Political and financial support for urban green space are mounting.
Leaders of both parties of the 105th Congress supported land conservation legislation - even from ; most of the sponsors of other major land conservation legislation in the 105th Congress have been Republicans - a party not known for its promotion of land conservation. The assistant majority whip of the House, Rep. Portman (R - OH), sponsored of the Conservation Tax Incentives Act of 1998, a bill that would cut the capital gains tax rate on land that is donated for conservation. House speaker Newt Gingrich sponsored a $25 million bill that would have created a 48-mile greenway along the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta while minority leader Richard Gephardt sponsored a bill to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Northern Forest Stewardship Act of 1997, which expresses the "sense of the Congress" regarding the need to devise tax policies that promote land conservation, had 51 co-sponsors from both political parties.
Ballot initiatives for land conservation in state and local elections have been overwhelmingly successful. During the 1990s, approximately 95% of the ballot initiatives for land conservation have passed in communities that the Trust for Public Land has assisted. More recently, in the 1998 general elections, several states passed major initiatives to protect land. The most ambitious was New Jersey's commitment to protect one million acres of undeveloped land at a cost of two and one-half billion dollars. All in all, nearly 200 land conservation ballot initiatives passed.
The total amount of money donated to non-profits nearly doubled from $316.7 billion in 1987 to $621.4 billion in 1996, reports the Nonprofit Almanac. Between 1990 and 1996, the amount of donations from individuals increased from $111.9 billion to $150.7 billion - about 1.7% of this money went to environmental causes. Among those households that contributed to charity, the average gave $106 per year to environmental causes in 1996 - up from $89 just two years before. Older Americans are more generous than other age categories donating nearly twice as much of their income as the average American (2.1% versus 3.9%) - an auspicious indicator of future contribution levels as baby boomers move into retirement. Increasing levels of retirement also means that more land will be available for donation to trusts. Perhaps in response to these factors, the number of land trusts has doubled since 1985. Since land values tend to increase faster than inflation, the longer we wait to buy up land, the less we will be able to buy. While the price of goods on average has increased ____% since 1960, land prices have gone up ____%.
Land conservation attracts support from across the political spectrum. Farmers, environmentalists, businesses and taxpayer advocates, for example, have joined together in support of tax incentives for land conservation. The support among faith-based communities for land conservation may be growing as well. Regional coalitions of businesses are promoting land conservation, in part because they recognize the economic benefits stated above. The Bay Area Council - which represents hundreds of corporations and other businesses in the San Francisco Bay area - promote environmental policies including a greenbelt that will surround the bay when completed.
Add a section on coalition-building.
Put political support behind current federal policies under this section too.
Another political impediment to land conservation - the competition for development among municipalities of the same region - may be changing in favor of land conservation: metropolitan planning agencies are maturing in their ability to overcome regional balkanization and to develop concerted regional agendas.
Smart Growth Trends: 1998: a May-September Review.
The Nonprofit Almanac. 1996-97. Available on http://www.indepsec.org/images/fig2.jpg.
"Focus on American and Philanthropy." Research Alert. V16, n6, p. 3. 1998.
Independent Sector. Giving and Volunteering in the United States. 1996 edition. Available on http://www.indepsec.org/programs/research/public_attitude.html.
Giving and Volunteering in the United States. 1996.
"Older Households are bigger givers." American Demographics Marketing Power Supplement. 1996. P. 18.
Tom Daniels and Deborah Bowers. Holding our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997.
Land Trust Alliance. Available on http://www.lta.org/whatlt.html.
David Bollier. How Smart Growth can Stop Sprawl. 1996.
Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group 1997 Business Environmental Survey. Available on http://www.svmg.org/htm/publications_f.htm.
Tom Daniels and Deborah Bowers. Holding our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997.
Leaders of both parties of the 105th Congress supported land conservation legislation - even from ; most of the sponsors of other major land conservation legislation in the 105th Congress have been Republicans - a party not known for its promotion of land conservation. The assistant majority whip of the House, Rep. Portman (R - OH), sponsored of the Conservation Tax Incentives Act of 1998, a bill that would cut the capital gains tax rate on land that is donated for conservation. House speaker Newt Gingrich sponsored a $25 million bill that would have created a 48-mile greenway along the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta while minority leader Richard Gephardt sponsored a bill to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Northern Forest Stewardship Act of 1997, which expresses the "sense of the Congress" regarding the need to devise tax policies that promote land conservation, had 51 co-sponsors from both political parties.
Ballot initiatives for land conservation in state and local elections have been overwhelmingly successful. During the 1990s, approximately 95% of the ballot initiatives for land conservation have passed in communities that the Trust for Public Land has assisted. More recently, in the 1998 general elections, several states passed major initiatives to protect land. The most ambitious was New Jersey's commitment to protect one million acres of undeveloped land at a cost of two and one-half billion dollars. All in all, nearly 200 land conservation ballot initiatives passed.
The total amount of money donated to non-profits nearly doubled from $316.7 billion in 1987 to $621.4 billion in 1996, reports the Nonprofit Almanac. Between 1990 and 1996, the amount of donations from individuals increased from $111.9 billion to $150.7 billion - about 1.7% of this money went to environmental causes. Among those households that contributed to charity, the average gave $106 per year to environmental causes in 1996 - up from $89 just two years before. Older Americans are more generous than other age categories donating nearly twice as much of their income as the average American (2.1% versus 3.9%) - an auspicious indicator of future contribution levels as baby boomers move into retirement. Increasing levels of retirement also means that more land will be available for donation to trusts. Perhaps in response to these factors, the number of land trusts has doubled since 1985. Since land values tend to increase faster than inflation, the longer we wait to buy up land, the less we will be able to buy. While the price of goods on average has increased ____% since 1960, land prices have gone up ____%.
Land conservation attracts support from across the political spectrum. Farmers, environmentalists, businesses and taxpayer advocates, for example, have joined together in support of tax incentives for land conservation. The support among faith-based communities for land conservation may be growing as well. Regional coalitions of businesses are promoting land conservation, in part because they recognize the economic benefits stated above. The Bay Area Council - which represents hundreds of corporations and other businesses in the San Francisco Bay area - promote environmental policies including a greenbelt that will surround the bay when completed.
Add a section on coalition-building.
Put political support behind current federal policies under this section too.
Another political impediment to land conservation - the competition for development among municipalities of the same region - may be changing in favor of land conservation: metropolitan planning agencies are maturing in their ability to overcome regional balkanization and to develop concerted regional agendas.
Smart Growth Trends: 1998: a May-September Review.
The Nonprofit Almanac. 1996-97. Available on http://www.indepsec.org/images/fig2.jpg.
"Focus on American and Philanthropy." Research Alert. V16, n6, p. 3. 1998.
Independent Sector. Giving and Volunteering in the United States. 1996 edition. Available on http://www.indepsec.org/programs/research/public_attitude.html.
Giving and Volunteering in the United States. 1996.
"Older Households are bigger givers." American Demographics Marketing Power Supplement. 1996. P. 18.
Tom Daniels and Deborah Bowers. Holding our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997.
Land Trust Alliance. Available on http://www.lta.org/whatlt.html.
David Bollier. How Smart Growth can Stop Sprawl. 1996.
Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group 1997 Business Environmental Survey. Available on http://www.svmg.org/htm/publications_f.htm.
Tom Daniels and Deborah Bowers. Holding our Ground: Protecting America's Farms and Farmland. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997.
No comments:
Post a Comment