DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710230017

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: OPINION 

SOURCE: BY GERALD P. McCARTHY 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

There definitely is such a thing as an idea whose time has come. One such benchmark in the environmental movement was the awakening toward how unchecked littering was defacing our landscape and defiling our waters.

Not too long ago, it was common to see an empty soda can flung from a car window, a candy wrapper leisurely dropped on the sidewalk. Then the educational campaign against litter revved up: Schoolchildren produced anti-litter posters; trash cans appeared on city corners; families on car trips waited to toss their refuse until they stopped for gas; boaters quit tossing their garbage overboard. Today, littering is equated with a certain lack of civilized behavior.

Recycling is another idea whose time has come. In fact, it's become the law. And now there is yet another concept whose time has come. It is recognition that the progress we enjoy and the natural heritage we cherish - economic development and a clean environment - can, and indeed must, cohabit in balance and harmony.

Twenty years ago, when the Virginia Environmental Endowment and a host of other dedicated organizations took upon themselves the task of ``informing the public's discretion'' (a Jeffersonian phrase), the message was simple and clear: Economic prosperity cannot come at the price of environmental impoverishment. Development that cannibalizes the very source of its wealth is not true development but rather a house with no foundation. Today, Virginians from all walks of life agree.

In a recent poll conducted for the Virginia Environmental Endowment, fully eight out of 10 voters ranked the environment as a high personal priority. Even more impressive, 67 percent of voters declared that in a situation where they had to choose between protecting the environment and favoring economic development, they would opt for the environment. Of those surveyed, 25 percent indicated that they are directly affiliated with an environmental or conservation organization.

There's a reason for this level of involvement. What those polled say they value most about living in Virginia is access to places of natural beauty, enjoyment of the rural/small-town way of life and appreciation of the state's historic importance. Virginians like to visit parks, garden, hike, take nature walks, fish, camp and bird watch. No matter what their political affiliations, the majority are unwilling to accept the deterioration of Virginia's spectacular natural resources in exchange for the benefits of economic progress.

Fortunately, many of us have come to realize that environmental protection and economic development are not enemies. In fact, everyone benefits when constructing and maintaining a healthy economy and a healthy environment are priorities from the start - beginning with planning and continuing all the way through to construction of infrastructures and support of compatible private development. More and more, we are coming to realize that what is genuinely good for the community today will be beneficial to it tomorrow as well.

Virginians clearly hold this view. They also hold the view that their political leaders are doing less than is necessary to protect their interests. Indeed, voters give a grade of only C+ to the quality of the state's overall environment, and likewise give low grades to elected officials for their performance on the environmental front. Fully 41 percent say that state government is not doing enough to regulate and protect Virginia's environment. And they say they will take these views into the voting booths this November.

It may well be up to the voters to enlighten our leaders ``to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion'' (Jefferson again), so that our elected officials come to understand that sustainable approaches to community development are the wave of the future and the will of the people.

Meanwhile, those of us not in elected office will continue to inform ourselves as we search for ways to achieve community involvement right from the start of the planning process, so that decisions about design, zoning, road building, sewer stretching, house building and all the other drivers of progress are determined within a pragmatic philosophy of community sustainability. As with all educational processes, this one will start on several different fronts. I anticipate that a growing number of people will gather to discuss how to achieve what is coming to be known as sustainable development. These meetings must include people from all professions and all walks of life. Schools also need to begin introducing the concept of economic-environmental balance. And of course, our leaders need to become informed of the public's will.

In this way, we will work toward ``having it all'' (not a Jefferson quote): a healthy environment, pristine natural beauty and the creature comforts that the future holds. MEMO: Gerald P.McCarthy is executive director of the Virginia

Environmental Endowment, a private, grant-making foundation based in

Richmond, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary year.

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