A Pledge to Beauty for America

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.

 When we degrade our surroundings we also degrade our sense of who we are. The overall appearance of a place has a profound influence on behavior: ugliness breeds contempt; beauty promotes respect.

Scenic beauty is not a luxury, available only to those with the means to travel or to live in exclusive communities. We believe beauty should be part of the everyday life of all Americans, regardless of their economic circumstances.

We pledge to work toward these goals: 

• Goal #1: Preserve older cities, towns and suburbs as beautiful places in which to live and work and conserve agricultural land and open space.
• Goal #2: Foster new development that respects our country?s distinctive geographical features, cultures, climate and natural systems.
• Goal #3: Encourage a balance of regulatory and market approaches to protect scenic resources, and provide disincentives for practices that destroy scenic values.
• Goal #4: Design a national transportation system that respects aesthetic values and environmental quality.
• Goal #5: Prevent outdoor advertising from intruding on the landscape.
• Goal #6: Teach young people to value the visual environment and to create and respect places of beauty.

 Change is inevitable, ugliness is not.