Land Use

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Length: 27 minutes

This episode of the award winning GreenWorks for Pennsylvania TV show features citizens acting to protect our land through proper planning and the reuse of existing properties.

In this episode you will learn about:

• The ways land is used and sometimes wasted, when "Environmental Ed" and "Teacher Tina" take us on a tour of their community;

• The realities and effects of "suburban sprawl"-the shift of people from cities to newly built suburbs in what used to be farmland and forest areas. Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Hylton, author of, Save Our Land, Save our Towns, as well as photographer Blair Seitz, York Daily Record editor Dennis Hetzel, developer Ed Drogaris of the Drogaris Companies, and John Oliver, Secretary of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, all share their perspectives and solutions to sprawl;

• Lancaster County's plans to direct development through the use of "growth boundaries";

• The Wildlands Conservancy's composting toilets and their many benefits including water conservation, watershed protection-and good food for the garden!

• The Commonwealth's Land Recycling Program, which encourages companies to build on old industrial "brownfield" sites rather than new undeveloped "greenfields." The Wolf Organization, a manufacturing company in York, describes its successful expansion on a brownfield site;

• Bethlehem Works, the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's reuse of an industrial complex to develop cultural, entertainment and recreational venues, including the National Museum of Industrial History, created in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution.

• Gene Garber, a Lancaster County farmer (and former Phillies pitcher) who has worked with the Lancaster Farmland Trust to preserve his farm and protect it from future development;

• 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, an alliance of organizations headed by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, that is dedicated to educating the public about land use issues; and

• The Governor's 21st Century Environment Commission and its goal to identify and address the Commonwealth's environmental priorities, including responsible land use, environmental education, conservation of resources, and a healthy lifestyle for PA residents.

This episode of GreenWorks for Pennsylvania was a Finalist for the 1998 Telly Awards, which recognize outstanding non-network and cable television programming in the United States.

Learn More:

On the Governor's 21st Century Commission, see the GreenWorks for Pennsylvania episode "Environment in the 21st Century."

Get Involved:

Bethlehem Steel Corp.
1170 Eighth Ave.
Bethlehem, PA, 18016-7699

Blair Seitz (Photographer)
Phone: (717) 232-7944

Ed Drogaris (Developer)
Lancaster, PA
Phone: (717) 299-7080
Fax: (717) 299-1883

The Wolf Organization
Tom Wolf
Phone: (717) 852-4800

York Daily Record
Dennis Hetzel, Editor
York, PA
Phone: (717) 840-2011

York Industrial Plaza
160 Roosevelt Ave.
Suite 300
York, PA, 17404
Phone: (717) 846-8879