Statement of Principles

From Principles for Scenic Conservation

Prepared in 1996 under the auspices of Scenic America by leading scenic conservationists

America the beautiful is disappearing.

Our magnificent scenic heritage - shorelines, plains and mountains, communities and countryside - is under siege from commercial promotion and haphazard development. Prime farmland and forests give way to subdivisions and office parks while our downtowns decay. New highways rip through pristine landscapes and "improvements" to older highways often destroy historic structures. Gigantic billboards, look-alike fast-food franchises, towering on-premise signs, unscreened junk yards, power lines and cellular towers destroy the intrinsic character of towns and neighborhoods.

When we degrade our surroundings, we also degrade our sense of who we are, where we came from and the values we hold in common. The appearance of a place has a profound influence on behavior toward that place: ugliness breeds contempt; beauty promotes respect. Growth may be inevitable but ugliness is not.

Scenic beauty has been a powerful force in shaping our history, culture, philosophical and spiritual traditions and policies governing natural resources and public lands. Today, however, serious discussion of beauty and esthetics is nearly absent from public dialogue about the environment. Official declarations on environmental sustainability rarely cite conservation of scenic beauty or community appearance as primary goals or as means to other goals. Yet recent research on visual preferences indicates that there is remarkable agreement among most Americans, regardless of race or economic status, about what is attractive and desirable and what is unattractive and undesirable.

We believe that America's scenic heritage is fundamentally important to the continuation of our individual and collective well-being, to economic prosperity, to a healthy environment, and to the quality of everyday life. We reject the notion that scenic beauty is a luxury available only to those with the means to travel to protected enclaves or to live in exclusive communities. Beauty should be part of the everyday life of all Americans, regardless of their economic circumstances.

With this statement of principles, Scenic America invites citizens everywhere to join a movement for scenic conservation and to lay the foundation for a scenic century.