Understanding influences on the environmental sustainability of two small urban areas (Vermont, Pennsylvania)

The capitalist world economy has expanded the spatial scale of environmental change by incorporating the entire world as one economic unit. For the first time, the sustainability of humanity and the ecosystems that support it are in doubt. At the same time, human settlement is increasingly urban. If society is to become environmentally sustainable, then so must its urban areas must become sustainable.; In this research, I seek to identify and understand the factors that influence the local contribution to global environmental sustainability. To do so, I use sustainability indicators to compare the global environmental sustainability of two urban areas (Greater Burlington, Vermont and the Centre Region of central Pennsylvania), linkage indicators to measure their connectedness to the global market, and interviews to understand the processes affecting local sustainability.; The research revealed that within-study area differences in sustainability greater than between-study area differences and are based largely on local differences in residential density that are grounded in differences in wealth and differences in preference for urban versus suburban residential settings. When aggregated into regions, the two study areas show very similar sustainability profiles because each area has similar affluence and technology, participates in the same economy, and belongs to the same culture of consumption. In a system where national and global institutions largely determine local sustanability, municipalities have limited options to improve sustainability. They may improve sustainability through changes in education and through implementation of more effective regulatory and governing mechanisms. These changes may incrementally modify culture over time.