A natural and civic conflict: the threat to place, democracy, & progress toward sustainable development goals in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, U.S.A.

Progress toward the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the most recent Chesapeake Bay watershed agreement has slowed, with reports indicating either are unlikely to meet their goals. This essay examines the link between democratic backsliding and place-based voting and how in our current era of political polarization it will be especially difficult to meet the sustainable development goals of large-scale natural resources. This growing threat is examined through a critical review of seminal readings, research studies, and recent data describing how an alignment of national-level social identities with political parties has eroded peoples’ bond to place over the last 30 years in the United States. Place is presented as a personally, culturally, and spatially critical concept that informs and motivates the pro-environmental collective actions necessary to achieve sustainable development goals. The long-standing environmental problems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, a multi-jurisdictional natural resource necessary for the environmental, economic, and recreational well-being of millions of people, are described here to illustrate the importance of place-based efforts in coordinating collective action across a large, heterogeneous, socio-spatial natural resource.