Sprawl

Suburbia – Greatest Threat to the Environment

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When people think about what things cause harm to the environment they think of many things. They think of tall smokestacks pushing out sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, rusty metal drums leaking orange liquid, or the endless repetition of housing in suburban development.

Most do not think about attitudes and cultures that insulate people from the natural world. Yet, that might just be the biggest threat. Consumption without context, a lack of understanding of pollution, a distant natural world, and apathy all lead up to some serious environmental degradation.

Suburbia is grounded in consumption, often without context. They go to the mall and grocery store and buy things. The trash man comes by on Wednesday and takes away what they dont want. The people there have no idea where things came from, what technologies are behind it, and what the real costs of their actions are.

The landfill is well hidden from view. The methane from the dump and the landfill can not be smelled to the user. The factory in India spewing out toxic chemicals simply does not exist. Pollution does exist in suburbia from car emissions, phenalates from vinyl, and lawn pesticides, but it takes a different context from reality.

People in suburbia drive to work in an air conditioned sport-utility vehicle. They live and work in air conditioned vehicles that seal out natural air. Nature is little more then a place for camping. It certainly is not a place for living or making a life out of. If nature is anything in such a world it is always thoroughly controlled and regulated.

Life is suburbia is good, maybe too good. It breeds contempt and apathy. When life is so good, why challenge our status quo to protect some abstract environment so far away? Suburbs are non-political except for the occasional fight over grandpas fence, or parking. Real issues seem not ever to rise to interest.

US history shows spending on infrastructure doesn’t always end well

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US history shows spending on infrastructure doesn’t always end well

Over the past two centuries, federal, state and municipal governments across the U.S. have launched wave after wave of infrastructure projects.

They built canals to move freight in the 1830s and 1840s. Governments subsidized railroads in the mid- and late 19th century. They created local sewage and water systems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and then dams and irrigation systems through much of the 20th century. During World War II, massive amounts of public money were spent building and expanding ports, factories, airfields and shipyards. And after the war, highway construction – long a state and local project – became a federal endeavor.

Many of these projects did not end well. The problem wasn’t that the country didn’t need infrastructure – it did. And the troubles weren’t the result of technical failures: By and large, Americans successfully built what they intended, and much of what they built still stands.

The real problems arose before anyone lifted a shovel of earth or raised a hammer. These problems stem from how hard it is to think ahead, and they are easy to ignore in the face of excitement about new spending, new construction and increased employment.

Kunstler

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One of my formally favorite writers, James Howard Kunstler has just gotten weirder and weirder in recent years since the end of the Trump presidency and COVID-19. I used to enjoy his tough analysis of things like suburban sprawl, our tacky inorganic, motoring is everything communities.

He made some good points about peak oil, although once the fracking boom left the world flush with oil he had to search for excuses to explain why oil became so cheap at least temporarily. But since the rise of Donald Trump, he’s gotten all weird, embracing a series of right wing cranks on his blog and podcast show. I can’t imagine a peace or sustainability group inviting him to talk today, compared to even a decade ago when he was a hot commodity.

People change over time, the grow and learn new things. Kunstler ain’t the guy I knew 25 years ago but neither am I. He made his decision on what to focus on but it seems like most of the claims of election fraud or COVID conspiracy is just the world of cranks not a serious or legitimate criticism of problems we all face today.