What do we mean by environmental quality?
___Environmental quality is a measure of the health of the environment itself (including the plants and animals it supports), and of the effects it has on the health, comfort, and psychological state of the people that inhabit it
Why protect environmental quality?
___To preserve the health of the community and its members
___To preserve community resources
___To create a more pleasant and better quality of life
___To enhance the aesthetic character of the community
___To attract new, environmentally-friendly business and sustain economic health
___To attract visitors and new residents
___To preserve community history
___To protect the community from environmental disaster
___To prevent people from taking actions they’ll later regret
___To protect endangered species
___To maintain ecosystems
___To be good stewards of the planet
When should you act to protect environmental quality?
___When it’s specifically threatened
___When there’s a community development initiative
___When there’s a new commercial, industrial, or housing development beginning
___When there’s an environmental crisis
___When there’s a publication or media event that calls attention to the environment
___When money is available
Who should be involved in protecting environmental quality?
___Local, state, and federal officials
___Local and national and international environmental organizations
___Community activists
___Those directly affected by environmental quality
___Businesses and corporations
___Anyone who is conscious of the effects of environmental quality – or the lack of it – on their lives
How do you protect environmental quality?
___Make yourself aware of what elements of the environment you should be paying attention to:
- Air
- Water
- Land
- Plants
- Animals
- Natural resources
- The built environment
- Recreation
- Aesthetics
___Decide on the issues you can most effectively tackle
___Learn what you need to know about the scientific, social, economic, legal, and political realities of the situation
___Recruit allies
___Create, with as broad a range of allies as possible, a strategic plan, and prioritize both the actions you want to take and those you feel you must take
___Implement your plan
___Evaluate your efforts
___Maintain your gains, and do it again