Dear Fellow Earth Guardians!
I hope you’ve been enjoying this holiday season, however you choose to spend it. If you’re like me, you probably never really take off your eco activist hat even on holidays!
One big thing a lot of us worry about is development that will harm our local environment. But when we fight certain kinds of development, we often end up making things worse.
For example: Many environmentalists fight density. This past week I heard about yet another development getting downgraded to “low-density residential.” That might sound good, but it’s actually bad news.
To explain why, I found this good blog post that concisely summarizes the problems associated with low-density development. See link to full article below.
(If you’re already among those of us who recognize that density isn’t the horrible evil thing some environmentalists think it is, this article will give you some good talking points for communicating with “the other side.”)
Excerpt:
“A large percentage of Americans LOVE low-density residential living, and regularly fight against any proposal that would bring more compact development anywhere near them.
“But low-density development has many problems – problems that a growing number of Americans are beginning to recognize. …
“The naive, misguided knee-jerk ‘solution’ is to fight for lower densities, which, of course, simply makes things worse. Increasingly, what this means is that people who should know better (liberals, intellectuals, greens) are urging ‘no growth’ and ‘no change,’and fighting AGAINST smart growth tactics — thereby unintentionally aligning themselves with the black hat sprawl developers. …”
Hope you find this helpful! I look forward to hearing your thoughts. By the way, this whole blog looks like a good resource for urbanism.
On a related note, this coming week I will be hosting a discussion on “Aging in Place.”
Low-density residential developments are some of the worst places for our elderly citizens, especially those who live alone.
The discussion is happening Wednesday, November 29 at 4pm. At the Unitarian Universalist congregation of Ormond Beach, 56 N. Halifax, Ormond Beach 32176. It will be in person, and if possible also by zoom or Facebook Live.