Since my prior post about the loss of green space, and the stories that many of you shared in your comments, I have been stewing trying to think of how we could solve urban sprawl.
I know, I know--I am not running for office. And I have no power base from which to mount any campaign to save green space.
But I just recently read about a potential way to help preserve green space. Why can't we urge local and state legislators to establish green spaces?
Now, where in the world, you might ask, does such an idea exist in reality? In the UK. Here's a description. Here's the paragraph that captures the basic description:
I know, I know--I am not running for office. And I have no power base from which to mount any campaign to save green space.
But I just recently read about a potential way to help preserve green space. Why can't we urge local and state legislators to establish green spaces?
Now, where in the world, you might ask, does such an idea exist in reality? In the UK. Here's a description. Here's the paragraph that captures the basic description:
In United Kingdom town planning, the green belt is a policy for controlling urban growth. The idea is for a ring of countryside where urbanisation will be resisted for the foreseeable future, maintaining an area where agriculture, forestry and outdoor leisure can be expected to prevail. The fundamental aim of green belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open, and consequently the most important attribute of green belts is their openness.
Actually, this concept explains why when we have visited the UK, I do not see the constant gobbling up of land. Towns and villages have a discernable beginning (and end).
The city where we live does have a green belt--a series of interconnected green spaces, but these spaces run through the city and in no way delineate the end of urban growth.
Thank goodness for some good news in our area. We are located in some of the rolling hills of the Appalachians--many of the place names here feature the word "gap" for the places where you can pass between one mountain and the next. One such gap--Waggoner's Gap--is along some of the raptor flyways, and has as many raptors passing through as the famed Hawk Mountain. Several groups, including the PA Audubon Society, have gone together to buy up acreage in this area, to keep it wooded and available for all to enjoy nature.
Aerial view, courtesy of MapQuest, of Waggoner's Gap Rd., Route 74
A small victory in the face of the all the greedy destruction of open space.
So, my new mantra--we need green space, we need green space. . .
So, my new mantra--we need green space, we need green space. . .
