It seems fitting, after a posting about a book about parking, to comment on how much Miss Edith enjoyed a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. It was by Joseph B. White, entitled “An Ecotopian View of Fuel Economy.” Mr. White describes how Portland Oregon faces the truth about fuel economy and the American way of life. Now, Portland, as a city, is very smug about its “green” attitude toward everything, but they have some valid points. The city’s idea, for decades, has been that sprawl is basically a bad idea for a zillion reasons, and that everyone would do well to live densely and take public transportation. This is totally within Miss Edith’s zone. Miss Edith, as a non-driver, is a serious and dedicated pedestrian and user of public transportation. Notarius drives, and we own a car, but the car sees much less use than you would expect. Both of us feel that a life spent in a car is sort of…silly… if it’s not necessary. And we’ve designed our lives thus far so that neither of us has driven to work. Some day that may change, I admit, but for all these years, it’s been true and it’s worked. Living in the suburbs has little appeal for us.

We like that we can walk home from work and on the way easily pick up the dry cleaning, or some groceries for dinner, or a box of bandages to replace the empty one that’s been sitting in the medicine chest for a few weeks. We can walk to literally dozens and dozens of good restaurants from our house, should we decide that we don’t want to cook. When we visit friends who live in suburbia, we marvel at their wanting to be there; you can’t walk anywhere in particular, partly because half the time there are no sidewalks, but also because even if you went for a walk… how long would you be walking before you hit your destination? You have, as we see it, all the inconvenience of living in a rural area with none of the advantages of rural life (no visible neighbors; quiet; etc. etc.). Miss Edith has never pined for the rural life, as you can imagine, but she respects it a lot more than the average suburban life. It is what it is, you know? If you’re gonna live in the middle of nowhere, Do It. Suburbia strikes me as a midpoint that doesn’t really make sense.

Mr. White writes:
“In Suburbia, the nation where so many Americans live, homes and businesses are usually segregated. That segregation is viewed as desirable, even though it can turn a routine shopping trip into a 20-minute drive. The Ecotopian urbanite, by contrast, accepts that within walking distance of home there could be: a world-class bookstore, three coffee shops, a liquor mart, a grocery store, an art gallery, a service station, a chummy neighborhood restaurant, a concert hall, a designer furniture outlet and a sex-toy shop…. In this Ecotopian lifestyle, the car becomes an occasional means of escape to adventure, not a daily commuting appliance.”

Exactly, my friends.

I had never before realized so acutely that I was a type that had a name. Miss Edith isn’t known for her love of the environment – I’m not against trees, per se, but I don’t feel a real need to be near any; that’s why I live in the city, I’ve always said – but the idea that someone like me counts as a form of environmentalist is literally awesome. Apparently I live an Ecotopian lifestyle. Miss Edith, with her hats and many pairs of shoes (a pedestrian is hard on shoes) and dozens of messenger and tote bags (because you have to have things with you, and if you’re walking, you can’t use your car as a mobile purse), turns out to be an Ecotopian. Good god almighty.

I hope that people perusing Miss Edith will go read that WSJ article. It strikes me as an important article because it states so clearly something that few people are willing to talk about honestly. If people want to “help the environment” and “conserve energy” and “cut fuel costs” what they need to do is not buy electric cars and drive them 30 miles a day or whatever… they need to fundamentally alter the manner in which they live. Density in living situations is not necessarily a bad thing, my friends. Cities have gorgeous parks – I live within walking distance of at least four truly beautiful parks, not that I care, because they have trees, but Notarius cares and I do sometimes get taken out for a walk by him – and cities have housing that allow one to be comfortable in ways you never even thought of before, I bet. There are so many joys, small daily joys, to city life. I wish that people sitting in their cars listen to the traffic reports could understand why we live the way we do….
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118252449374944908.html