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the 'growth is good' ...
Syndrome
(Editor's note: The author, J. Alan Wagar, is an associate professor of outdoor recreation.) When the North American con tinent was nearly empty, at least by European standards, the idea of growth made a lot of sense to the new settlers. There were big spaces to fill and big jobs to do. But times have changed. Now there are a lot more of us to get in each other's way, and more growth may be part of the problem rather than part of the solution. However, the "growth is good" syndrome worked so well
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it became dogma, and it still permeates almost everything we do. Thus national economic policy is judged on what it will do for growth, as do most busi ness enterprises. But when our cities are congested, the land, water and air polluted, and open spaces disappearing, is it ra tional to insist on even more growth? Any ecologist can tell you that unlimited growth is impos sible in a finite environment. Although growth can proceed at a compound rate for a while, "limiting factors" eventually act to slow and then stop it. These limiting factors can include lack of food or space; nervous dis orders and social disorganiza tion; problems of disease, para sites and predators; or even the products of growth itself. For example, the growth of yeast in wine is eventually lim ited by the alcohol produced by the yeast.Technology, of course; has permitted some human so cieties to remove or offset things that would have been limiting factors in societies with less technology. So, the United States above all other countries has grown enormously. This growth has been one of man's most exciting adventures -one he naturally hates to give up. Like any other organism, man seems to have his very best existence when vigorously growing into a spacious environ ment. However, when that en vironment begins to get full, the limiting factors come into play, and things are less happy. And when an organism overfills its environment, things can get downright miserable, as when overpopulations of deer have destroyed their food supply and then died in great numbers. At least in the technological societies, fot>d has not been a limiting factor for human soci eties. But our growing set of "problems" suggests that more
subtle factors are becoming limiting. People are complaining about a growing number of frustra tions and are even organizing citizens' groups to fight back. Thus many groups are now protesting or fighting to stop freeways, fine the polluters, save our open spaces, uphold law and order, protect the wil derness, etc. etc. But while these efforts often slow down the erosion of important values, they deal primarily with symp toms. Growth, probably the major cause of current problems, goes unchallenged. In fact, the irate citizen who protests so loudly . about the symptoms probably has more than two children, is in debt to finance more con sumer goods than he really needs, buys growth stocks, and takes pride in working for a growing industry. He had better plan on reaping more than what promoters call "the bene fits of a growing economy." Some of the less desirable effects he should expect from growth are pollution, congestion, social disorganization, infringe ments on personal freedom, lack of open space, and lost opportunities for activities he used to enjoy. For example, the rapid changes brought about by growth have contributed to un employment, migration to the cities, slums, and other un happy consequences. Yet the growth game con tinues, promoted by our "com munity leaders." In this game, some win, some lose. Many businessmen seem to like it because they profit by supplying the materials and services needed for growth. But for the whole society, much of this "profit" is a redistribution of benefits rather than pure gain. While some gain, a lot of others lose from growth. To the losers, growth may mean living in the traffic pat tern of a new airport, being evicted by a new freeway, breathing someone else's ex haust fumes, losing the view from the view window, losing a place to fish or hunt, or simply finding that it takes a lot longer to drive to work. For example, in driving to work from the north end of Seattle, I can save about 10 minutes by using the freeway. However, on a busy day, my presence there slows down a lot of other people. If I slow down 200 others just nine seconds each, I've wasted 30 minutes of their time just to save 10 min utes for myself. In other words, some things are worse than they used to be because I became part of Seattle's growth. (In his book "The Costs of Economic Growth," E. J. Mishan pro vides many similar examples.) There are no easy solutions, like making birth control retro active to 1960. Perhaps the first step is to recognize that growth, the · urban crisis, and the environmental mess are all part of the same package. We may also need to opt for zero or even less than zero population growth. Beyond this, we must distinguish between growth and progress. Such developments as pollution-free transportation, processes that recycle waste materials, and goods that last longer may be essential to our survival. But buying more and more unnecessary goods to throw away faster and faster on growing piles of junk, while it contributes to a growing econ omy, is hardly progress.
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To Use the Land ,!
(Editor's note: Two brief statements-one uttered by Seattle, head chief of the Salish and allied' tribes about 1854, and the other written by Los Angeles Mutual Land Investments of Washington to advertise a California land development-provide a marked contrast of opinion, sentiment and use of the environment.)
Chief Seattle's Oration
-photo by dick conrad
What goes BOOM and makes people rich?
"To us, the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors, and seemingly without regret ...Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb, and wander beyond the stars. They soon are forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its wind ing rivers, its great mountains, and its sequestered vales ... "Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove have been hallowed by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe. Even the rocks, which seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sun along the silent seashore in solemn grandeur, thrill with the memories of past events connected with the lives of my people. "_The very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred ... And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the in visible dead of my tribe; and when Your child ren's childr.en. think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods they will not be alone. At night when the streets of our cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone ... "Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation like the waves of the sea. It 1s the order of nature and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it 'lurely will come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see ..."
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Land, of course! Remember Paine Field? Don't you wish you ·had bought a few acres there before Boeing came in? Now there's a far greater boom shaping up- in North Los Angeles County, California. That's the location of the very last available land for major development in the county. The area is called Antelope Valley. It's right next door to famous North Holly wood and San Fernando Valley, where so many fortunes in land were made.It has every thing considered necessary for land owners to forecast tremendous future profits. Here's why: BOOM-Population Growth: Located imme diately in the path of Los Angeles County's gigantic population expansion, Antelope Val ley's population is estimated to climb from 150,000 to over 1,000,000 in less than ten years. BOOM-Freeways: The new Antelope Freeway makes Los Angeles only minutes away. The last links are under construction now, and when completed, imagine what that· will do to land values there. BOOM-Industry: Big companies know the boom is on and growing. Lockheed is now building gigantic facilities there to fabricate the L-1011 TriStar super-jet-and will employ 5,000 people. Aerojet Corp. has already moved in along with General Dynamics, North Amer ican, Northrop, U.S. Borax-just to name a few-and the expansion is staggering! BOOM-World's largest airport coming: Antelope Valley is being called the world's first "Aero-Metropolis." It's where the new billion dollar Intercontinental Airport will be built within ten years. It will handle 150-million passengers a year-many times the size of Los Angeles Intercontinental Airport. (Ten years ago, land next to that airport sold for about $30,000 an acre. Today, $1,000,000 an acre for the same land is not unusual). Imag ine what will happen in Antelope Valley?
-photo by dick conrad
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