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Syndicate
Apr
13
| 75 Words: Your Take on Sustainability |
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| Friday, 13 April 2007 | |
 Sustainability, long a buzzword of the environmental world, has gone mainstream. It turns up everywhere in the mass media. It's often been suggested that Rhode Island would make a great test case for sustainable ideas, thanks to our compact size and close-knit population. The Apeiron Institute has designated 2007 "The Year of Sustainable Rhode Island."
What do you think? Is sustainability an idea whose time has come? Should Rhode Island lead the way? What needs to be done to realize that vision? What does sustainability mean to you, and do you think it's a vision worth pursuing?
Tell us what you think, in 75 words (more or less).... just click on the Comment link under the headline, and join our conversation.
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Comments
2007-05-1709:40:43 Sustainability is not only environmental, it is economic, educational, and political. RI suffers from deurbanization, 1 in 6 illiteracy, privatized/ineffectual economic development, and a regime of politicians the likes of which hasn't been heard of since Machievelli. Green issues always take a back seat to their profit motives. Road sprawl is directly attributed to automotive lobbies, suburban mall development, poor urban planning, lack of good mass transit and affordable housing, and a general disregard of natural places. Even Roger Williams Park has shrunk from its original 450 acres to a small fraction of that. In Johnston an entire forest was recently leveled for another massive parking lot and retail outlet only 2 miles from the next one. Time to draw the line before all of RI is paved over with roads you can neither walk nor bike on. Politicians who don't serve your interests aren't worth keeping.
2007-04-1709:48:19 Great website and list. Great job ou are doing.
2007-04-1520:20:36 Rhode Island is an ideal place for implementing sustainable projects, and in fact such work is well underway. Not only is our state compact geographically, but residents are only two or three removes from each other. Rhode Island is on a human scale. We are reaching a critical mass of capable, imaginative, and determined folks working for sustainability in farming, gardening, historical preservation, urban development, water resources, and land use. It’s great to be part of this Growing Community!
2007-04-1515:48:26 Another near taboo in sustainability discussion is population growth. While in RI population growth is relatively manageable, even here it has increased by over 100,000 people in the years I have lived in the state, and that has had a real impact on sprawl, CO2 emissions and the like. But there is no hope for sustainabilty if the the US and world population continues to grow at the current rate, a little over 1% a year. The US population has doubled in the years since 1950. If it doubles again in 57 years we will havr over 600 million people! What will stop that from happening? I also agree with Greg above that militarism gets in the way of sustainability, but it is also a problem not easily solved. But in both cases a change in policy can be helpful and I hope we can discuss this.
2007-04-1418:53:37 Sustainability is an idea whose time has come. Global warming, peak oil, sprawl have all pushed us there. But what seems to be the taboo topic is the relationship between miitarism and the inability of Americans to achieve sustainability. It will be very difficult to create a sustainable Rhode Island as long as our government is willing to kill for resources and to kill all who oppose the crazy consumerism and corporate power we live under.
2007-04-1416:55:34 I think there is a reason why pharmaceutical companies don't go to market with names like eszopiclone. It is because a pill called Lunesta is just a little easier to swallow. Sustainability is the generic term for something we need to achieve. But, it is also a term that has been coopted in a number of different ways. If Rhode Island is going to lead the way, I believe nearly anyone could get behind a name like RIght-Way. (RI-ght Way)