apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

A very interesting article indeed. Even though I grew up in the suburbs, they are not for me.

The biggest problem is the "conformist" attitude, the dependence of the car to get to anything are two of them.

Where I live is indeed walkable, despite the hills and it's reasonably close to downtown and I can, and do walk down there when the weather is decent as I live in an inner city neighborhood that's rich with restaurants, the occasional club, a 2 large parks, one has a playing field on one end, a community college campus and of course, various stores and shops for shopping opportunities.

If you can't walk, at least here in Seattle, there is the bus and the occasional taxi to help get you around and thus one can leave one's car parked during the day, if one even feels they even need one to begin with.

That's more green living IMO.

That reliance on cars in the 'burbs is true in the UK too.

I live in London - boo, according to conventional wisdom - yet I simply don't NEED a car, I've never had one here in over 15 years.... I can walk to the local stores & farmer's markets, and I do all my work & recreational travelling on public transport.

I also have access to great recycling, locally grown organic food, and so on - my friends outside the big smoke are so reliant on their cars for everything from school runs to getting a pint of milk, or posting a letter, it's pitiful, yet they nag me to move if we start a family because it's a more "natural" way of life!

It's something I feel quite strongly about, so it's good to read I'm not alone in questioning the "rural idyll"!

An environmentally sound practice that the article didn't address is replacing lush green lawns with indigenous plants. They help balance the local ecosystem, need less (or no) watering, no mowing, and no toxic chemicals.

I try to bus everywhere that isn't within walking distance and when the weather permits, I can walk to just about anything I need within a few blocks. This year I hope to get rid of my "lawn" by turning all the soil over and planting sunflowers. What fun to sit on the porch with a cup of coffee in the morning or evening and watch the birds feeding on the sunflowers! I've seen homes with lawns that have a steep slope down to the street, where the owners have planted the entire lawn in ivy. Low-maintenance and good looking.

Most people ask me how I ever could have moved from Boulder, CO to New York City, and a large part of it can be traced to not having/needing a car and the foot-friendly lifestyle that follows. I am one of the lucky few who walk across town to work (15 minutes if I hit all the lights), but still, having a car in the city is almost more of a hassle than it is worth, due to traffic, parking, insurance, gas etc. But what we don't pay for in transportation expenses, we make up for in housing though!

A few things that bother me to no end... the massive use of plastic bags for EVERYTHING! You literally have to insist they not bag your purchases- when you're only walking across the street to get a sandwich and then returning to your office, is it really necessary? That is one area I hope both city dwellers & our suburban counterparts improve. That and shutting off the faucet when you brush your teeth.

I like the idea about Xeriscaping too. However, not to be cynical, but imagine how many jobs in the Las Vegas gardening sector would be lost if the city landscaped with native plants rather than artificially creating an ecosystem with the water usage of a rainforest in the middle of a desert?

I live in the 'burbs because we work in the 'burbs - Clear Lake area in Houston, which has become a sattelite city in its own right (pardon my pun, this is the space center area). Right now we're in an apartment. Most days I carpool with my husband; we live close to work, but cross enough major roads that it would be very frightening to bike. (A friend of ours braves it and gets no end of honking from random people for no apparent reason. Houston drivers are beasts.) Groceries and the like are all well situated. So - for now - we're not doing too bad.

My concern is ... in a few years the huz will finish his master's and we'll see how the space program is shaping up. We're already getting pressure to settle. It's that conformist attitude ciddyguy speaks of. People just assume you want to buy a huge house out in the suburbs further down. (I've heard someone call such developments exurbs, the suburbs to the suburbs.) I'd like to stay in this area; there are more modestly sized houses. But then you get to deal with the homeowners' associations. Are they going to give me crud when I want to rip out the lawn and grow natives/edibles/wildlife stuff? I often feel like I'm swimming upstream just because I refuse to sit by myself in an SUV miles from work and gripe about the traffic.