I live in the middle of nowhere and yes, we do see this all the time. No
one walks anywhere, no bicycles, very few motorcycles. They drive 25 miles
to the city daily for whatever, even if they do not work. Many who live
here drive 150+ miles a day to work and back.
Me, I go to town once a week, in my Volks TDI. I did look at getting a
motorcycle, but the animal feed ect. just doesn't fit. Eventually we hope
to lower the amount we are spending off farm, but it takes time and effort
to build the place, improve the soil and keep everything done. Being self
sufficient is really hard to set up. For example, right now I have to buy
milk and milk products because my cow is almost 2 weeks overdue to have her
calf. I did have some milk in the freezer, but we ran out. Mother Nature
makes this lifestyle an art, not a science. I have read books like 5 acres
and independence, but they obviously did not have a Jersey cow.
The biggest problem I have found it that local economy is so
expensive. They expect you to pay dearly for the privilege of buying
locally, to the tune of double what I can pay 25 miles away.
Worse than that, the local produce store carries Californian oranges, not
the Texas or Louisiana oranges that I get a Walmart. [I am in east
Texas] We have nothing produced locally that is sold locally. The high
gas prices have had little effect on the lifestyle.
Most people who have moved here from the city have no interest in doing for
themselves. Less than 10% of the homes have gardens, and this in a place
where gardening year round is easy. The reality of today makes it hard to
believe that any 'new urbanism' is going to be an improvement.
Bright Blessings,
Kim
At 12:51 PM 2/24/2005, you wrote:
I think the reason the film spoke of "new urbanism" as one possible result
(not solution) is that a possible trouble with moving further out is that
unless you can provide all of your own goods/services (which most can
not), the increased distance will require MORE not less transportation
(and hence more energy). High density living facilitates a
reduction/concentration of transportation, and also enables the use of
higher efficiency transportation methods (mass transit for individuals,
trains for goods, etc).
_
_______________________________________________
Biofuel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable):
http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
