This is an evolving page.
Below are many of the more important and useful links I’ve collected on topics relevant to the site. Providing a link does not, however, constitute endorsement of a particular site or resource.
The “Featured Links” in the homepage sidebar rotate from time to time and are drawn from this list.
Books
Better, NOT Bigger This book by Eben Fodor should be required reading for anyone concerned about whether their small town really “needs” to grow any further. It explores in some depth the core issues MV and Lisbon are facing today, and offers superior alternatives to the notion, “We must grow or die.” If I had to recommend just one book on growth and development issues, this would be the one.
In Growth We Trust: Sprawl, Smart Growth, and Rapid Population Growth I first heard of Edwin Stennett’s book from Jack Marshall, president of the ASAP group/site listed elsewhere in the links. I can now heartily recommend it as well. Using the Washington (DC) urban area as its example, it provides essential reading on the role of population growth in producing sprawl. It examines the limits of Smart Growth and offers ideas to address the relevant issues. Its straightforward, academic style get right to the point.
Growth Management for a Sustainable Future: Ecological Sustainability as the New Growth Management Focus for the 21st Century By Gabor Zovanyi. Comments coming soon.
Economic Renewal Guide From Michael J. Kinsley at the Rocky Mountain Institute, this guide’s early chapters deal clearly and effectively with misconceptions about growth and the superior alternative of sustainable development.
Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update Major text, possibly the best single source for understanding the environmental challenges we now face, now updated with 30 years of new data. This book provides the scientific basis for the assertion that we’ve overshot the earth’s carrying capacity. It suggests actions needed to return to sustainability before we experience a profound “collapse.”
Like-Minded Groups/Individuals
Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) Virginia group expressing the same message we push at the Small Town Project. Lots of valuable information. Start with their “Core Beliefs” section.
Alternatives to Growth Washington
Association of Citizens for Summerland This group, working to preserve the character of Summerland, British Columbia, has aims for their area which are very much in line with our own. It’s a group which “recognizes that the vitality of Summerland does not depend upon growth and development.” They recently endorsed and helped elect some like-minded candidates to their local government. So it should be interesting to follow how growth issues are addressed there in the near future.
Citizens for Responsible Community Planning Kelowna, British Columbia group understands the destructive nature of ongoing growth. They’re working to get Kelowna on the path of sustainability rather than growth.
Controlling Growth in Our Communities Site which lays our nicely what citizens need to do to address growth in their communities. It provides links to some key resources with brief, helpful commentary.
Exponential Improvement.com Bob Powell of Continuous Improvement Associates, applies “systems thinking” to an array of issues, and includes several illuminating papers on causes of and solutions to growth problems. Systems thinking provides an important tool for understanding growth. Combine Bob’s articles with works by Fodor, Stennett, Zovanyi, Bartlett, Kinsley, Meadows et al, Czech, and Daly (all mentioned in these links) and you’ll have an excellent overview of growth as we need to understand it today.
Fodor and Associates Oregon based land use consulting firm headed by Eben Fodor, Author of Better, NOT Bigger.
Growth Education Movement This group, publishers of the book, In Growth We Trust, targets population growth as the root cause of sprawl and environmental problems. Their agenda is thus a key facet of the no-growth approach endorsed here.
Pro-Whatcom.org A Bellingham, Washington group sharing our philosophy. Check out their “Read More…” section for lots of good information on growth and sustainability.
Red Sky at Night This is the blog of New Jersey resident Bob Sutton, who often writes eloquently about efforts in Peapack-Gladstone Bourough to grapple with growth and conserve open space.
Rocky Mountain Institute Key reading here. While best known for their work on energy conservation issues, RMI applies the concept of “sustainability” to community development. The topic of sustainable communities is emerging as crucial to our future in the U.S. and the rest of the world. Several articles on the RMI site provide a nicely readable introduction to sustainability as it applies to the growth of towns like Lisbon and MV.
Save The Springs This is a website focused on the Colorado Springs/Pikes Peak region of Colorado. It’s emphasis is quite similar to ours, with information aimed at saving the area from needless development and promoting sustainable development. Though the Colorado Springs area has already sustained much more growth than our two small towns, the site does an admirable job of working to minimize further damage.
Sprawl City Key information site focuses on the combined contributions of consumption growth and population growth in destroying open land.
Articles on Growth
Prosperity Without Growth Very quick introduction to this core topic from RMI.
Growth Management Strategies for Stopping Growth in Local Communities Stellar article by Gabor Zovanyi contains in one place almost everything this site is about. It includes a clear, step by step plan for stopping, rather than merely “managing” growth.
Exploring the No Growth Option
The Tragedy of the Commons Classic article makes clear the problem of population growth and the absolute need to address it, as difficult as that is.
Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment - Revisited Great article by Al Bartlett, professor emeritus of physics, University of Colorado, Boulder. This article covers population growth, smart growth, sustainability, carrying capacity, the environment, and just about everything underlying the message of this site.
The City as a Growth Machine: Toward a Political Economy of Place Another classic, much of this 1976 article remains relevant today as we grapple with the same issues some were beginning to oppose 30 years ago.
Sustainable Development
How Osage saves $1.2 million per year Article on Osage’s simple but extremely effective energy conservation program. It keeps in town $1.2 million that would otherwise go to outside energy companies. That’s an extra $1.2 million available for the town’s economy.
How Ithica NY keeps money from leaving town Ithica has adopted its own currency. A creative, potentially powerful tool under the umbrella of “sustainable economic development.”
How the Boulder Independent Business Alliance keeps business local, and out of the big box chain stores Nice lesson in economic development at the local level. The association keeps money from leaking out of town to absentee business owners, and helps preserve Boulder’s unique identity.
SD Gateway Comprehensive information site on sustainable development.
Sustainability Institute Founded by the late Donella Meadows, the Institute uses a “systems thinking” approach to address a variety of problems including growth and sprawl.
Ruminations A blog with an emphasis on sustainable development on the international level. It’s maintained by Jeremy B. Williams, an environmental economist well qualified to address the topic.
sustainablog A blog focused on issues of environmental and economic sustainability as well as environmental politics.
A-1 Builders Inc. Rick Dubrow’s Bellingham, Washington company is leading the way among design/build contractors in bringing concepts of sustainability into every phase of its operations. Their practices show that builders do not have to be in conflict with the environment. Dan is involved in the Pro-Whatcom group, and so is keenly aware of and working to change damaging pro-growth policies
Individual and Community A Mount Vernon-based weblog covering well a diverse array of topics, often touching on issues of sustainability, community, and the environment.
Minnesotans For Sustainability Portal to a tremendous amount of information.
Articles Bridging Growth and Sustainable Development
Grappling with Growth This article from RMI provides thumbnail sketches of a number of the techniques of “sustainable economic development.” These are simple, real world tools for promoting the health of a town’s economy, often by “plugging leaks” of money out of town. They provide a great alternative to taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets to subsidize unending residential development.
Paying for Growth, Prospering from Development RMI article dealing with key issues of growth and sustainable development.
Economics of Growth
Growth Without Growth Brookings Institution paper examining population growth and per-capita income growth.
“Cost of community services” studies - a succinct overview of their value This summary, originally published by Ohio State University, looks at the strengths and weaknesses of these studies as pioneered by the American Farmland Trust and subsequently carried out by numerous other organizations. Such work provides some of the clearest evidence that residential development rarely pays for itself, and is in fact subsidized by a community’s existing taxpayers.
American Farmland Trust National organization devoted to farmland preservation. Pioneers of groundbreaking “cost of community services” studies. They help farmers find alternatives to developing or selling their land to developers.
Detailed description of the methodology of “cost of community services” studies. From the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Cooperative extension.
Clear summary of a “cost of community services” study conducted in Colorado Simple, quick summary of study done in Saguache County.
Order AFT’s brochure all about COCS studies Order page for the American Farmland Trust’s 78 page brochure on “cost of community services” studies.
Fighting Walmart The site’s author is well known for his work battling Walmart and other “big box” retailers. Don’t be fooled by casual dismissals of the threat of Walmart coming to town. Once the populations of MV and Lisbon reach the right level, Walmart will eye us with interest. If your business is one with which Walmart would compete, you should be very concerned about population growth here.
Peak Oil
Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas Respected, major site on this topic. With peak oil looming, building suburbs is downright irresponsible.
Energy Bulletin Another good peak oil site.
The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre One more good information source for peak oil issues.
Hubbert Peak of Oil Production Good, clearly organized peak oil site.
Land Purchase Arrangements
The Land Trust Alliance An umbrella organization which acts as a resource for land trusts across the U.S., this site contains a great deal of information on land preservation, working with land trusts, or starting your own.
The North Shore Community Land trust Their website provides a clear example of what a community land trust does.
Peapack-Gladstone Borough Open Space Trust Fund This is the site for a trust for open space preservation in a small New Jersey community.
Why Save Farmland? Nice PDF brochure from the American Farmland Trust.
On agricultural conservation easements Fact sheet from the American Farmland Trust explains this tool which involves purchasing the development rights to a parcel of land so as to prevent it from ever being developed.
ISU Extension document on farmland preservation options in Iowa I haven’t seen a lot about farmland preservation specifically in Iowa. This summary is on just that and should be a good place to start.
Boulder’s land acquisition program A model to be studied, Boulder shows us that a community can take decisive steps to save land from “development.”
Nice Explanation of the tool of transferable development rights From Boulder County’s Land Use Department
Paper from the Boulder City Attorney’s office on how the city has approached growth control (pdf) Their protective greenbelt system and other growth control efforts serve as something of a national model of what a city can do to protect itself from needless sprawl.
Environmental Groups and Resources
Natural Resources Defense Council Major environmental group with an information packed website.
Honor the Earth Devoted to improving awareness and support for American Indian environmental issues.
EnviroLink Portal to a great many environmental resources.
Great Plains Restoration Council
League of Conservation Voters See how your elected officials score in their voting on environmental issues.
Izaak Walton League of America One of the few environmental organizations willing to address the profound impacts of ongoing of population growth. See their “Sustainability Education” section. (See Al Bartlett’s article on the topic to see why many other environmental groups are reluctant to talk about the issue.)
Overpopulation Education/Action Groups and Resources
(Note on some overpopulation groups’ stances on immigration.)
Center for Environment and Population
World Population Balance Solid information, carefully presented.
World Population Awareness Tremendous amount of information here.
Illuminating article on the politics of population By Albert Bartlett.
Population Action International An independent policy advocacy group with a worldwide focus and an emphasis on family planning and educational and economic issues.
Population Resource Center Emphasis on bringing sound demographic data to policymakers.
Mount Vernon and Lisbon Sites
City of Lisbon This is the site for the city, providing information on government, meeting times, contacts, etc.
City of Mount Vernon The city of MV’s site, this is the place to look for contact information and meeting times for the city council, planning and zoning commission, parks and recreation board, and the like.
The MV-Lisbon Sun newspaper Go here to write a letter to the editor or to see recent news if you don’t subscribe.
The big picture
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy Sheds much light on the “big picture,” clarifying the relationship between economic growth, population growth, and the environmental predicament in which we find ourselves today.
The Sustainable Scale Project Very informative site, dovetailing nicely with the CASSE site. These sites, dealing with concepts such as “sustainable scale,” “ecological economies,” and the need for a “steady state economy,” may suggest the direction in which the growth debate needs to move.
Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop them All This book by Brian Czech challenges conventional economic theory and introduces “environmental economics,” arguing for a “steady state economy.” This and Herman E. Daly’s book help to put our obsession with urban growth in a larger economic perspective.
Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development By Herman E. Daly, this book examines and discusses sustasinable development in some depth, and highlights the need to shift from “growthmania” to a “steady state economy.” Among other topics, Daly, explores environmental issues and population growth as they connect to the book’s theme.
Free science sites
(Scientific illiteracy and putting profits ahead of scientific wisdom loom large among the factors which led us to the problems we face today.)
RealClimate Authoritative information on climate change from working climate scientists.
Logical Science “Defending the scientific consensus from vested interests,” this is a great site for understanding climate change, alternative energy technologies, and especially for debunking the arguments of industry funded global warming “skeptics.”
Seed Very nice general science site with frequent articles on climate change and other environmental issues.
ScientificAmerican.com Website of the stalwart science magazine.
NewScientist.org Very accessible website associated with the well known New Scientist magazine.
Miscellaneous or not yet categorized
Mayor Willey’s Elburn Web Log This is the blog of the Mayor of Elburn Illinois, a town practicing some of what we preach here. They try to focus on improvement rather than expansion, recognizing that mere physical growth is a harmful long term objective. Though Elburn is unfortunately right in the path of Chicago sprawl, it seems Jim Willey recognizes that “development,” in the best sense of the word, involves lots of useful tools that have nothing to do with getting bigger.
