Letter to the Editor: Sustainability

Excellent letter praising the county for creating the Lands Legacy Program in today's Chapel Hill News. But what I liked was the call to define sustainability in terms of Orange County in order to incorporate it, with metrics, into the comprehensive plan.

The next step should be to continue funding Lands Legacy, but also to define what sustainability means. With a broad commitment and emphasis on sustainability, the comprehensive plan should describe the processes by which the basic needs of our citizens are provided and protected without depleting the quality of life. It should set up an annual measurement of the natural and man-made indicators of sustainability, such as water supply and air quality, and add new ones like the supply of locally grown agricultural products and foods. This annual report would reflect the quality of our planning and our successes.

Sustainability is easy to talk about. Putting it into practice, balancing out the various aspects from affordability to environmental conservation, will require political leadership and collective action. Do we have will to pursue this challenge?