Vague Goals Give Poor Results

In a recent lecture by Judy Brownoff, a council member for the community of Saanich, it was stated that clear objectives were given to create a sustainable community plan. After a review of these objectives it was concluded that the clarity that they were supposed to provide was some what muddled. How do city and community councillors believe that they can achieve community engagement and sustainability if they do not lay out clear guidelines as to how they will achieve those objectives?
Yes we all strive towards a more vibrant and healthy community and that sounds really great, but how are we going to get that vibrant healthy community? What are the council people doing to initiate that change? This is seen in so many different forums around the world, not just on a community level.
The government wants us to cut back our green house gas emissions by 2010 or 2020 yet they do not set out guidlines as to how. There is no education program put in place as to why we are doing that or how we should go about doing that. Citizens are expected to educate themselves and make changes themselves without government prompting. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that if people do not care about what is going on or don't understand why they should be doing something, they will not educate themselves or take the necessary steps toward change.
If the governmnet does not enforce these grandiose plans that they have put in place to become a healthier community then is anything really going to get done? New leadership could put these current plans on a back burner. So how do we deal with that if it is so important? People need to stop thinking only about the here and now and start thinking about how that is going to affect the future and what needs to be done to make it better in 20 years.