One of the things that made it appealing to live a suburb in the first place was it's convenience. Cheap gas, and the Interstate Highway system made it super easy to commute to work and drive back. Technology like refrigerators/freezers made it possible to not have to go buy food daily. Now, we can buy food at big box stores once a week. However, that convenience is starting to fade away.
When we planned our suburbs, we built them around the car, which we have become ever so dependent on. Americans drive more miles per person than any other country in the world. In 2014, American drivers wasted 6.9 billion hours stuck in traffic, which is 42 hours per person per year. For a person living in the San Francisco area, that figure goes up 79 hours per year. Not only does the idling of cars waste fuel, and cause air pollution that is bad for your lungs, but it also damages your mental health. Research shows that spending time stuck in traffic often leads to higher stress, blood pressure, and irritability.
The subdivision itself also detrimental to the environment. Farms, forests, and other wildlife habitats are leveled to make way for roads and houses laid out in an inefficient fashion. In America alone, we lose up to 1.2 million acres of farmland each year - how do we feed more people with less land?. And aside from displacing wildlife, runoff from roads, cars, and lawns can pollute the local groundwater. Speaking of lawns, not only do they not support any wildlife, but use precious resources like freshwater to maintain.
The American way of life can be summed up with one word: big. Big cars which need large amounts of gas, big houses which need large amounts of energy to heat/cool, and
a big carbon footprint - which is terrible for the planet. If everyone lived an American lifestyle, we would need 5 Earths to support humanity! It's clear that we need to make a change. We can't really rebuild our cities from the ground up, but can make a difference. We could use recycled water to water our lawns, and make our infrastructure better to support electric cars. We could also try to use the thermostat less, and only heat/cool the house when absolutely necessary.
However, we can't stop people from living large if they want to. Living large is our identity. It ties hand in hand with our interpretation of freedom, and the right to live the life you want. But we need to consider our planet as well. The age of Cheap Oil is long gone. Going forward, we all must look to more greener ways of building cities. For our planet, and for our future.
Sources:
https://infogram.com/which-country-travels-the-most
https://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-traffic-congestion-61043.html
https://thedownstreamproject.org/2013/08/26/take-the-test-how-many-earths-do-you-need/
https://thedownstreamproject.org/2013/08/26/take-the-test-how-many-earths-do-you-need/
This was a really interesting post. I never thought about the American suburb in terms of its effect on the environment before so that was a really interesting angle to take with it. I wonder if public transportation put in suburbs that lead to the cities would reduce the carbon footprint left by people living in suburbs.
ReplyDeleteI found your post to be very interesting and informative of the harms that the American lifestyle has. It's a shame that the way of life that so many are comfortable with is so deadly. I found that California, one of the most suburban at one point, has taken steps to try and fight this climate change with the Green Bond Pledge. Bonds will be used to help develop a cleaner infrastructure, and maybe we can transition to a greener future.
ReplyDeleteSources: https://www.globalclimateactionsummit.org/california-first-green-finance/
https://www.greenbondpledge.com/