By John R. Wennersten|August 27, 2009
During the depression of the 1930s, the Chesapeake Bay thrived largely because people let it alone. They quit punishing the bay with overharvesting, and industrial pollution and construction diminished. The result was a maritime environmental bonanza. After the end of World War II, watermen were reporting record strikes of oysters, crabs and rockfish.
A roundtable of "experts," including this writer, mulled this scenario at a "Chesapeake Futures" conference held by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. We concluded that the same could happen today on the bay and its rivers as the result of our current recession. Rivers like the Anacostia in Washington, D.C., the Elizabeth in Virginia, and the Monocacy in Maryland will improve wondrously if we quit punishing them with pollution and if growth slows.
Recessions, of course, cause great economic hardship. But they also temper the impact of growth on the environment. They have unexpected spin-offs such as reduced traffic noise and diminished pollution, and they provide a hospitable climate for initiatives like surcharge fees to eliminate plastic bags.
Recessions also prompt real estate developers to come up with better ways of dealing with housing construction and sanitation. Developers are more amenable to the use of solar panels because of tax credits and are installing toilet systems that minimize water use. Furthermore, the economic slowdown gives Smart Growth advocates a chance to test new civic designs without having to fight developers in the courts.
Urban environmental directors like George Hawkins of Washington, D.C., have used the current period to take a strong stand on improving water quality. "This is a good time, says Mr. Hawkins, "to live up to the dictates of the 1972 Clean Water Act without developers neutering it with special exemptions." Less disposable income, he thinks, might result in less trash.
The recession has tempered enthusiasm for growth in Adams County, Pa., the home of the Gettysburg Battlefield and an area that has felt pressure from the rapidly growing Central Maryland-Washington region. With an economic slowdown, says George Weikert, chairman of the Adams County Board of Commissioners, "we have more of a chance to have a variety of information inputs - a chance to think about issues like wastewater treatment and the social impact of growth on our historic district and tourism industry."
