such statements as this one from the United Nations report, "Our Common Future": "We must meet the needs of present generations while not compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The changes we need in light of these statistics on projected growth are three-fold: Make cities more attractive, minimize sprawl and increase connectivity.
These changes can be addressed when cities, surrounding suburbs and rural areas think as one unit. Their futures, countless experts note, are interrelated. When regions recognize they must compete as a unit, they are more successful at luring new industry and talent, alleviating poverty and enhancing the overall quality of life.
Author Richard Florida wrote in "Who’s Your City?" that "The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. … People are not equally happy everywhere, and some places do a better job of providing a high quality of life than others."
Thinking regionally is essential to competing globally in our highly mobile world. Here are three ways to ensure regional sustainability that can be started immediately:
Volunteer or offer monetary support for nonprofit organizations that provide education for inner-city youth and help reduce poverty.
Support zoning revisions to ensure compact walkable development and energy efficiency.
Support nonprofits that focus on open space and farmland preservation.
These items can be addressed immediately, without waiting for distant government leaders to act. They are local and lasting.
How much longer can we wait when global temperatures rise (according to NASA), poverty increases, wealth is created only in narrow and specific areas and tax dollars are stretched to the limit?
The Siena Research Institute’s recently released 2010 checkup on "civic health" shows that New Yorkers have strong connections to family and friends and strong levels of trust in local institutions. But the state lagged in areas such as donations to charity (10 percent below the national average) and came in last in the nation on the rate of volunteerism. The three solutions mentioned above satisfy this gap.
For cities to become the attractive, desirable places they once were known to be, helping inner-city youth find productive educational outlets is essential. Suburbs have their place, but they should not be the only option when looking to provide opportunity and raise a family. Preserving open space and farmlands ensures locally grown foods, wildlife and watershed protection.
Sprawl and city deterioration have been responsible for enormous social and economic ills. Writer and activist Harvey Wasserman recently wrote that "In habitat destruction, oil addiction, global warming, outright traffic deaths (some 40,000/year and more), ancillary ailments and wars for oil, the automobile embodies the worst ecological catastrophe in human history." That may be too harsh for some to appreciate, but dismissing the statement outright would be insincere.
By focusing on the individual, the community and the region, we empower each of us to make positive lasting change. Connectivity will increase, farmlands will be more utilized and supported, and cities will once again become the beacons of education and opportunity they were always known to be.
This is not to say the government has no role, but until it does, individuals can lead the way.
Gus Speth, former dean of Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, wrote in his 2008 book, "The Bridge at the Edge of the World" about the results of a 2003 survey by the Center for a New American Dream: "In one survey, 83 percent of Americans say society is not focused on the right priorities; 81 percent say America is too focused on shopping and spending; 88 percent say American society is too materialistic; 74 percent believe excessive materialism is causing harm to the environment. If these numbers are anywhere near correct, there is a powerful base on which to build."