PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 21, 2022
The world is at a turning point. Gone are the enormous reserves of fossil fuel energy, metals, minerals, forests and cropland. Costs are rising as a result of shortages and climate change. Oceans have been fished out and polluted with plastic. Aquifers are being depleted and surface water degraded. Climate change is resulting in heatwaves, floods and droughts. L.D. 2003 represents a growth agenda that is anti-environment. It creates another bureaucracy for a misbegotten cause. Growth is not the answer. The best objective would be to strive for a no-growth strategy and learn to do with less consumption. If you have to build, do it where there is mass transportation and walkable services. Leave the rural areas alone to provide food, clean water, natural habitat and ecological services. ~ Ed Auden, Limington