Individuals have been making great strides in leading more "green" lifestyles over the last several decades and especially in the last 10 years.
Cities are providing home recycling bins and pickup services, hybrid cars are all the rage and homeowners are installing low-emissivity windows and energy-efficient HVAC equipment.
It's a great first step, but many environmental advocates are encouraging like-minded folks to move beyond green and establish whole-living environments that make group sustainability the goal: enter the "sustainability community.
" Here's a quick overview of what constitutes such a community.
-An entire area is designed, built and then run with low environmental impact and low energy use as the ultimate goals.
-Social equity is also inherent in the sustainability community model.
The health and safety of residents is ensured; residents are given an equal voice in neighborhood decisions; diversity is respected and accepted; in some cases, even the community's resources are shared equally or equitably.
-Self-contained economic vitality is also a commonly-held goal.
In one community in California, for example, residents are working towards establishing basic services and businesses within the boundaries of the community to not only provide jobs for residents but also to make long car travel unnecessary.
-An eye toward the well-being of future generations is always paramount: the idea is to preserve natural resources as much as possible now to ensure that there will always be enough to meet the needs of tomorrow.
These are just a few characteristics of what constitutes a sustainability community.
Each area sets its own standards for sustainability, but the goals are always the same: to live well, love well and tread lightly on the earth.