Using the same streets, sharing the same shops, services and facilities, and enjoying many of the same activities builds a powerful sense of mutual dependence and identity. This sets the stage for cooperative efforts toward community preservation and makes environmental initiatives like recycling programs and energy conservation work. The impetus for cooperation already exists. Polls show the public is concerned about environmental decay and willing to help improve the situation. Seventy-one percent were willing to pay higher taxes to achieve environmental cleanup goals.
Local citizens are prepared to make sacrifices.
They are the ones who must take on the leadership for restoring the environment in the coming decade. Again, this is possible in the cohesive community where people live and work in close proximity. It starts with modest gains on a local level which build and amass as many local levels add up their accomplishments. Ultimately, the result can be amore stable, manageable whole. Clearly, our environmental future is inextricably tied to land use.