|
Thinking About Growth |
 |
|
Introduction |
|
“Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” This is a phrase to which people worried about growth-related, environmental and social problems should pay attention. The changes brought by rapid population growth are unsettling. On one hand there is the pain of seeing treasured vistas paved over before your eyes. On the other had, there is the danger of losing the many opportunities which growth presents for advancing community interests. It doesn’t help to simply be worried, frustrated, or angry about such issues. Finding solutions requires a next step – active participation in community policy-making and problem-solving processes. You can either participate directly, or actively support one of the many interest groups working to address growth. However, if you don’t think things through carefully, you might make the mistake of supporting positions and organizations which don’t really advance your interests. This website offers a process through which individuals, students, and community groups can think through growth-related issues and sort out the many difficult choices such issues usually involve. By going through this process, you are likely to learn that the implications of growth are more complex and challenging than you might have initially realized. Thinking About Growth asks you to consider some very difficult moral issues for which there are no easy or “right” answers. Given the intense emotions which these issues can provoke, we’ve also included a few guidelines for creating safe spaces for discussing these issues.
|
|
Copyright © 2001 Conflict Research Consortium Contact: Guy
Burgess
|