Blog

Individual Choices hurt others

The family that chooses to buy a home in a location requiring a long commute to work, often do so because the home costs less than buying one in town near work. That simple decision, Multiplied by the thousands of similar decisions, has unintended consequences that negatively affect the rest of us. This is sprawl! The road building and maintenance needed to serve all these commuters requires additional taxes to fund the costs, gobbles up additional land and resources, and wastes the fuels consumed commuting. The empty nester couple that finally realizes their lifelong dream of owning a second home in a vacation setting in the mountains chips away at the very wilderness they love and we all treasure. That second home, combined with the original home, uses twice the number of trees, and double the quantities of minerals to build. If only people could be aware of the impact on others their decisions have when they make purchase decisions.

Labels: second homes, sprawl, unintended consequences