Moving Toward

A Sustainable Future

To the Editor:

Kudos to the Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team, George Benson and Rob Sibley of the Land Use Agency, town Conservation Official Ann Astarita, the DEP, Attorney General Blumenthal, and all the other town officials and citizens who fought to secure at least a temporary halting of the Housatonic Valley Railroad’s expanded waste transfer station project in Hawleyville. Thanks also to The Bee for its coverage and editorial support. Hopefully, the wetlands issue along with the general public outcry will cause HRR to abandon its plans, as was recently suggested by a company spokesman.

The town’s struggle with HRR is symptomatic of the broader challenge we face as a society to move toward a more sustainable economic system. I discussed this with Kendra Bobowick for her “It’s Important” piece appearing in this week’s Bee. In it, I urge everyone to watch the 20-minute video at www.storyofstuff.com. In this powerful presentation, we learn that only one percent of the materials involved in the manufacture of the average product are still in use just six months after its sale. The toxicity of our waste stream is also addressed, including the fact that most of the 80,000 chemicals in use today are not even tested for their toxicity and that many known to be toxic are accumulating to an alarming degree in our bodies and even in breast milk.

Why are we so wasteful and why is our garbage so toxic? In part, it is because the costs of disposing of those wastes are not paid by those who create it. Manufacturers would design products to be recycled easily and include far less wasteful packaging if they were responsible for the costs of disposal. Instead those costs are disbursed throughout society, with towns like ours paying a disproportionate share in the form of traffic, noise and reduced property values, not to mention the hazard to our health.

But when it comes to toxics, a market based solution simply won’t work. Rather, we need to require that compounds be thoroughly tested before they can be used and to ban the use of many substances that are known to be highly dangerous.

The challenge posed by our society’s garbage reminds me of a related issue: sprawl. Once again, economic incentives that ignore societal costs result in towns such as ours being burdened unfairly. Nationally, we subsidize an economy built around gas guzzling cars and trucks. Regionally, we struggle to implement “smart growth” strategies. Locally, we are hit with development that requires more in town services than is returned in additional property taxes.

In addition to being a Hawleyville resident, I am running on the Independent Party of Newtown ticket for Board of Finance. While many of these issues are beyond local or even state control, let alone that of the Board of Finance, I promise that, like other IPN officials, I will support measures such as open space purchases to help keep uneconomic development in check and to maintain as best we can the idyllic qualities of our town.

Sincerely,

Ben Roberts

19 Farrell Road, Newtown                                          August 26, 2009