If the richness of life on Earth is to be preserved, the growth imperative driving current human behavior must be replaced with the imperative of ecological sustainability.

So says Gabor Zovanyi in a stellar article titled Growth Management Strategies for Stopping Growth in Local Communities.

Just as the Fodor book is a good one to read if you only read one book on the topics I cover here, Zovanyi’s article is a great place to go if you only read one article. Perhaps I’ll find something even better as I continue my own reading, but on recently uncovering this article I was amazed at how well it brings together in one place most of the key issues concerning the problem of growth.

A few more teasers:

…the 4 renewable resource systems of fisheries, forests, croplands, and rangelands… [are] being exploited beyond their natural capacities of renewal in the United States (Webb and Jacobsen 1982).

Expansion of the human enterprise in America is eliminating natural ecosystems and killing off other life forms here as it is elsewhere on the planet.

All of these indicators reveal that the pursuit of physical growth has now become an obsolete and lethal ideology, and that we are well past the point of having to abandon the growth imperative. Rather than seeking to maintain the unsustainable behavior of continued physical growth, current ecological realities domestically and globally demand that we proactively undertake actions to stop growth.

Zovanyi goes on to explain how awareness of the problems of growth began to increase in the late 1960s, leading to the “growth management” movement. In practice, however, “management” has rarely involved severe limits on growth. It has instead meant merely steering growth in terms of location and quality. It’s been an accommodation, and one that is essentially pro-growth. In a time when we’ve outstripped the planet’s and the country’s carrying capacities, and massive environmental problems are mounting, management, argues Zovanyi, is not enough. We need to learn to stop growth.

In that light, Zovanyi offers seven concrete steps for stopping growth in local communities. These are local government actions. [1] He even provides counterarguments to claims that government actions to stop growth are illegal.

There’s much more to the article than I’ve touched on here. If you want a clear, concentrated dose of nearly everything the Small Town Project is about, read Zovanyi’s article. It’s one of the best I’ve seen.

[1] Some groups such as the Thoreau Institute argue that market strategies might be able to curb growth sufficiently without having to involve government. If the methods were effective enough, I think there would be much to be said for such an approach. I’m not yet well enough informed on that point of view to say much here, and I reserve the right to change my mind on the matter, but I currently have serious doubts that a purely market based approach to stopping growth would be enough. Nevertheless, I don’t think Zovanyi or others who advocate government action disagree with the use of market based methods. If they include solid tools such as private land trusts, then they should at least be a part of any strategy to deal with the problems of growth. In time I hope to learn enough about it to comment more fully.