Smart Growth and National Security

For the second time in four years a national calamity is forcing the country to understand that the very resources that made the 20th century’s economy and suburban way of life possible -- cheap land, cheap fuel, good working wages, and government know-how â€" have vanished in the 21st. Yet our zeal to cling to a petroleum-intensive, land-consuming, resource-wasting lifestyle is clouding our vision. We have not yet developed the capacity to recognize and respond to 21st-century global environmental, economic, and political trends that imperil us. Katrina’s arc of destruction across an area as large as Italy is the most recent case in point. In the wake of the storm, Smart Growth promises a safer, more prosperous future.

Thanks to Keith Schneider