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Truth vs. Myth about Growth 9
Myth 9: We have to grow or die. This statement is tossed around lightly and often, but if you hold it still and look at it, you wonder what it means. Fodor points out, quoting several economic studies, that many kinds of growth cost more than the benefits they bring. So the more growth, the poorer we get. That kind of growth will kill us.
http://www.flsuspop.org/docs/12myths.htm\
By B.I.A. - Bull in Abundance
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Truth vs. Myth about Growth 10
Myth 10: Vacant land is just going to waste. Studies from all over show that open land pays far more -- often twice as much -- in property taxes than it costs in services. Cows don't put their kids in school; trees don't put potholes in the roads. Open land absorbs floods, recharges aquifers, cleans the air, harbors wildlife, and measurably increases the value of property nearby. We should value and pay for it to be there.
http://www.flsuspop.org/docs/12myths.htm\
By B.I.A. - Bull in Abundance
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Truth vs. Myth about Growth 11
Myth 11: Beauty is no basis for policy. One of the saddest things about municipal meetings is their tendency to trivialize people who complain that a proposed development will be ugly. Dollars are not necessarily more real or important than beauty. In fact beauty can translate directly into dollars. For starters, undeveloped surroundings can add $100,000 to the price of a home.
http://www.flsuspop.org/docs/12myths.htm\
By B.I.A. - Bull in Abundance
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Truth vs. Myth about Growth 12
Myth 12: Environmentalists are just another special interest. A developer who will directly profit from a project is a special interest. A citizen with no financial stake is fighting for the public interest, the long term, the good of the whole community.
Maybe one reason these myths are proclaimed so often and loudly is that they are so obviously doubtful. The only reason to keep repeating something over and over is to keep others from thinking about it. You don't have to keep telling people that the sun rises in the east.
Donella H. Meadows is Director of the Sustainability Institute and professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College.
From Population Press, March/April 1999, pp. 12-13.
http://www.flsuspop.org/docs/12myths.htm\
By B.I.A. - Bull in Abundance
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