Uncontrolled Development Is Destroying Natural Resources

The Challenge: Rapid residential and commercial development is transforming South Carolina’s landscape, consuming wetlands, farmland, and forests while placing pressure on local infrastructure and services.

What do South Carolinians think? Participants across the state are watching their communities change. A Lowcountry contributor wrote: "I’m concerned with the loss of our wetlands to overdevelopment. A huge part of our charm and popularity are our natural resources and they’re now being destroyed." In the Upstate, another said: "I’m so disgusted that so many trees have been cut down to make way for apartments and shopping centers." Rural participants describe "developers buying up all the farmlands around us," with one warning that "losing agriculture is huge; it’s the state’s backbone." In Myrtle Beach: "there needs to be a moratorium because we don’t have the infrastructure to support all the excessive development." The shared sentiment: "we do not need to pave every inch of land."