Green Legacy: Communities Worth Leaving to Future Generations

Americans are committing country-cide. Our land-wasting development habits are taking the farms that give us fresh, locally-grown food and converting them to super-sized yards planted with chemical-dependent, inedible grass. We are channeling our streams and paving the watersheds that once protected our water supplies free of charge. We are destroying the hillsides and forests that give us refuge from everyday life as well as preserve habitat for endangered species, which could include Homo sapiens sooner than we think. Many of us accept this wastefulness as an inevitable byproduct of progress. This book is about those who do not. With that introduction, Green Legacy proceeds to celebrate conservation programs in 42 communities that are succeeding in saving natural areas, farmland and open space. The author, a planning consultant specializing in land preservation strategies, aims to recognize these communities for a job well done and encourage other cities and counties to also leave future generations a green legacy.