Opinion: We must rededicate ourselves to conservation and the environment

April 26, 2015

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Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats.

Thanks to a generous donor, 40 acres of land in Bloomfield will be preserved as open space. Excellent. Any expansion of our state parks is welcome, especially during a time when conservation and environmentalism have faded from public consciousness.

It’s worrisome that we’re adding new space during a time when the governor’s budget actually cuts funding for state parks and forests. The state is looking for other ways to fund these enduring reminders of our state’s natural beauty, but that they are once again under threat in a tight budget year is the perfect symbol of Connecticut’s complicated relationship with the environment.

A lot of environmental surveys put Connecticut somewhere near the top or the top-middle of the states. One very recent ranking from WalletHub ranks Connecticut 9th; we score well on environment but lower on environmentally friendly behaviors. Another survey suggests we’re not doing as well: 247wallst.com ranks us 26th.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.

Comments

One response to “Opinion: We must rededicate ourselves to conservation and the environment”

Suzanne

April 26, 2015

My husband and I are proud members of the CT Farmland Trust. It is gratifying to see these generations long farms preserved in perpetuity for agriculture. Those who see housing or future development thwarted need to ask, “How do I eat? What do I eat? Where does it come from?”

Yesterday, I went to the New Canaan Farmer’s Market and there was Beltane Goat Farm selling cheese and yogurt. I congratulated the owner: it had taken a couple of years to get the Farmland Trust, the State and Federal entities required and other private land trust organizations to create the preservation status Beltane has now.

The farming ethos began before CT was a state. This history is vital to our present not only for nostalgic reasons but for how we are sustained as a species. CT can be proud that farming and local foods still are available and “trust” this is an invaluable use of land in our state.

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