By Fred Kent, President

Another Earth Day has come and gone, and in following this year’s events I thought back to 1970, when I was coordinator of New York City's first Earth Day celebration.

It was a time of high ambitions about what the dawning ecology movement could accomplish. Those of us organizing events in New York and other cities around the country were excited about environmentalism as a way to preserve nature and curtail pollution but also to launch a powerful citizen's movement that would create what we now call "livable" and "sustainable" communities. When founding Project for Public Space several years later, I envisioned the organization as a part of the broad sweep of environmental consciousness that was changing the face of America and the world.

Looking back at four decades of the ecology movement, I see that what began as an extraordinary outpouring of grassroots energy has turned into a set of professionalized organizations, which have accomplished many admirable things. But these groups often appear out of touch with everyday citizens, and the environmental agenda seems distant from the places where most Americans live.

A few years ago at Earth Day, I expressed my thoughts about how the environmental movement could increase its effectiveness by connecting to the widespread yearning by millions of Americans for more livable, sustainable communities. I now present an updated version of these thoughts to contribute to the conversation about what direction environmentalists could head in this time of great economic upheaval and political change.

Scientists and lawyers dominate many green organizations today, and while they have helped make a difference in cleaning up the environment, we are increasingly confronted by problems—from the ravaging of our countryside through out-of-control sprawl to the wasteful abandonment of once thriving communities in cities, suburbs and small towns—that transcend science or law. Our years at work at PPS have shown over and over that creating great public spaces is one of the best ways to engage people in caring about the environment around them. This simple idea could have profound implications for the contemporary environmental movement.

The environmental movement has raised its voice loudest in defense of rainforests, wetlands, and old-growth wilderness, sending a subtle message that the places ordinary Americans care most about—their neighborhoods and hometowns—aren't really that important. But suppose for a minute that we enlarge the usual definition of the environment to include the places where we live, work and play. Millions more people would then be willing to stand up as part of the environmental movement.

We would witness a new breed of environmental activists working to make streets safer so everyone in the neighborhood could walk or bike more and drive less. They would lobby for communities to be better served by parks where people could get in touch with nature and farmers markets where local organic produce was for sale. They would resist the proliferation of wider roads and vast parking lots that aggravate global warming, fossil fuel use and pollution run-off. They would transform outdated shopping malls into neighborhood centers complete with housing and lively public squares, sidewalk cafes and convenient transit stops.

Besides bringing new life to our communities, this emerging vision of environmentalism would restore nature by:

• Curbing sprawl through improvements to places in existing neighborhoods, creating less incentive for people to move to new homes in greenfield developments;
• Reducing air and water pollution by supporting small-scale, local economies, which by nature are less resource-intensive;
• Reining in global warming and air pollution by creating mixed-use destinations that shorten and minimize vehicle trips and reduce energy use.

PPS is engaged in many campaigns that incorporate the shared goals of environmentalism and Placemaking. We have improved the efficiency and attractiveness of commuter rail stations throughout New Jersey and San Mateo County, California. We’ve assisted the planning of an ambitious bike trail connecting inner city neighborhoods in Indianapolis. We have partnered with AARP to publish a series of manuals teaching people how to work with transportation agencies to get safe, pedestrian-friendly streets in their communities.

Right here in our New York City backyard, we launched the New York City Streets Renaissance, with Transportation Alternatives and the Open Planning Project, to reduce car use by creating places that foster pedestrians, transit, bicyclists, and most of all, street life. Our vision for the city, once considered utopian and impractical, is now being carried out in part by the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Hundreds of miles of bike lanes have been created and portions of major streets, including Broadway, have been transformed into public spaces for pedestrians. If you can make it happen here in congested, cynical New York, you can make it happen anywhere. The challenge now is to promote these kinds of projects as a model for environmental groups everywhere.

Environmentalists have always embraced the idea of place in its ecological sense. Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry, one of the most influential spokesmen for environmental causes, has written eloquently about the role of local places in sustaining human civilization. Gary Snyder, another respected thinker in the movement, declares, "Community values come from deliberately, knowledgeably, and affectionately ‘living in place.’" Leading British green spokesman Jonathan Porritt notes, "the environment is rooted in our sense of place: our homes, our streets, our neighborhoods."

A great opportunity now exists for the environmental movement to reach out to a broader base and new partners simply by expanding the scope of places it is willing to fight for. This bigger notion of the environment would encompass rural watersheds and town squares, coastal estuaries and neighborhood playgrounds. By reinforcing the connection between public spaces and environmentalism, it would harness the energy of people who care passionately about their local places as well as the global environment. It's a winning strategy to revive the movement and restore our planet. It’s time to bring the environmentalism back home.