Chapter 19Planning for a Sustainable Future

Big QuestionHow Can We Plan, and Achieve,

a Sustainable Environment?

The Ideal Sustainable Environment

The Process of Planning aFuture

• Environmental planning occurs at every level – house, city, county, state, nation

• All societies have usually tried to plan their use of land and resources

• Our society has formal planning processes for land use

• Environmental planning and review are closely related to how land is used

• In a democracy, environmental planning leads to a tug-of-war

• In planning, we need to achieve a balance

• Who speaks for nature? Who legally represents the environment?

In Planning a Nation’sLandscapes, How Big Should

Wildlands Be?• Some argue that nature can be saved only by

thinking big

• The Wildlands Project argues that big predators are keys to ecosystems and require large home ranges

• One proposal is to reclaim American prairie, removing towns and cities

• The Wildlands Project has created a major controversy

• A fundamental threat to American democracy?

• Good or bad science?

Our Need for Nature in anIncreasingly Urban Environment

• Modern humans first appeared in the Pleistocene era

• Before the rise of civilization, our ancestors had to use all of their human senses to survive

• Our world is becoming increasingly urban

• Fewer people have much direct contact with nature

• Recent studies verify our need for nature in cities

• Trees also help to protect us from air pollution and heat

• How much contact with nature do we need?

The City Park

• Parks have become more and more important in cities

• Frederick Law Olmsted designed Central Park in New York

• Olmsted’s parks were naturalistic - an example of “design with nature”

Taken from: http://www.seattle.gov/friendsofolmstedparks/

Garden Cities• A system of countryside and urban landscapes

with cities surrounded by greenbelts

The Ecological Capital of Brazil: How a City Transformed Itself

• Population increased to 1.5 million from 300,000 in 1950

• By 1970, Curitiba was well on the way to becoming an example of environmental degradation and social decay

• The city turned itself from an urban disaster into a model of planning and sustainability by 1995

• The public transportation system was a key factor

• More than 1.3 million passengers ride buses each day

• Recycling solved Curitiba’s serious garbage problem

• The city planned affordable housing and attractive parks

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audit%C3%B3rio_da_%C3%93pera_de_Arame.jpg

Regional Planning: TheTennessee Valley Authority

• There was a time in the 20th century when large scale environmental planning by the federal government was seen as a social good

• The TVA was a successful experiment in regional environmental planning

• Responsible for promoting economic growth and social well-being across seven states suffering from exploitation of timber and petroleum, and severe poverty

Environment and Law: AHorse, a Gun, and a Plan

• U.S. law has always emphasized individual rights– nearly unlimited discretion to use one’s own

property however one wished

• But an individual’s behavior can’t infringe on the rights of others

• Another common-law doctrine is that of public trust– grants and limits governmental authority over

certain natural areas such as navigable waterways

Three Stages in the History of FederalLegislation Pertaining to Land and

Natural Resources• In the first stage, the goal was to convert

public lands to private uses– Homestead Act of 1862– Rights-of-way to railroad companies

• The second stage saw the beginning of protection for public lands

• Congress made Yosemite Valley a California state park in 1864

• Created Yellowstone National Park in 1872

• In the third stage, Congress enacted laws about the environment

• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 1946

• National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) in 1969

How You Can Play a Role inLegal Processes

• In the 1980s, a new type of “radical” environmentalism arose– Sit ins, sabotage (ecotage)

• Civil disobedience and ecotage make groups like the Sierra Club look like moderates

• Have been successful in defending the environment in some instance

• Environmentalists are now relying more on the law– Endangered Species Act

• Some first seek peaceful ways to avoid the cost and delay of litigation – mediation

• In some states, mediation is required by law

• Proposed hydroelectric project at Storm King Mountain illustrates mediation’s advantages over litigation

International EnvironmentalLaw and Diplomacy

• Some issues of concern to many nations are addressed by a collection of policies, agreements, and treaties loosely called international environmental law

• Successful agreements include the Montreal

• Protocol of 1987 to reduce air pollutants that destroy stratospheric ozone

• Antarctica is one place where international law protects the environment

The Challenge to Students ofthe Environment

• To continue to work toward environmental and social justice for all the people in the world

• To enhance the development of sustainability; to minimize local, regional, and global environmental degradation

• To develop and support international agreements to control global warming and pollutants,