Defining Sustainability....

I found this 2010 study from UMD "Quality of Life and and Population Movement on the Iron Range". An interesting result is the popularity of "Sustainability" and it is curious how the writers define future "sustainable" activities : "development dollars could be spent on mountain biking trails, tourism development near the casino at Giants Ridge, pit-diving, and ATV trails that celebrate the outdoors, serve local residents, and bring in tourism dollars (PP 36)". None of these has anything to do with sustainability and rely completely on the outside population to spend money. One might think that developing local resources, such as redeveloping the former agricultural base (less importation of food), might have entered consciousness.Two immediate benefits are decreased long term fuel use (reducing importation) and recirculating money locally, rather than exporting it to far off corporations. Instead, however, we have ATV trails defined as "sustainable"; anyone making this statement should be handed the "most dumba$* idea of the decade" award. Unfortunately, this is what often passes for the mainstream economic development thinking on the Range, and it is outside the lead agencies you find actual creativity.