#GreenSmackdown : housing; transportation; NIMBYism
Warning!! Salty cranky post ahead!!
If you consider yourself an environmentalist, but you consistently fight to keep out apartments, multi-family dwellings, mobile home parks, et cetera, I have bad news for you. Same if you consistently oppose commercial developments offering basic services such as grocery store, drugstore, etc.
Here’s the bad news: By fighting this type of development, you are actually being less eco-friendly. You are being a NIMBY. There’s nothing environmental about a monoculture neighborhood of single-family homes sprawled out on large lots.
That’s about a million big-box-store trips waiting to happen, and a bunch of toxic lawns.
Consider the possibility that multi-family housing adds life to a neighborhood, and that it can actually benefit you! Some of the people you want to come work for you (landscaping, petsitting, house-cleaning, in-home care, delivery etc etc etc) could live in the apartments near you, and therefore may be more available to work for you. Just a thought.
If it’s traffic you’re worried about, then advocate for expansion of public transit routes. And for sidewalks to make things friendly for pedestrians. You may not ride public transportation but public transportation benefits you by keeping cars off the road. If you don’t think anyone is willing to live without a car, that may be because you’ve never lived without a car.
If it’s the water consumption of a new development that you’re worried about, then one big thing you can do is push the developer to use native / water-wise landscaping and gentle maintenance. Also, apartments and other multi family units, and mobile-home parks, automatically use less water than single-family suburban-type homes simply because the lots per household are much smaller.
If it’s ugly architecture you’re worried about, I feel your pain. I find almost all new buildings garish and hideously tacky. However we’re not going to solve anything by preventing people from putting up buildings. And trees and other lush landscaping can serve as a buffer that helps screen the glaringly ugly buildings from our view. “Plants fix everything,” as I’m fond of saying.
*************
“Green Smackdown” is a new series on this page. If you have enjoyed this post, watch for further instances of this hashtag. By the way, in the grand scheme of things, I never want to hurt or shame anyone. But some people learn differently than others, and there are times when some of us can only obtain nutrition from a smackdown-spiced nugget.