Environmentalist Suzuki to quit spotlight for simple life

I don't know much about Suzuki, but he sounds like a pretty great guy. He's one of the people who championed environmentalist ideas back when they were much less popular. And for that I commend him.

But, I must say I wonder about his desire to "live the simple life" --I didn't get the impression he was doing it to save the planet, it sounded more like he was doing it for personal or spiritual reasons and I wouldn't want to criticize that.

But, why is that so many people feel that one must go out into the woods in order to be "in-touch" with nature? Nature encompasses all living things and their environments, including humans. Why is "the environment" only considered to be places with lots trees and not many people? The environment is the entire planet and the environments that demand our greatest care and respect are those densely populated places where people live-- too often, they are unbalanced places that fail to serve any purpose for life, human or otherwise, except to conduct humans from one place to another, often to "escape" the very kind of place that evolves as a result of trying to escape.

Part of me wonders if "the simple life" is just another kind of escapism. Living in some rural setting may do greater harm to the environment, and in any case, it is a luxury that we simply can't offer to all of the people in the world. We just don't have the resources.

And as a luxury, is it even that compelling? Wouldn't it be more spiritually satisfying to find the power of nature working in all environments?

To each his own, I suppose. But the day will come when we'll find these notions of "purifying nature" absurdly quaint.

Seattle has a new slogan to boost tourism: metronatural

Unfortunately, they picked the name because of "the nature surrounding the city," rather than in some kind of recognition of the natural qualities of vibrant urban landscapes... but, I'll take what I can get.

Aaron and I may go there by train on our honeymoon-- so, maybe I'll find out what they mean by metronatural then. What's next?

Naturoplis
Metrograian
Enviropolitian
Urbanmentlist
organopolitian

What I need is a good name for the city-as-an-organism... got any sugestions?

Urbanization is one of the dominant demographic trends of our time. In 1900, 150 million people lived in cities. By 2000, it was 2.9 billion people, a 19-fold increase. By 2007 more than half of us will live in cities—making us, for the first time, an urban species. From The Ecology of Cities

I think that this article is a little off base in the way it talks about urbanization, so I weighed in with my own opinions in the comment section of the article. It's a pretty good discussion that's going on over there and I think it's worth checking out.

One comment in this discussion made me think:

We shouldn't conflate "urban" and "suburban" into one conglomerate. They are two very different development structures, fueled by different lifestyles and technology. Any analysis of a combined urban-suburban area is going to yield misleading information.

What cars have done is move development out from urban areas into less dense, less heterogeneous developments. This is not urbanization. The suburban developments look VERY different from the urban areas. -KPod

I agree with what Kpod is saying here and I think it is just this confusion of urban with suburban that is at the root of many of the disputes between "city" and "country" environmentalists. The so called "mega-cities" encompass whole regions and include such a wide array of human land use and population densities that it is silly to speak about them together. Some will argue that cities depend on suburbs, but until the car was adopted as the de-facto mode of transport, cities managed to accumulate huge populations. These pre-car cities were certainly flawed and often rather dark miserable places, but the point here is that, for most of history, cities have existed with far less "sprawl" on their fringes than they do today. With our understanding of sanitation and more socially conscious practices in employment and environmental regulation the pre-car city provides the best planning model that we have to house the vast booming world population without cutting down every single tree.

Moreover, cities do not "feed on suburban growth," rather, throughout the course of urban development in the US is just the opposite. Suburban growth has sapped energy and resources from the city. Of course, there is some positive interdependence, but we must recognize that city and suburb are not the same and should not be lumped together under the vague designation of "urbanization."

Talking about "urbanization" makes it seem as if there are populations of people who are not urbanized and these people and the land they tend are being turned over to urban forces. What is really happening is the population is growing at a very rapid pace and people are simply looking for places to live. We need to address population growth, which is the cause of environmental depletion, rather than the symptom which I'll call 'suburbanization.'

For suburbs can even exist independently of city centers, this idea has given use misguided developments such as exurbs. What we need instead is a kind of city that is more intensely urban and dense than anything else yet imagined. It's a paradox, to some, that taller buildings, denser populations and "a more city city" might be a solution to environmental problems. But, short of simply hoping that billions of people drop dead, it's the only humane response.

I don't know how to address the issue of population growth, but I think social justice might play a big role here. Better heath care, free birth control, women earning commensurate wages with men and increased access to education could all help to slow the birth rate without resorting to the somewhat tyrannical Chinese solution.

What do you think about all of this?

(I found out about the article through whitecrow0, thanks!)

Chasing Zero: An Experiment in Extreme Urban Environmentalism by Ben Jervey

Here is a nice article about how Ben Jervey tried to live green in NYC for a month. It really makes me want to think about all the waste I generate.

Eventually, though, we'll have to face the question: What happens if everyone tries to take these measures?

Can local farms supply enough food for the city? (Maybe if people eat less meat... you better like apples, that's all I can say...) Would manufacturing solar panels for every roof top cause more pollution through the production process than it stems off? (Probably not, though the energy benefits are still modest. It's a tiny dent at best, conservation is more effective...)

Would a city of people who buy less and repair and reused more bring the economy to a halt? (I don't think so, so much of the economy is about service here and not goods. Nobody has any space to put things, you pay for experiences, craftsmanship, theatre, lectures, museums, good views...)

I just found this page, it's a set of questions that one might ask to better understand the the spiritual life of the place we live.

Here are the questions:

Pay attention to the shape of your neighborhood.
What feels like the center of the neighborhood?
Where are the boundaries?
Where is the high ground?
Where are the low places?
Where can you find water? Is it still or flowing?

Notice how your neighborhood celebrates sacred time.
What and when are the neighborhood festivals and other gatherings? (Be sure to include unofficial gatherings like garage sale weekends.)
Where does the neighborhood go on pilgrimage (cruising the strip, along traditional parade routes)?
What ritual objects (holiday decorations, public art, lawn sculptures) are displayed?

Find out what lives in the spaces in between.
What is in the alleys?
Where can you go to see birds?
Where can you go to get away from cars?
Where do children go to get away from adults?

Find out where the spirits live.
Who lived here before you did? And before them?
Where have scandals and tragedies occurred?
Where is the haunted house in the neighborhood?
What happens in your neighborhood between midnight and 6 a.m.?

Determine how well-rounded the soul of the place is.
What grows in the neighborhood? Trees, flowers, vegetables, weeds, nothing?
What places are named by the children?
What makes your neighborhood different from adjacent neighborhoods?
Where can you go to talk to someone who is not a family member or next-door neighbor?
What basic needs can you satisfy in your neighborhood without getting in a car?



Useful stuff!

I really like her art.

Who is the piano man?

This story has me riveted to my browser!

Check out this post from StartsAndFits about a wild thing that happened when I was out on my bike in the bronx the other day...