Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You

The Sunday, February 10, 2008, issue of the New York Times containes an article which challenges the assumption that just because suburban neighborhoods have lots of green landscaping that they are “green.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, early on in the piece, the author lays it out with the assertion that suburbs are places “built to defy nature.”

The problem, according to the article, is about more than just light bulbs, “…In the end, the very things that make suburban life attractive — the lush lawns, spacious houses and three-car garages — also disproportionally contribute to global warming.” Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York city touts the differences in the average production of greenhouse gases for a New York resident (7.1 metric tons annually) to those of the average American (24.5 metric tons).

Weighing in, Thomas Sugrue, a professor of history and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania says “The very essence of the post-Second World War America suburb militates against ‘greening,’…Given the almost complete dependency of suburbanites on the car, it’s an uphill battle.”

All is not lost. The continuing urbanization of America will help to ease the production of greenhouse gases as more and more people move to cities like Lancaster and trade their daily automobile commute for a walk to the office.

Even the creation of higher density suburban developments help. TND's anyone?

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