There are many views of a sustainable community. Those engulfed in the environmental rage would require such a community to provide for 100% of its food, energy and then its waste. This is going too far, and like today active environmentalist it demands far too much, and so progress is lost.

A step in the right direction would be to develop new communities with a non vehicular living and working arrangement. In California where the average "commute" is over 30 minutes this change would save people more then 10 days a year in commute time alone. It would reduce the need for fossil fuels and make the community far more sustainable in the distant future.

A community that is not growing is dying. We have seen articles on the stagnation and loss in so many regions of the United States and Europe. A community must maintain a standard of growth in order to prosper and continue. That growth does not have to claim more acres of open space, farm land and habitat. The growth can be up in the form of multiple story buildings and the removal of blight within a community and replacement with new innovative homes, businesses, and combination properties.

America has a long ways to go before demanding a sustainable community. It needs to take small steps towards that end, and forgo the extremism professed by many in the environmental community.

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