FROM Http://www.nrdc.org/cities/smartgrowth/: "Sprawling land development is gobbling up the American countryside at an alarming rate -- around 365 acres per hour according to government figures. In most communities the amount of developed land is growing faster than the population. This pattern of growth forces us to be overly dependent on automobiles, increasing the pollution and damage they cause. It also destroys farmland and open spaces and pollutes more and more watersheds…"

URBAN SPRAWL CONTRIBUTES TO GLOBAL WARMING

FROM "Curbing Sprawl to Curb Global Warming"

http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/articles/warming.asp "High levels of motor vehicle ownership and use are driven by sprawling land use patterns which require long, dispersed trips, by poor public transit service (itself a consequence of sprawl), and by subsidies to motor vehicle use."

URBAN SPRAWL THREATENS OUR LIMITED WATER SUPPLY

From New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s "ANTI-SPRAWL PAGE" (http://www.state.nj.us/dep/antisprawl/map.html): In NJ, "new development claims another 50 acres every day, and 40 percent of this growth is occurring in critical natural resource areas and other environmental sensitive lands that must be preserved and protected… New Jersey faces no single greater challenge than providing a clean, safe and plentiful supply of drinking water for our growing population. Recent drought emergencies have provided sobering lessons about the consequences we face if we fail to protect our streams, rivers, and reservoirs. We must guarantee a steady supply of water to support both our burgeoning population and our ecosystems."

URBAN SPRAWL DESTROYS WILDLIFE