With 11 months to go until the presidential election, and deficit reduction completely dominating the political dialog, it would be easy to give up on the ideals of sustainability.
But when you get away from Washington, and talk to the real people who do the real work of shaping our communities, you find something much different. People are thinking harder than ever about the future. And they are waking up to the need to reduce dependence on cars, build more affordable housing, increase the efficiency of our buildings, and make our economy more equitable.
I am an aging Baby Boomer who is just getting to the cranky age, where everything seems to be going downhill. But the strangest thing is happening. As the election approaches, I am experiencing inklings of optimism.
People like to make fun of Obama’s “Got hope?” campaign from 2008. But after writing about the sustainability movement for over a year, I do have hope. Positive change is coming, and it’s due largely to people like Kasim Reed and Pat Clancy, both of whom are the subject of articles in the current issue of Sustainable Communities magazine, and thousands of people in the public and private sectors just like them, even including some in Washington.
Reed is the 42-year-old mayor of Atlanta. He is determined to make Atlanta a national leader and an example for other southern cities in regard to sustainability. He is right when he says it’s not about Baby Boomers like me. He’s speaking for the Millennial Generation and generations yet to come of age, and he knows that their growing political power means the sustainability movement will only accelerate in years to come.
Clancy is retiring after 40 years developing mixed-income communities and helping low-income tenants become self-sufficient. He and his colleagues at The Community Builders have kept delivering housing no matter what the federal government did or did not do to help. And they will keep doing it in any political climate.
If Republicans take control of the Senate or even the White House next year, it will be a serious set back to sustainability. But no matter what party you favor, remember this: Our movement is permanent and irreversible. Young people with the determination of Kasim Reed and his constituents can’t be stopped. Just like the young Pat Clancy could not be stopped when he started his career in affordable housing after volunteering in college for a Massachusetts settlement house.
Any party that ignores the views of voters in their 20s and 30s who want government policies to support sustainability may prevail in the short-run, but they cannot hold power for long. The argument that we can’t afford to invest in sustainability while we are in a recession sounds good to old-timers, but not to young people. They are not buying it for a minute. They know we have to invest in our future.
It’s only a matter of time before Washington gets that message.
