Major Progress, Significant Challenges

• Author: Jonathan D. Weiss
• Position: Senior Environmental Counsel at the national consulting firm of ManTech SRS Technologies, where he advises clients on a broad range of emerging sustainability issues
• Pages: 42-47

Page 42 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2009, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, July/August 2009

Localities in the United States have

made tremendous strides toward sus-

tainability in recent years. Mayors

in particular have attracted increas-

ing notice in responding to climate

change and in implementing a num-

ber of groundbreaking green mea-

sures. is rising prof‌ile of local leadership on issues

of sustainability, perhaps best epitomized by Mayor

Richard Daley of Chicago, and the strong prog-

ress of other local sustainability ef‌forts, is indeed

a positive trend. At the same time, this trend can

often obscure the dif‌f‌icult challenges that remain

for local sustainability — namely, our sprawling

land use patterns; fragmented regional governance

and cooperation; and the limits of what is possible

without active support from federal and state gov-

ernments.

To discuss local progress toward sustainability,

this chapter adopts what are popularly called the

“three E’s” of sustainable development — environ-

ment, economics, and (social) equity. is frame-

work ref‌lects the goal of sustainable development,

adopted at the United Nations Rio Earth Summit

in 1992, as “development that is economically ef-

f‌icient, socially equitable, and responsible and envi-

ronmentally sound.”1

A key for localities is to strive to bring together

all three of these components, particularly environ-

mental considerations, as part of an integrated de-

cisionmaking process. Pursuing local sustainability

can take many forms. Agenda 21, the action plan

to implement the principles of the Rio Declaration,

cited among other things the need for sustainable

use of land, sustainable energy and transportation

systems, and improved human resource develop-

ment. And it encouraged localities to develop their

own sustainability strategies.2

Achieving sustainability at the local level — the

places where people live — is critical to inf‌luenc-

ing sustainability in general. Our growing interest

in making local areas and the built environment

more sustainable is evidenced by the vocabulary

that has emerged since the 1990s. New terms like

“sustainable communities/cities/regions,” “livable

communities/cities/regions,” “smart growth,” “new

urbanism,” “transit-oriented development,” “green

buildings/housing/neighborhoods/cities,” and

“brownf‌ields” are now in common usage. And there

is today a broader recognition that a good environ-

ment can enhance quality of life and bolster local

economic competitiveness.3

Major Progress,

Signif‌icant

Challenges

Achieving sustainability at the local

level — the places where people live — is

critical to inf‌luencing sustainability in

general. But more coordination is needed

Jonathan D. Weiss

Jonathan d. Weiss is Senior Environ-

mental Counsel at the national consult-

ing rm of ManTech SRS Technologies,

where he a dvises cl ients on a b road

range of emerging sustainability issues.

He can be reached at jonatha n.weiss@

mantec h.com. H e is also an adj unct

law professor at George Washing ton

University. Reprinted from “Agenda for a Sustainable America,”

John Dernbac h, Editor, published by ELI Press.

eli Pr e s s