23/07: Destroying What We Love
Category: Environment
Posted by: an okie gardener
Last week our family gathered in a cabin near Rocky Mountain National Park. One of the things I noticed was the amount of new construction of houses and cabins up in the mountains. No surprise to me that folks would want to live up there full or part-time. The natural beauty almost overwhelms the mind.
But, more people living in the mountains means more human noise, fewer pristine views, more demands for water and for sewage treatment, more pollution including from automobile commutes to Denver or wherever to work. One can imagine a day when congestion has destoyed the attractiveness that drew the people who moved there. Cont.
Individualism can be a good thing. But, I cannot accept it as an absolute good. We also must consider the Common Good--that which benefits all. Sometimes zoning makes sense for the Common Good.
Contrary to our current national myth, we were not founded as a nation of individualists each pursuing what was good for themselves. Most wagon trains were made up of extended families moving west who formed communities built around churches and schools and held together by all sorts of voluntary societies and informal relationships.
I also don't think today's energy and environmental problems can be solved only through the market of individual consumers. How will we, as a people, seek the Common Good?
But, more people living in the mountains means more human noise, fewer pristine views, more demands for water and for sewage treatment, more pollution including from automobile commutes to Denver or wherever to work. One can imagine a day when congestion has destoyed the attractiveness that drew the people who moved there. Cont.
Individualism can be a good thing. But, I cannot accept it as an absolute good. We also must consider the Common Good--that which benefits all. Sometimes zoning makes sense for the Common Good.
Contrary to our current national myth, we were not founded as a nation of individualists each pursuing what was good for themselves. Most wagon trains were made up of extended families moving west who formed communities built around churches and schools and held together by all sorts of voluntary societies and informal relationships.
I also don't think today's energy and environmental problems can be solved only through the market of individual consumers. How will we, as a people, seek the Common Good?
Matt Bates wrote:
"A pleasant natural environment is a good - a luxury good, philosophical good, a moral goody-good, a good time for all. Whatever, we want it. If we want something, we should pay for it, with our labor or our cash. We shouldn't beg it, steal it, sit around wishing for it, or euchre the government into taking it by force."
(1994), All the trouble in the world. The lighter side of famine, pestilence, destruction and death. Sydney (Picador), 204
More people living in the mountains means more noise, waste, etc. IN THE MOUNTAINS. Presumably it means less of those same things in (let's say) Denver where those people came from.
Also, restrictions on development in the name of preserving the environment causes tremendous damage to the Common Good.
Thousands of people living in Denver are unable to afford housing because the supply has been artificially restricted. Homeowners (more organized, more connected, more 'free' time on their hands) enlist the government on their behalf to prevent development near them, not only new home construction, but also high density housing, mixed-use retail/housing, etc. This protects and inflates their wealth, makes it more difficult for first-time buyers to enter the market and build their family wealth, and restricts renters to established, poorer communities, in inner city Denver.
What exactly is a pristine view in a national park worth to these people? Poll THEM and they would no doubt prefer to purchase their own home.
If other people want a pristine natural environment, let them pay for it. There are plenty of examples such as country clubs, yacht clubs, ski resorts, hunting and fishing expeditions, etc., where private individuals have paid to preserve a version of the natural landscape and then "rent" the experience to customers. So why does the government need to be involved?