Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction of my issue- Urban Sprawl: how the land is being taken away from the wildlife. Look at this definition of urban sprawl and look at the second paragraph to get the health/environmental aspects of what it is.

A current government bill was recently passed and enacted into pubilc law relating to the issue I am discussing. It is "H.R. 146: An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes" was sponsored by Rep. Holt, Rush D. (NJ-12) was first introduced in the senate on 1/6/2009, and became pubilc law 111-11.

I would like to propose that there be a higher tax on untouched land, that if a land is secluded that it has a higher value, than if a piece of land is in the downtown area of a city. It should be more advantageous to live in the city as everything you could need comercially is there at your fingertips. The ablity to live out on the outskirts of town should be a privelage only to those whom can afford the really high taxes, which will have more people living in the city and less people taking the habitat of the natural environment.

Who is affected by the issue?

There are two groups affected by this issue.



The first of the two being people that live on the boarder of the urban/rural area of their town are the people whom are affected by having to drive everywhere and have little ablity to walk or bike to their local areas of need such as the grocery store. And they create more pollution from driving to every destination as they live far away from the buisness districts of the city.



And secondly, the wildlife is affected by getting their land (habitat) taken away as humans invade their habitat. With the human population comes tons and tons of garbage that can pollute the once majestic un-touched water and land. We are a nation of consumers, and we need to cut back on how we take more than we put back into our land.

What are the consequences of the issue?
When we move out to the cities' outer limits we are expanding our reach into the wilderness. The wildlife need land to live off of as much as we do. The nation's forrest has been reduced to just 4% of what they were back some 50 years ago. (Story of Stuff)

With people living farther away from their jobs and commercial retailers, they will be forced to drive a lot more. If we all lived in a more centralized area we can walk and bike to work, rather than pollute the earth's air and drive everywhere.

What is the economic impact of the issue?
The land on the outskirts of the city are usually much cheaper than that of land in the city. This is a big reason for people to move out and expand the city limits. So, the costs that people have to move to a cheaper area of land attracts them to move. The costs to the environment is a dwindling area of land to live in, of which humans control. The benifits to the issue will be towards the privacy of the home owner lives in a secluded area. With this seclusion comes a cost of needing to drive everywhere with limited options to walk or bike as they live so far away from everything. Another benifit is to the city being able to get higher tax rates to those that own land.

What are the barriers?
If we were too all live a more centralized location than that leaves more room to develop resources. The problem is not everyone can afford living in the downtown areas of a city as real estate prices are much higher. Owning land in the city is much harder to come by, so often many people are renting an apartment in the city, rather than buying a home. This process of being a renter can be a problem if you want security in your home. If you do not own your home you may be forced to move.

The barriers can be overcome with the reduction of land prices in the downtown districts. Another idea is to have many tall buildings that a big number of people can live in. Making in a dense area of land that people live in and own (condominium). A direct problem to a high population denisty in a small amount of land is that people often want their privacy, and since we are often inconsiderate of our neighbors we then make them want to move out to have a more secluded lifestyle in the outskirts of the city limits.

What are the resources?
With the land being consumed there is little room to expand. It is a great honor to be able to own your own land. When we take up land than that leaves little room for the natural environment to expand. Praires, foressts, and swamps a few ecosystems that will be destroyed when they are cleared for residential housing.

What is the history of this issue?
When we had a full abundant forestry, some 50 years ago, we were able to expand our reach and move out of the busy city to a quieter area just outside of town. Now a days we have taken up the land so that there is little room to expand to allow for the vast needs of our wildlife. A wolf for example needs around 50 square miles of land to be able to hunt and find enough food. If we take away the habitat of the animals we take away a natural resource. Currently 96% of the nations' forests have been cut down. It is important to try and make sure that people live in the city, and not take up the land.

Allies and Opponents to my issue
1. The biggest organization that I have found that would support my position is http://www.sprawlcity.org/

They are able to give out charts and graphs of USDA Conservation Survey Data to show how much urban sprawl is happening locally near your town. The reasoning behind why Urban Sprawl is affecting greenhouse gas emissions is due to the needs of an expanding city. The need for more travel and thus gas due to an outreaching city. My take on solving this is to have everyone live in a condensed area. Keep the city to a limit on its boarders. Develop ways to be able to live in high rise apartments this way the land will be preserved.

2. Environmental Planner, Leon Kolankiewicz
He discusses the impact of population growth on greenhouse gas emissions, sprawl, energy consumption and our foreign oil dependency.
"Population growth is affecting greenhouse gas emissions. Due to a rise in an ever expanding city."

My recommendation of action
There should be an action to raise awarness of urban sprawl. I would like to initiate to have a bill written that will stop urban sprawl. My idea for this is to bring down taxes on inner city land, and to raise taxes on suburban lands. Thus, getting everyone to move into the city limits and allowing for the environment to have room to grow and develop. The reason being is that we have taken more land than we need to live off of. Many of our forests have been cut down, and our natural land (swamps, praries, etc) been destroyed. With this being said I would like to ask my senator (Democrate Amy Klobachar) to bring forth a bill that keeps Urban Sprawl to a stand-still.