Sustainability and the Legacy of Our Built Environments

Start With The Concept ofSUSTAINABILITY

• Very Simply – “able to be maintained”• Or “the ability to meet our needs without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs”

• Or “the potential longevity of vital human ecological support systems”

• Or “ “

And Then Ask Some Basic Questions

• Am I sustainable?• Do I live sustainably?• Do you live sustainably?• Is my way of life sustainable?• Do we all live sustainably?• What are the costs? Consequences?• Short Term or Long Term?

Then The Most Important Issue

• Is it mandatory that we live differently? Does our future depend on a sustainability model?

So What Are We (You) Doing?

Lets start with our Current Relationship to the Earth?

• Land consumption (development) since 1984 is more than development the previous 300 years.

• Between 1970 and 2000 the percentage of the USA population living in suburbs has grown from 38% to 50%.

• 37.4 % increase in suburban poverty from 2000-2010

• Between 1986 and 1997, an estimated 58,500 acres of wetlands were lost each year in the United States.

• Worldwide - that is about 60 acres per hour since 1780!

Recreating Landscapes to Suit our Needs – Not the

Environment

Degrading Water Supplies In The Process

Fundamentally Changing Our Water Cycle

To Fundamentally Change Our Environment

Alter Stream Channels

What do we do?

• Because we manipulate the Natural Environment to Build the Human Environment

With Only Our Idea Of Land Improvement

What Happens?

With General Disregard for Natural Resources

Creationg Ecosystem Wide Problems

Extreme Siltation and Pollution of a Resource

Into What Only We Consider Harmony With Nature?

So……How Did We Get Into This Model Of Land Use Anyway?

• We Value Private Ownership of Land• Use of Land is a Local Issue• A Local Government is Sustained By Tax

Revenue• Majority of Tax Revenue is Generated

through Property• Developed Property Increases Revenue

Early Model

• Downtown as the center of Commerce and Residential Density

• Rural Areas as dispersed farms, mills and homes.

• Dispersed Environmental Impacts because much of the ecosystem unaltered

• But construction around water resources as a highway of commerce

Downtown

Blackwater Creek

Blackwater Creek

Mills

Environmental Impacts• Existent but consider the pattern of human

use.• Deforestation and Erosion• Farms and remaining wilderness.• But Consider the lack of Impervious

Surfaces.

Transitional ModelInitial Model• Downtown as the center of Commerce and Residential

Density• Rural Areas as dispersed farms, mills and homes

• Fundamental change from Rail to the Automobile• Individual Mobility!!!• Downtown as Crowded and Less Desirable Living• *Fundamental Shift - Rural Areas as Shopping Centers

and Neighborhoods

Pittman Plaza Lynchburg• Subdivisions• Malls• Interstates• Parking Lots• Development follows

the rooftops

Average Home Size

• 1970 – 1500 sq ft• 1990 – 1700 sq ft• 2003 – 2300 sq ft

• Family size over past 30 years decreases by 25%

• House size increases by 50%

Environmental Impacts• Increased Use of

Land Per Capita• Paved Surfaces• Generation of

Traffic • Loss of Farmland• Erosion,

Sedimentation• Filling of Wetlands

Current ModelInitial Model• Downtown as the center of Commerce and Residential Density –

Highly Desirable• Rural Areas as dispersed farms, mills and homes

Transitional Model• Fundamental change from Rail

to the Automobile• Individual Mobility!!!• Downtown as Crowded • Rural Areas as Shopping

Centers and Neighborhoods

• Fully dependent on the Automobile

• Individual Autonomy• Downtowns Abandoned• Rural Areas aggressively

consumed for Shopping Centers and Neighborhoods

• Chain Development in firm control of our Lives

• Economy driven by consumption – Must be NEW!

• Past infrastructure abandoned • Environmental protection only

when convenient

To Have Something Like This

Sustainable Communities?

Ultimately - Our Current Reality

Modern Stream Alterations

Home Depot

Idea of Wetlands

Integration Into Environment

Abandonment of Properties

Plaza

Downtown

What Did We Expect?

1. All of our Stream are Impaired.2. We really don’t have time/resources to

help you with this problem until 2022.3. In 2022 we will start the TMDL 5-10 year

process only putting resources toward identification

4. When we finish you will need to implement solutions

What would we Expect?

Chesapeake Bay TMDL is expected to cost 15 billion dollars.

Needed to stem current pollution loads and loss of fishery.

So What are the Considerations?

Do You Value: • Our Water

Environment• Wetlands• Development• Water Quality• Economy• Consumption

New Considerations?• When did you decide to be part of this model?

• Are you independent from or dependent on a corporate created existence?

• Every day we decide to support this model or reject it – we vote with every penny we spend.

• Remember - the Environment is intertwined into every choice you make so - make a difference.

Create Positive Changes

And Don’t Ever Give Up