Orange and Green Housing

What do people want to hear in Orange? What do people want to know? Well let’s start with what we do know; what is old news is equally as relevant in the lives of Orange citizens as the new stuff! Our town is inherently agrarian, like most towns whose origins date back how ever many hundreds of years. We see the rock walls that mark where farms once nestled into the countryside; something I see to be a portal between a historic orange and a new orange. The sites and sounds of our town help ground a sense of natural being- I reference the bucolic scenes placed all over Orange. Are these scenes threatened? Not necessarily; but their integrity might be; because the portal only goes one way, what is changed rarely returns to its former state and as we make choices about the future development of Orange we must realize we will be living with the consequences of those choices. I entreat you to read on.

  Orange is growing up- literally. One field in mind on the Derby-Orange border is now home to… homes! Sprawling development seems to be a way of the modern world- and it is touching our town. Is it wrong to build homes for families? No. But then there is that question, is it right to build on un-touched land? Does money, and I say nothing taboo, give us the right to take away pristine sights that so many enjoy?

  In the building world, we have options: to embrace nature, to use eco-materials and solar panels (those innovations that seem to turn many of us off); or to use conventional materials whose origin and disposal cause health and ecological damage.

  I write to ask Orange citizens to watch and listen to what is happening to Orange’s environment. Once we know the power our voices have on creating environmentally safeguarding legislation, we can protect not only our town’s natural splendor, but also the ‘natural’ beauty that can be passed down to future generations.

  Orange legislators- urge builders coming into our town to use strict environmentally cautious standards, to use environmentally friendly materials; in other words, Orange legislators, urge builders coming to

Orange to uphold what this town stands for: a mutualistic relationship with our surroundings. This growing world, of which Orange is apart, cannot ignore this importance.

   Building companies that disregard this town’s values should be ashamed for not using environmental knowledge or environmentally friendly building materials to build here.

   It is time for Orange to fully embrace a green future, in all aspects of the sense.

         So, next time you see a builder in Orange, smile and wave, but check to see if he has a green thumb.