Moving Sustainability to the Fast Lane

Many people are changing where they choose to live and how they choose to get around, pointing the way to a future with a higher quality of life and lower consumption of fossil fuels, open land, and other resources. Trip Pollard, leader of SELC’s Land and Community Program, is among the experts who offer insights into these and other trends in Acting as if Tomorrow Matters, a new book on how we can accelerate the transition to sustainability.

Trip and other contributing authors point out that market forces, supported by government policies adopted over the past 20 years, have spurred progress toward more efficient transportation and smarter growth:

• The use of rail and transit has surged.
• Vehicle miles traveled per capita decreased between 2000 and 2010.
• Strong desire for walkable and transit-oriented communities has led to price premiums for housing in mixed-use neighborhoods that better integrate where people live, work, and shop.

For more on this topic and others related to sustainability, including population, international trade, forestry, and state governance, visit www.actingasiftomorrowmatters.com