Everyone Must Help Save Environment : Trends: Creating a policy is easy; figuring out how to pay the costs is where the challenge comes in for Orange County residents.

California has long been recognized as a trend-setting state with endless energy, incredible potential for growth and a dynamic economy larger than some nations. We are an indicator of what will become “normal” or acceptable in the future. This trend-setting is particularly true in politics and social policy.

On Tuesday’s ballot, for example, there were a total of seven initiatives dealing with the environment. Clearly, in the 1990s, protection of the environment will be an important priority for Orange County, the state of California and the nation.

Recent national polls have indicated that the majority of Americans consider themselves environmentalists. In Orange County, studies indicate that the environment is one of the most pressing concerns of those of us living in the region.

Why this issue now? Why does it affect Orange County?

The answer is relatively simple: change. Over the past 25 years, Orange County has evolved from agricultural, to suburban, to urban environment. Many moved here because of the environment itself--the ocean, rolling hills, open space. However, this influx of new residents brought changes to the area that ironically has eroded many of the benefits that attracted people in the first place. People create change, and they have the single largest negative impact on the environment--and that must change.

In the next decade, and the next century, it is imperative that Orange County, and the nation, continue to seek ways to preserve, enhance and restore our environment. Who has the responsibility to lead this effort? Is it government? Is it schools, churches and fraternal organizations? Yes, to all of the above.

In the end, however, the responsibility is very personal. As First Lady Barbara Bush stated in her commencement address at Wellesley College: “Our success as a society depends not on what happens in the White House, but inside your house.” The battle to improve our environment begins at home. It begins with adults setting good examples and teaching children to save water, not to litter, to start recycling trash. Simple things that have a large cumulative effect. It also requires business, large and small, to be leaders and join in the solution, instead of adding to the problem. It is regional waste disposal companies “pitching in” by encouraging recycling and it is government reminding all citizens that abusing the environment is wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Leadership at every level must set standards and goals, and then have the commitment not to deviate from them.

Orange County needs an urban environmental policy that addresses education, transportation, water and air quality, waste management, preservation of natural open space, noise and growth management. This policy, however, must not be naive. It must also address its costs and practical impacts on property owners and local businesses. Creating the policy is the easy part--paying for it is the real challenge.

Orange County residents, however, are already demonstrating their willingness to invest in the environment as individuals. Last April, voters in San Juan Capistrano by an overwhelming 71% approved a $21-million general obligation bond permitting the city to acquire open space and agricultural lands. Now, Laguna Beach has embarked upon a similar task to acquire and preserve Laguna Canyon.

I believe these efforts reflect a very important change in our society. People now understand that preservation and conservation do not come cheaply or by accident. It is not the responsibility of any one individual to preserve our vanishing open space and natural resources alone. We all need to invest in our environment. This county belongs to all of us, and investing in our environment is a relatively small price to pay for taking care of the world in which we are blessed to live. Our world and our county have much in common. The environments of both are being seriously threatened by air pollution, dwindling water resources, wildlife depletion and vanishing open space. The solutions to these unfortunate trends were not to be found solely in any of the initiatives presented on the November ballot.

Environmental protection and restoration does not begin with the government, it begins with you and me. Let’s make California and Orange County leaders in setting a trend that will truly have global impact.