Tom Watson is a project manager for King County and is the Seattle Times columnist of "EcoConsumer." Every month, Tom will offer tips on how you, too, can become an eco-consumer. Read below for this month's smart and easy consumer tips.
Have you seen or heard those Sound Transit ads: “Is your commute turning you into a monster?” Those ads make a great case for denser, more urban living.
Many folks who live in the suburbs love lots of things about it. They may like the big house, the big yard, the feeling of safety, the schools, being able to have pets, and much more. But I’d venture to guess that most of them hate the commute.
All that time on the road. All that stress. All that money for gas. But driving our cars also has the greatest negative impact on the environment, by far, of anything we do as individuals, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists and many other experts.
If you live in a denser community, you can greatly reduce or eliminate your reliance on cars. That’s one reason New York is “the greenest city in America,” according to a fascinating article by David Owen in the Oct. 18, 2004, New Yorker magazine (you can read it at www.walkablestreets.com/manhattan.htm).
Of course, you can still take mass transit, car-pool or drive a hybrid car even if you live in the distant suburbs. But in a denser community, especially one with a lot of employment and retail nearby, it’s much easier to leave the car at home, or not have one at all.
In addition to reducing or eliminating the need for a car, dense urban living offers other environmental advantages. People who live in cities use only about half as much electricity as people who don't, according to the New Yorker article. Residents of “urban villages” don’t have huge lawns, doused with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. And of course, many folks find that living in highly-populated communities has cultural and social advantages.
High-density living will never appeal to everyone. For some people, the American Dream will always include the big house surrounded by an expanse of green lawn. But it’s heartening that cities and developers have begun to provide more and better options for urban living: Apartments, condos, co-housing, new small single-family homes in the heart of the city, and more.
Neighborhoods or enclaves that are more tightly-packed and self-sustaining have sprung up all over. Around here, they’re not just in Seattle anymore, but in places like Kent, Renton and Bellevue. And that’s exciting news for those of us who enjoy being dense.
Take me back to EcoConsumer Archives.
