...water, water everywhere.

Last time i checked, we play host to 1/5 of the worlds fresh water. Wow! That's pretty significant, wouldn't you say? 20% of the entire world's naturally occurring fresh water, right out our doorstep. As someone that lives and plans in an area with so much bountiful water, i can't help but keep tabs on the current state of things. And the current state of things is that we have failed miserably to protect one of this worlds greatest resources.

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Dare is say, we should first think about Smart Growth? Would it be terrible of me to think that a moratorium should be placed on any new housing, commercial or industrial developments, subsidized by our tax dollars and outside of existing metropolitan boundaries, that would either feed into the storm system or otherwise leach contaminants through septic fields? I don't think it that awful to consider. Considering that our major cities account for close to 80% of our states population. Considering that our cities have witnessed a mass exodus to sub-urban areas. We've effectively and continue to pave over some of this countries most fertile farmland. Regardless of the use of the land, i feel it is completely irresponsible of us to continue to develop more land when we haven't even figured out how to properly use the land we have currently available to us. Take Detroit for example, some estimates show that upwards fo 60% of the geographic area of the city is sitting vacant. Over 2000 brownfield sites exist in Wayne County alone. You say you wouldn't want to live on or near a contaminated site, but what about the migration of contaminants into our watershed? How can we conscientiously develop new land when we have a hundred years worth of toxic waste to deal with? Where is our sense of responsibility?

I simply can't concieve of a developer or an REIT contemplating purchasing land in Michigan that isn't a brownfield. Any thought of it sends my moral compass spinning uncontrollably wild. Any greenfield that they would think about developing comes with it a burden that you or i would shudder at to think of. But our state glibly subsidizes it for them with them mere mention of bringing jobs into the region. Great! Jobs for two years versus a hundred years of tax payer dollars trying to come to grips with overburdened storm systems. increased commuting and pollution from cars, larger strains on our electrical grid, loss of property value for those actually living in viable communties competing for market rate housing with those too ignorant to know any better, loss of habitat to fundamental ecological systems that actually have the know-how in filtering out our polluting habits, increased supply chains for fast food and bix box stores...the downward spiral continues...and for what? A few short lived jobs that last only as long as it takes for the young and industrious entrepreneurs to realize that they can't compete with government subsidies and have to move into urban environments.

So let's plan properly here! Let's skip the whole downward spiral into oblivion and take stock of what we need to do to make our Great Lakes healthy. In doing so, we can attract the investment we want, nay, the investment we need. Smart Growth is a step in the right direction. It can't stop there though.