They approached me last November to write a weekly column discussing the issues surrounding growth here. Being willing to have thoughtful discussions about the impacts of growth has led to speaking engagements. For instance, here in San Diego, people are noticing how their commute times are rising and their quality of life is declining. Combine that with regional forecasters and Chambers of Commerce who see a steadily, ever rising line of another million, and then another million people moving here and you begin to have a basic enough picture for people to start to think about.
People seem to get that.
So what I've started to talk about is responsible growth, vs. irresponsible growth. Responsible growth - well that's something we have to create. I tend to think we don't know much about it. We are so insulated from the damages of the growth, that another useful thing is to connect actions with consequences for people, by letting them know the extent of the damages we are causing, but at the same time linking them with some kind of hope of political empowerment. Most people simply don't have a clue as to the scope of it, because every day they get up and things keep working.