Carolina Planning occasionally includes Viewpoint articles which offer commentary on planning issues and provide a forum for personal opinion and debate on current topics of interest to planners. The intent of this article is to examine the nexus between planning and the environment—specifically, to examine how concern for the environment has influenced planning, and how planning has played an increasingly important role in assuring protection of the environment. In this Twentieth Anniversary Issue of Carolina Planning, I will address how the roleof the environment in planning has evolved over the last twenty years and suggest how planning and protection of our natural resources may conjoin in the future.