SOLUTIONS & SUSTAINABILITY
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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
Institute for Urban-Style Family Living
Advocating mixed-use, transit-friendly neighborhoods for families with school-age children
John Andersen, Unconventional Ideas
Is it possible to raise successful, and happy children in other than traditional far-flung suburbs where car use is virtually mandatory? Can we be good parents in the USA if we don’t have at least two cars per family? If we take our children out of such neighborhoods, will they still have friends? Will their schools be lousy? Will they get bored and end up hating us for “ruining” their life?
While much has been written about urban-style living for empty-nesters, singles, and childless couples, relatively little exists about families with school-age children who shed one or both of their cars, and intentionally choose to live in homes, lofts, apartments, or townhouses close to downtown, or in non-traditional suburbs (walkable distance to most stores, services, and transit).
…there are many suburbs (some old, some new) that are designed with walkability in mind. They enable families to live a quasi urban lifestyle while still retaining the affordability of suburban housing. And apparently, more than a few families are opting for this alternative.
This page is dedicated to those families, and others who are intrigued by the thought of reducing their car dependency, and starting a new life in mixed-use, transit-friendly neighborhoods. It’s for those who think walking to the supermarket, and stopping along the way to chat with friends, is a privilege, not a burden, or an indicator of low economic status. It’s for those who like the idea of children being able to go places on their own two feet (under their own steam) without needing a parent to chauffeur them around.
(2002-present)
A collection of essays by John Andersen and others about alternatives to the car-suburban lifestyle. Andersen is a former US Air Force officer, German scholar, and now operates a carpet-cleaning business in Portland, Oregon. Since about 2000, he has been writing essays about his experiences downshifting and otherwise bucking trends at his website Unconventional Ideas. -BA
CSIRO Sustainability Network Update #55 (PDF – 711Kb)
Dr. Elizabeth Heij, CSIRO
Multiple articles in this 26-page newsletter from Australia:
Debt as the driver of economic growth and excessive consumption;
The need for ‘right-scale’ technologies;
Extreme-proofing cities for a changing climate;
Is time running out for capitalism?;
Eating ‘local’;
Recycling – good but not good enough;
Farming the sun;
Feedback on: issues around nuclear power, renewable energy and energy demand reduction.
(December 2005)
Other issues are available at CSIRO Newsletter archives.
The Simpler Way (new format)
Ted Trainer, personal website
…Problems of ecological destruction, Third World poverty, resource depletion, conflict and social breakdown are caused by consumer-capitalist society and cannot be solved unless we move to simpler lifestyles, more self-sufficient and cooperative ways, and a very different economy, i.e., The Simpler Way, discussed in section two.
There is now a Global Alternative Society Movement in which many small groups are building settlements of the required kind. The final section argues that the top priority for people concerned about the fate of the planet should be building these new lifestyles and systems within existing towns and suburbs.
…Living more simply does not mean deprivation or hardship. It means focusing on what is sufficient for comfort, hygiene, efficiency etc. Most of our basic needs can be met by quite simple and resource-cheap devices and ways, compared with those taken for granted and idolised in consumer society.
Living in materially simple ways can cut enormous amounts off the money a person needs to earn. …
Living in ways that minimise resource use should not be seen as an irksome effort that must be made in order to save the planet. These ways can and must become important sources of life satisfaction. We have to come to see as enjoyable many activities such as living frugally, recycling, growing food, “husbanding” resources, making rather than buying, composting, repairing, bottling fruit, giving old things to others, making things last, and running a relatively self-sufficient household economy. The Buddhist goal is a life “simple in means but rich in ends.”
(January 2006)
One of most difficult challenges in sustainability is to break free of the prevailing worldview and imagine an alternative. Longtime sustainability visionary, Ted Trainer (Faculty of Arts, University of N.S.W., Australia), has been working out his ideas for many years. Recently he reformulated his ideas into a new format. Each of the three sections can be viewed individually:
Part 1: The Situation
Part 2: The Alternative, Simpler, Way.
Part 3: The Transition Process (and notes.)
Parts 2 and 3 I find to be the more interesting, since they deal with specific solutions. Those who find Trainer’s ideas outlandish might be surprised by the success of the Amish who have lived the Simpler Way for hundreds of years. (See Amish FAQs and Plain Technology (MIT Technology Review).)
Many more of Trainer’s works are available at his website. (I wish he would date his articles — it’s hard to tell what’s new in his long list of publications!). -BA
