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Published on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Ducking the Shadows of Suburban Life
When the jets come, they start out like the shrill distant whine of a
child, or with the deep rumbling sound of thunder in the mountains.
Each jet crescendos into an elephantine wail that fills the sky and all the spaces below it: kitchens, patios, bathrooms, bedrooms—there’s no escape. The wail turns to a sudden roar above the house, rattling the Victorian redwood timbers of mom’s home.
Finally, as the planes pass, their roar fades into a distant rumble….
“Ch-eeze, mom, how can you stand it?” I shout, my ears still ringing from the blast.
“You get used to it after a while.” She smiles.
Mom lives under the flight path for commercial jets making their final descent into Orange County’s John Wayne Airport in California. Normal conversation stops each time an airline, or even smaller private aircraft, passes overhead.
It simply becomes ludicrous to try having a conversation.
We stop mid-sentence and watch the pterodactyl-like shadow of the thunderous wingspan glide ominously across trees, lawns, rooftops and asphalt city streets. The temptation is to duck.
We wait until the noisy interruption passes, and the lumbering jet—which seconds ago hung heavy in the sky and screeched above our heads—drops to its landing strip a few miles away, not far from the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
Welcome to Orange County. Today’s weather is sunny, mild and….
For the unaccustomed, like me, the jets are a not-too-infrequent disturbance that rattles the nerves as well as timbers.
The pauses in our conversation occur not from lapse of words, or from natural silences, which I’m used to, but from the turbo scream of jet fuel blasting into the atmosphere overhead.
Indoors, we keep the TV remote handy so we can turn up the volume when necessary. “What’d he say?” I ask perturbed, my thumb fumbling to press the volume button as another jet passes.
“I didn’t hear.” Mom doesn’t seem to mind; she’s adjusted. She’s lived in this house almost 40 years.
Between planes, you can hear the hum of the surrounding freeways—impacted with more traffic than they can carry. They buzz in the distance as millions of worker bees drone along in their motor vehicles.
Where do they all go?
“There’s no way this is going to last,” I said to mom recently as we turned onto the crowded interstate. “There simply isn’t enough fuel to run all these vehicles.”
“I know it,” she responded. She surprised me because I expected some disagreement. There are plenty of people who live here, my uncle included, who think the U.S. has plenty of oil reserves to fuel our massively wasteful economy.
All we need to do is drill.
No matter how many times I’ve been here, no matter how familiar I am with this place, no matter that I grew up here, I still can’t get used to the noise, or the crowds or the nagging urge to always be rushing from one place to the next. I don’t want to get used to it. The sound barrier alone tests my tolerance level for insane, unhealthy living.
And somehow that’s what we’ve come to expect as “normal” in the U.S. We simply accept it, and adjust to it. It doesn’t matter how many of our friends and relatives have died from cancer. What can you do? This is how we live.
Yet, even though I grew up here, I can’t adjust to suburban life. Even the idea of suburbia doesn’t make sense to me.
I have difficulty with the lifestyle that assumes unlimited water, unlimited energy and unlimited wealth, a solidly conservative Orange County perspective that has helped make this place what it is.
Orange County, like much of suburban U.S.A., is a region of excess, a hyperactive hive of humanity built on the false hope that oil and other non-renewable energies like coal will last forever.
It’s a noisy power hub of business and industry where people drive themselves as hard as they drive their vehicles and their bargains.
Most Orange County residents seem blissfully ignorant of the enormous waste they leave in their paths. The impracticality of it is only now becoming evident for some who live here. Occasionally, you hear discussion of creating local economies and auto-less zones where people can walk in safety.
Beyond that, however, it’s mostly business as usual. The car, economic growth and consumerism dominate.
I left Orange County nearly 25 years ago to get away from the noise and traffic, to look for greener pastures, a more sensible lifestyle, and found them in one of California’s few remaining remote coastal beach towns, a haven from the shellshock of suburban living.
I’ve gotten used to riding my bicycle, shopping locally and avoiding the roar of jets and freeway traffic. I’ve learned to live small, and I like it.
I returned to Orange County recently to spend time with mom, who successfully had a cancer removed from her breast. I’ll stay until she’s finished with radiation treatments. The adjustment has been a huge shock. It’s a lifestyle that has become foreign to me, and one I don’t miss.
Yet, as mom says, this is the “real world,” where people work themselves to death, scrambling to make ends meet, pay their mortgages, and cover endless bills for cars, repairs and doctor’s visits.
Nearly everyone in my family has had a bout with cancer. I can’t say for sure that it has had anything to do with our suburban lifestyle, or the air and water quality, or the food we eat which, under the circumstances, are considered healthy.
But I can say it’s odd that nearly two out of every three people I know have had cancer of one form or another. It does suggest that our suburban-industrial lifestyle has failed us.
Mom and I recently toasted my late stepfather on what would have been their 42nd wedding anniversary, mom’s first without him. He died last August from kidney cancer. It’s been good to remember, grieve and celebrate.
My past flashes back to me, of course, as the days with mom turn into weeks, and I re-visit youthful haunts.
I long to return to my quiet sanctuary on the Central Coast, but I’ve also enjoyed reviewing those moments when this place was still my home, when Orange County still had row upon row of orange trees, and endless fields of harvest.
Mom says, “This will always be your home.”
“I know, mom. I know.”
Mom means well, but if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.
The thunderous rumble of another jetliner sounds in the distance; I brace for another pause in our conversation, and adjust to the rhythms of suburban life.
Each jet crescendos into an elephantine wail that fills the sky and all the spaces below it: kitchens, patios, bathrooms, bedrooms—there’s no escape. The wail turns to a sudden roar above the house, rattling the Victorian redwood timbers of mom’s home.
Finally, as the planes pass, their roar fades into a distant rumble….
“Ch-eeze, mom, how can you stand it?” I shout, my ears still ringing from the blast.
“You get used to it after a while.” She smiles.
Mom lives under the flight path for commercial jets making their final descent into Orange County’s John Wayne Airport in California. Normal conversation stops each time an airline, or even smaller private aircraft, passes overhead.
It simply becomes ludicrous to try having a conversation.
We stop mid-sentence and watch the pterodactyl-like shadow of the thunderous wingspan glide ominously across trees, lawns, rooftops and asphalt city streets. The temptation is to duck.
We wait until the noisy interruption passes, and the lumbering jet—which seconds ago hung heavy in the sky and screeched above our heads—drops to its landing strip a few miles away, not far from the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
Welcome to Orange County. Today’s weather is sunny, mild and….
For the unaccustomed, like me, the jets are a not-too-infrequent disturbance that rattles the nerves as well as timbers.
The pauses in our conversation occur not from lapse of words, or from natural silences, which I’m used to, but from the turbo scream of jet fuel blasting into the atmosphere overhead.
Indoors, we keep the TV remote handy so we can turn up the volume when necessary. “What’d he say?” I ask perturbed, my thumb fumbling to press the volume button as another jet passes.
“I didn’t hear.” Mom doesn’t seem to mind; she’s adjusted. She’s lived in this house almost 40 years.
Between planes, you can hear the hum of the surrounding freeways—impacted with more traffic than they can carry. They buzz in the distance as millions of worker bees drone along in their motor vehicles.
Where do they all go?
“There’s no way this is going to last,” I said to mom recently as we turned onto the crowded interstate. “There simply isn’t enough fuel to run all these vehicles.”
“I know it,” she responded. She surprised me because I expected some disagreement. There are plenty of people who live here, my uncle included, who think the U.S. has plenty of oil reserves to fuel our massively wasteful economy.
All we need to do is drill.
No matter how many times I’ve been here, no matter how familiar I am with this place, no matter that I grew up here, I still can’t get used to the noise, or the crowds or the nagging urge to always be rushing from one place to the next. I don’t want to get used to it. The sound barrier alone tests my tolerance level for insane, unhealthy living.
And somehow that’s what we’ve come to expect as “normal” in the U.S. We simply accept it, and adjust to it. It doesn’t matter how many of our friends and relatives have died from cancer. What can you do? This is how we live.
Yet, even though I grew up here, I can’t adjust to suburban life. Even the idea of suburbia doesn’t make sense to me.
I have difficulty with the lifestyle that assumes unlimited water, unlimited energy and unlimited wealth, a solidly conservative Orange County perspective that has helped make this place what it is.
Orange County, like much of suburban U.S.A., is a region of excess, a hyperactive hive of humanity built on the false hope that oil and other non-renewable energies like coal will last forever.
It’s a noisy power hub of business and industry where people drive themselves as hard as they drive their vehicles and their bargains.
Most Orange County residents seem blissfully ignorant of the enormous waste they leave in their paths. The impracticality of it is only now becoming evident for some who live here. Occasionally, you hear discussion of creating local economies and auto-less zones where people can walk in safety.
Beyond that, however, it’s mostly business as usual. The car, economic growth and consumerism dominate.
I left Orange County nearly 25 years ago to get away from the noise and traffic, to look for greener pastures, a more sensible lifestyle, and found them in one of California’s few remaining remote coastal beach towns, a haven from the shellshock of suburban living.
I’ve gotten used to riding my bicycle, shopping locally and avoiding the roar of jets and freeway traffic. I’ve learned to live small, and I like it.
I returned to Orange County recently to spend time with mom, who successfully had a cancer removed from her breast. I’ll stay until she’s finished with radiation treatments. The adjustment has been a huge shock. It’s a lifestyle that has become foreign to me, and one I don’t miss.
Yet, as mom says, this is the “real world,” where people work themselves to death, scrambling to make ends meet, pay their mortgages, and cover endless bills for cars, repairs and doctor’s visits.
Nearly everyone in my family has had a bout with cancer. I can’t say for sure that it has had anything to do with our suburban lifestyle, or the air and water quality, or the food we eat which, under the circumstances, are considered healthy.
But I can say it’s odd that nearly two out of every three people I know have had cancer of one form or another. It does suggest that our suburban-industrial lifestyle has failed us.
Mom and I recently toasted my late stepfather on what would have been their 42nd wedding anniversary, mom’s first without him. He died last August from kidney cancer. It’s been good to remember, grieve and celebrate.
My past flashes back to me, of course, as the days with mom turn into weeks, and I re-visit youthful haunts.
I long to return to my quiet sanctuary on the Central Coast, but I’ve also enjoyed reviewing those moments when this place was still my home, when Orange County still had row upon row of orange trees, and endless fields of harvest.
Mom says, “This will always be your home.”
“I know, mom. I know.”
Mom means well, but if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.
The thunderous rumble of another jetliner sounds in the distance; I brace for another pause in our conversation, and adjust to the rhythms of suburban life.
34 Comments so far
Show AllTo EKATON:
In re: "I can vouch for the NASTY RACISM found among, sadly, mostly residents of South Central Pennsylvania."
Now I find your remark ironic considering that the nasty racism you've alluded to can be traced to the huge influx of rural southerners who migrated North, starting in 1946 from Southern Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina seeking employment on the farms and in the industries of South Central Pennsylvania. What's most interesting is the upsurge in racial violence that took place in communities of South Central Pennsylvania beginning with the arrival of the Southern migrants.
"1. I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, with impeccable homes as far as the eye can see. The "realness" of Pittsburgh neighborhoods is what I like most about them. Being real and having character means being rough around a few edges. I love the place, yet most Pittsburgh just stared at me and asked me why would I EVER want to move to Pittsburgh. Never understood it. Newcomers really like the place. My attitudes are colored a bit by fortunately being in an occupation with a shortage of workers and it is east to find a good-paying job."
It's funny because I would never want to live elsewhere. Pittsburgh's always been Pittsburgh to me. You're right about it being "real." It always made me angry when people bash the city for whatever reason. Personally, I always found it rooted in classism. Y'know, we have a blue-collar area and blue-collar = stupid to some people.
I remember going to Pitt and talking with a lot of out-of-towners. They either liked it here or hated it. The biggest complaint seemed to be that there wasn't enough to do here. The people who liked Pittsburgh seemed like that it was a big-city, yet relatively cozy, and not too hustle-bustle.
"2. Sorry about the word choice, I meant "deep-seated". And I'm sure you seen the visible anxiety on white people from, say South Park, or Mt. Lebanon when passing through Braddock or even East Liberty. The landowner at our hang gliding site in Armstrong County once said that he would never take his kids to Kennywood because of the "black people there" (all 10 of them I guess). Sorry, but having moved up here from the south, the degree of racist attitudes among western Pennsylvanians is is very noticeable."
Dude, I work with people that are downright HATEFUL and PARANOID. I will never doubt that we have racism here. I fight with people like that all the time. I guess I've just had the fortune of knowing people in general that were anti-racist as well. Plus, growing up in the city, and attending diverse schools and working with lots of different people, I can tell you that white suburbanites have no monopoly on regressivism. Also, it could just be me, but I see suburbs changing, city neighborhoods changing. My neighborhood of Brookline was fairly diverse when my parents moved here as a small child. One of my earliest childhood memories was eating pita bread at a Lebanese neighbor's house.
A lot of immigrants seem to be flocking to suburbs also. I see a bunch of Indian people in Greentree. We were riding down Banksville road not long ago, and I saw a few Indian kids with a few white kids holding skateboards, wearing wild hair and metalcore t-shirts (Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, etc.). At least in Greentree, immigrants are changing the face of the area, and there doesn't seem to be opposition to it. To me it's hopeful.
In Lawrenceville where I work, I see black kids and white kids together all the time.
I apologize for sniping at you, PJD. I guess I feel that I take my lumps for being a socialist and for standing up to right-wingers a lot offline and online. Then I come here, and I feel like I'm getting beat over the head for being white, male, a believer in God, American. I know too many people who are like me who don't drink the regressive Kool-Aid. And again, no matter how hard I work, no matter how much trouble I stay out of, I make enemies and never seem to get anywhere.
The Right makes my blood boil, and the Left, eh...frustrates me a bit. I'm always trying to get people to see that capitalism, the so-called American way, doesn't benefit them. I don't like identity politics (let alone from the Right) because I feel that it drives people further apart, and encourages resentment.
I hate the demonization of groups (except for maybe the elites). It irks me as much when conservatives do it to blacks, hispanics, you name it, as it does when leftists at times (whether they intend to or not) do it the "angry white guys" Southerners, blue-collar people, Christians, etc. Not only because I can't help but see it as a slap in the face considering the things I stand for, but because I also know that it drives people away, makes us look bad, and just gives the Right more ammo. I also like to think that has a "hard-luck" kind of guy, that I can and should find solace on the Left. Imo, no working or poor person should find solace with the Right. I watched part of Rachel Maddow's show this evening with my parents, and Pat Buchanan is going on about how he's looking out for blue-collar white men! As if that asshole ever did anything for anyone aside from other rich people! I get tired of conservatives making me feel like a failure because I don't have and can't afford a place of my own, that I don't have a job I like, that I'm generally unhappy with my life. I just get told that I need to "work harder" as if I don't come home dirty and tired everyday. Sure, my life could be worse, but fuck! And a good bunch of the people who do know who seem to be doing well, didn't seem to work very hard to get to where they are, and they aren't all white folks. They're coasting by me while half kicked in the ass. Connections?
Hell, I don't want to really be a yuppie anyway. I just wish I made enough to live better and help my family out and was doing something I enjoyed with people I actually like and don't feel disgusted around.
That's my activism anyway, and I'm trying to do more. I've been in contact with people from POG.
Hopefully I won't end up in jail or dead after Sept. 25th. I've already had enough uncomfortable experiences with the tightly-wound Pittsburgh police. I don't know why as a white guy that I should feel cozy around police officers.
So yeah, racism, classism, it's all there and very real. I'll keep fighting. Hopefully someday I can create a franchise out of an allegory of my life, make a ton of money, and give most of it away. :)
"Thanks for the comments, but you you are cherry-picking the couple very worst places in the city."
How do you mean? I see a lot of rundown properties in the city AND the suburbs. I'm sure you're familiar with the Levitske Bros. My sister lives in McKeesport btw.
"What about Pt Breeze, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Bloomfield, much of lawrenceville, Mt, Washington, the Southside flats, Southside Slopes, Brookline, Polish Hill, or Mexican War Streets (if you are yuppie and gay)?"
What about them? I live in Brookline and work in Lawrenceville and am familiar with those areas. That's one thing that surprises people when I tell people that I grew up in the city and went to public schools. My school was full of rich, preppie kids from the Eastern neighborhoods. I'm not suggesting that the Pittsburgh city neighborhoods are all slums, but there's still a bit of work that needs to be done. I like Pittsburgh. I've been here forever. Don't get me wrong.
Check that Pittsburgh city channel and you'll see what I mean. Personally, I think it should happen on a federal level and be included in a general plan to repair America's infrastructure.
Even the Hill and Homewood and East Liberty, and Manchester are looking up,"
"if white poeple can supress their deeply inbred reactions of feeling in danger when they enter a black-majority area."
Dude, seriously will you stop? I am white. I am not fucking inbred. Knock it off with your self-loathing and your projections. You're a perfect example of what's wrong with the Left.
Few comments:
1. I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, with impeccable homes as far as the eye can see. The "realness" of Pittsburgh neighborhoods is what I like most about them. Being real and having character means being rough around a few edges. I love the place, yet most Pittsburgh just stared at me and asked me why would I EVER want to move to Pittsburgh. Never understood it. Newcomers really like the place. My attitudes are colored a bit by fortunately being in an occupation with a shortage of workers and it is east to find a good-paying job.
2. Sorry about the word choice, I meant "deep-seated". And I'm sure you seen the visible anxiety on white people from, say South Park, or Mt. Lebanon when passing through Braddock or even East Liberty. The landowner at our hang gliding site in Armstrong County once said that he would never take his kids to Kennywood because of the "black people there" (all 10 of them I guess). Sorry, but having moved up here from the south, the degree of racist attitudes among western Pennsylvanians is is very noticeable.
"Sorry, but having moved up here from the south, the degree of racist attitudes among western Pennsylvanians is is very noticeable."
It is not just western Pennsylvania. I can vouch for the nasty racism found among, sadly, most residents of south central Pennsylvania.
Some related articles...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/04/11-4
http://www.alternet.org/story/19828
All is not well in the land of Ward Cleaver.
I have a couple friends (one black single mom with three kids who's a realtor and a white mom with a boy married to a Latino guy) who are having new homes built in suburban areas of Pittsburgh.
They're my friends, so I have to feign my total happiness for them (to be fair, they both had it rough as kids and are living better lives as adults) so to speak because I know they're just contributing to suburban sprawl.
Meanwhile, my sister who is on disability/public assistance lives in a depressed area full of old, abandoned, rundown homes. There are efforts to rehabilitate them, and there's some progress being made, but my sister, who lives alone, is afraid to go out at night.
I mean, old abandoned houses are creepy.
I saw this in on the news today on my break...
http://kdka.com/local/braddock.building.collapse.2.1086802.html
I'm not totally anti-suburbia. While I am a life-long city-dweller and prefer it, I'm not for letting suburbia rot either. At least around here, I don't find them to be the exclusive, regressive enclaves, over-commercialized some on the left make them out to be. Not that they aren't entirely that way, but on my end, it's exagerrated.
However, do I want suburbia to keep spreading?
I mean building in an empty space is one thing. But cutting down trees and chasing off wildlife? When the city's full of dilapidated properties?
I believe that cities and suburbs could co-exist IF we took some drastic measures towards saving our sick planet. To me it's not just about alternative fuels either. It's also about geoengineering, light-rail public transportation, repairing infrastructures, and creating cities and towns where people don't have to drive 100 miles to go to work or school.
Btw, my neighborhood's pretty quiet, aside from the occasional teenager with bass blaring out of his car (that seems to be falling out of vogue, and they should be thankful I don't drive since I'd likely kill them with my music, but I digress...) or lawnmower or kids playing.
But I like the noise somewhat too. I like knowing that I have neighbors and that there are other people around, even if I don't talk to them much. To me it's better and safer than having your nearest neighbor live a mile from you.
Plus I'm near things and don't need a car to get around. I can walk to a store or doctor or dentist or pharmacy if need be. There's a few great independent ethnic restaurants too. Pizza, gyros, and General Tso's Chicken are just a phone call away. No chains.
And guess what? We have wildlife too. Right now, one of our cats is staring out the window at his raccoon friend on the porch. I see deer once a week along with wild turkeys, groundhogs, and the occasional fox or owl.
"Have you considered a radical income reduction as a tradeoff from your present job in order to increase your independence, health and consequently longevity?"
Jesus, if only the majority of us could afford that! Man, I don't know about some of you, but I need a radical income increase AND a better quality job.
"Jesus, if only the majority of us could afford that! Man, I don't know about some of you, but I need a radical income increase AND a better quality job."
Therein lies the perception problem. There is never enough in the consumer-driven economy, so you will never make enough. And what do you mean by "better quality job?" There will always be crappy jobs to do, that will never end, but perhaps it would help if we didn't work so much, or that no one's roof, nutrition or safety would be imperiled by their not making "enough" even tho they work 50+ hours a week.
OR that you could work, but not at the expense of the fulfillment of your potential. Work shouldn't consume our opportunities, or threaten to take away that which we love to do. Work should be what needs to be done for us to fulfill our basic needs (and of culture and public infrastructure), but not the ability to participate in the economy of waste and obsolescence.
We have more (at least the industrialized cream of the crop has) more than at any other time in history. But it is precisely this perception of LACK that will never let people be satisfied with having less, enjoying the simple things in life, fulfilling your person, improving your community.
Turn off your tvs and electronic distractions, get you hands dirty and talk to your neighbors instead.
esme-I don't feel I make enough to live comfortably, help out the people I want to help out, and climb out of debt among other things.
As far as a better quality job, I mean something I actually like doing.
"Work shouldn't consume our opportunities, or threaten to take away that which we love to do. Work should be what needs to be done for us to fulfill our basic needs (and of culture and public infrastructure), but not the ability to participate in the economy of waste and obsolescence."
You're right, and if we gave everyone employment, it would increase the pool of workers, which could reduce hours for people.
I'm sorry, I HATE my employer and the work I do. It's a shithole. My job takes away from what I want to do. I come home, I'm tired, there are chores to do. Work consumes my day. I don't feel as if I can have a life. It seems as if we're all being forced to work, work, work. It dulls my brain, man.
Eh, maybe I should build a cabin and go live in the woods? lol. It's not as if I want a mansion or anything like that.
I agree, the situation is utterly ridiculous and unbearable. I've been lucky enough to not have to work full time for the past ten years now, but I've always made enough to pay my bills and enjoy a few extras (and i have two kids!) But when I examine why that is, it's because I have always had a social circle (family, friends, including the government) that in a way, subsidize costs that I would otherwise have to work extra (or earn more) to pay for. Our living expenses our very small as well because I'm not big on having the best furniture, house, car. I am very frugal and I encourage my family to be the same (altho they may not always like it!)
For example, my mom watches my girls while I work, so I don't have expensive childcare expenses.
My daughter's preschool tuition was the same amount as my University tuition, but financial aid allowed me to go to school and pay my daughter's preschool expenses.
I don't consider myself a freeloader tho; I help my family when it is their turn, I'm generous to my friends, I volunteer in my community and daughter's school, and I donate money to my favorite community groups/charities/nonprofits whenever I can.
Perhaps my point is that money should be a component of our economic life, but not its lynchpin. Strengthening the social relationships that help build and maintain our informal non-moneyed economy should get just as much if not more importance from business, government and each other.
I hear ya esme. You are fortunate. If only I could work 4 hours a day. I recall someone talking about the novel Ecotopia (which I have and will read someday, my reading list grows and I can't keep up), and in the author's fictional world, people only work 2 hours a day. Imagine that.
Believe me, I am called a freeloader too even though I help my parents out with their bills and am as of now essentially a breadwinner with dad retired and on a fixed income and mom unemployed.
"Perhaps my point is that money should be a component of our economic life, but not its lynchpin. Strengthening the social relationships that help build and maintain our informal non-moneyed economy should get just as much if not more importance from business, government and each other."
And that's a point well-taken my friend. You have a good night. :)
greatrockyhill,
Thanks for the comments, but you you are cherry-picking the couple very worst places in the city.
What about Pt Breeze, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Bloomfield, much of lawrenceville, Mt, Washington, the Southside flats, Southside Slopes, Brookline, Polish Hill, or Mexican War Streets (if you are yuppie and gay)?
Even the Hill and Homewood and East Liberty, and Manchester are looking up, if white poeple can supress their deeply inbred reactions of feeling in danger when they enter a black-majority area. I went through Homewood recently, and was suprised at how all the abandoned homes have largely been torn down, and are now grassy lots which hopefully will be built on soon. The remaining homes are all occupied and well-kept.
There is a really cool anarchist squat community collective and urban farm on the slopes above the N end of the Birmingham Bridge.
There IS a lot of wildlife in the city. On the wooded slopes around the Hill Disrict - right next to downtown, there are deer, wild turkey, and all the other usual Pennsylvania wildlife except blsck bear. The vacant lots on top of The Hill make good forage. Residents of the south side go bow-hunting on the wooded southside slopes overlooking downtown.
Just another rant. People vote with their feet. If you don't like suburbia then don't live there. I find cities noisy, polluted, declining, crowded, expensive, and generally without much green space. Crime is higher in cities and education is generally lacking. The streets are dirty and generally chocked with cars and trucks. City cops are more abusive and people are less friendly. The scale of buildings is too large and impersonal. Public transportation is a zoo. I'm glad people like living there because I choose not to even visit there when possible. I like the exurbs where there is clean air, clean water, quiet, green space everywhere, wild animals, large well tended gardens and friendly people who will still help one another. Most people like the suburbs and have chosen to live there because they prefer the life style. It's nice that people can choose where they want to live and find happiness there wherever that is.
It seems to me that there are very few problems in the world that could not be solved by a bit of population control. While the growth-oriented religions and corporations hold power over We the People of the world, population control is a taboo subject. There's no money in it, ain't gonna happen.
Which population would you like to control? Which people on this planet should stop existing? Who do you trust to make those decisions? All of history had a lower population than we have today. The smaller population did not reduce the squalor of historic cities in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and the abject poverty of sparsely-populated rural areas world-wide. That poverty and wretchedness and crime and pollution is still evident today. Reducing population won't solve all the problems; it will only move them elsewhere.
It is fine for ten people to chain the forests, but when billions do, the result threatens not only the genus homo, but all other organisms as well. There are two forms of population control, humane and inhumane methods. The humane ones use proper incentives, social and economic ones, to discourage procreation. While oppression and squalor are certainly not new, the standard of living practiced in the developed world now spreads the horror of over-consumption across the entire planet at a rate exceeding the expansion of the population itself, because the system itself is so inefficient. Basing an economic system on the needs of ALL humans and the biosphere rather than the needs of a tiny elite class of (fat and ugly) humans is the answer. When eternal and unsustainable growth is not supported, the population will stop growing by itself. When people have access to even a survival level of life without fighting for it, and have access to real information instead of corporate propaganda, they will do the right thing. The common thread connecting a carelessly discarded chamber pot of the seventeenth century, and the toxic waste dumps and oil spills of today is the immoral nature of capitalism. DEATH TO CAPITALISM and LONG LIVE THE BEAUTIFUL EARTH. You can’t have both.
Regardless of means, someone (a government significantly more restrictive than is found in any western nation) must devise incentives for humans to reduce reproduction. What incentives? One society we know of has implemented significant controls along this line, with the result of girl babies being aborted or murdered after birth to make room for a boy that might come in the next pregnancy. Unhealthy babies or those with deformaties are also sometimes murdered. Is this the society we want?
In reality, the modern western cultures of Europe and America are already just at or below the replacement rate for their populations. What other economic system can you recommed that best meets the needs of ALL humans (including the need and right of self-determination) and the biosphere, and is restrictive enough to asure a shrinking population?
Lastly, what is the "ideal" population of humans on Planet Earth? Why?
Thanks for the good concise rebuttal to another fanatical Malthusian. Oddly, I never encounter a Malthusian in the city, only out in the burbs among the SUV's and Republicans...
Unfortunately, the bulk of Malthusians are deeply ensconsed in the ivory towers of what passes for modern academia. I've never met one amongst the 'burbers unless they taught at the local U. Seems interesting that the most vocal supporters of population control never want it to start with thier family or friends...
I really fail to see the point in putting growth-oriented money into population control. Isn't that a flat contradiction? The entire economic system is predicated on the view that production needs to increase in a non-linear way. Trying to jury-rig some kind of artificial economic productivity through population control incentives seems like interesting speculation, but it also seems unlikely to work. Which is all beside the point since, honestly, what virtue is to be gained in funding a world to relinquish its biological prerogatives if those who elect to would not otherwise do so? It seems likely to encourage more materialism and solipsism. Perhaps someone can offer a different landscape than that which I envision...
This article reminded me of Playa Del Ray where I spent my first 8 years of life. We were under the flight pattern for LAX. The airport condemned our side of Playa Del Ray so what was my happy home for the first 8 years of my life is no longer there. It only is a memory in my mind.
It was true when the planes were overhead people stopped talking until they passed. You do get used to it, because I was a baby and I learned to sleep with the roar of planes flying overhead.
I haven't lived in Southern Calif since 1966. I know it has changed since then. When I was a kid Orange County was where Knots Berry Farm was. I really liked that place because it was out in the country.
Southern Calif. was a really nice place when my parents moved there in the late 40's. Though I would say that most of America has changed and a lot of places that were once beautiful and healthy living have become unhealthy and make us sick. How sad!!!
Suburbia is a noisy place - even if you don't live right under the path of landing planes.
One of the most pleasant suprises when I moved to an older city neighborhood was it's quiet. The big sources of niose in the suburbs - freways, and multi-lane strips, big central ac units cooling those thousands of aquare feet, and expecially, the lawnmowers, were largely absent. Much driving is replaced by walking, and cars make much less noise when driven slowly on the narrow streets.
Many suburbanites are confused when I say this because the only part of the city they go to, if they go into the city at all, is the central business districts. But between downtown and the suburbs are plenty of closer-in, very livabe neighborhoods. Thankfully, most cities aren't like New York or LA.
The probelm with moving out to the country is that in nearly all cases it just results in much-increased car use, which doesn't help at all.
Life is much the same outside the Orange Curtain except the noise overhead comes from police helicopters instead of commercial passenger jets. A recent trip to the bookstore of the UCLA campus caused me to wonder why our cities do not resemble college campuses instead of hellholes. Surely this must indicate the complete failure of our traditions.
Sioux Rose
The rising cancer rates I find worthy of responding to. Whether it's the chemical trail left by all those planes, or their equivalent in air, soil, water, and food, WE are being POISONED slowly by lifestyle "enhancements" that seek to control & manage nature, rather than work with her.
My favorite example is the tonnage of herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides that are routinely sprayed over most crops and millions of lawns. These wash back into the water tables, and it's doubtful that our household filters really clear half those items away. Recently CD had an article about some of the nation's waterways tested for pharmaceutical concoctions; and it's clear that we're all ingesting small doses of lots of heavy drugs! "Just say no!" Won't do much in this circumstance.
I find noise to be a HUGE form of stress & pollution to the mind. Having moved far from the urban nexus, when I do drive to see a friend or family or clients the sound "battery" seems overwhelming. I used to do Yoga on an abandoned beach that abutts the U.S. Navy's Southermost base... the people who live nearby I suppose learned to get accustomed to the sound of small jets searing the sky. Sometimes I counted myself lucky to get through a 25 minute routine without one of those screaming birds ripping into the skies overhead. And when they managed to start their exercises when I was there, I saw it as a "Yin/Yang" thing. And I'd yell my loudest "OHM" as peace person counterbalance to those Yang jets.
I remember spending the night at my sister's place in Queens which was located near a subway line. The entire place shook when the train would go by. She said they'd gotten used to that. Another friend lived on 2nd Avenue (NYC) hosting the sound of cabs all through the night, honking, etc. It seemed in my mind something one could NOT get used to. But people do. I suppose it is that survival mechanism that learns to turn off the senses so as to handle these insults to our ultimate Beings. Of course the commercial answer to this insanity is to vigorously sell "Sleep Medication." The invasion into our dream time, the silence needed for meditation makes me think of those who live in areas that are routinely bombed or scoped by drones. They must be made of strong fiber to survive at all.
The world is wicked indeed and attacks all things of peace, harmony, and beauty when the profit motive (Mammon) attaches to militarism (Mars) to further a set of lifestyle necessitites that do MUCH harm to many.
The solutions to the problems you identify -- noise, freeways, cars, pollution -- ultimately will not come from individual lifestyle changes such as moving to a rural area, riding a bike. Although that may help some, we need a radical change in the world.
Slash the world's population in half. That's the only thing that can save the planet. Half Now. Why are so many animals on the edge of extinction, why is there more desert and less agricultural land in the third world, why are people willing to die to illegally immigrate to any place where they might find work? Gross overpopulation, of course combined with an unequal distribution of wealth.
But even if we took the money from the rich and redistributed it fairly, we are still doomed unless we immediately adopt programs to cut the world's population in half, and maybe half again after that.
Abortion, birth control and sterilization should be free. Poor people should be given cash payments to get sterilized, and others should be heavily taxed for having more than one child.
This is a suicide mission we are on, with the religions driving the train right over the cliff, telling people to breed like bunnies and create new fanatics to obey their particular religious leaders, to fund their churches, to wage war against the "others." The religious fanatics of the world all demand women reproduce until they die, and the effect of this is to destroy the entire earth.
There are too many people on earth. The only solution is to radically reduce the world's population. If we don't act immediately, we will destroy all plants, all animals, pollute all the air and water, and commit mass suicide.
The only reason this is no longer the hot-topic issue it used to be and should be is because religions attack anybody who speaks openly about the need to radically reduce the world's population.
http://NABNYC.blogspot.com
Hear hear, Stacey ! I can't tell you how messed up our once rural Loudoun County, VA has turned into a suburban sprawl and a living hell in one ! For all the talk of Loudoun County having the fastest growth in the recent times, it has turned into the similar mess you describe of Orange County. There are some areas which are rural but these farmlands are getting chipped away faster than I even anticipated. Our county was one of those with the biggest foreclosure rates in the state ! It was bad enough when thoughout the county, so many rural homes were shut down and bulldozed only to have overpriced townhouses and condos in place. The cost of living is already getting bad enough but we're trying to avoid suffering the same fate as our eastern neighbor Fairfax County. JenniferBedingfield nailed it when she said that Peak Oil will force suburban America to adjust.
Stacey, since a great deal of those living in the suburbs have jobs in the inner cities, they're likely to fall for more oil drilling bs. I'm not. In fact, since my last car breakdown with the engine nearly exploding, I already fear driving and usually ask my friend for assistance when my family isn't around. I would love to live closer to metro even though it's not perfect and am even considering moving back to St Louis City. The Peak Oil crisis will most likely force businesses to spread out into the suburbs. It will also force more people to get out and be more social. I completely understand the backwards mentality in Orange County. It's the same here in the St Louis suburbs and it's utterly sickening ! Sioux Rose was absolutely correct in 1994 when she said that Mars, the Roman god of war, rules big time in the modern cities and suburbs. Just look at the rising guzzlers from suburbia what with major traffic jams to further escalate the demand for oil. Moondoggy was right when he told me that I seriously need to do something about driving 45 miles to work every morning. I already feel bad enough that I left small town MO where my parents live for St Louis City a few years ago. Take heart though. People may laugh at us today but as Peak Oil keeps coming, they will be forced to live like you. Those who laugh at us like that are really very stressed and unhappy deep down inside but are trying to play cover up by acting so macho-egotistical about it.
PS: Usually, I have to travel a long ways from the outer St Louis suburbs where I live to St Louis city every weekday. However, since I now work from home, I get to know what the suburbs actually look like during the day. It almost looks rural.
As I've remarked several times, higher oil proces will force business to do just the opposite of what you suggest, they will move to the central business district, or other places where there is sufficient density to make public transit, and walking, practical.
The current spread of workplaces into sprawling suburban office parks is being driven by cheap fuel.
Check out J.H. Crawford's books here: http://www.carfree.com/
We want to distribute the business around the country, not let it concentrate. We want local ownership of production, and protection measures. Some will argue that we need concentration of resources in urban settings. But they can't back up their argument - instead they seek to squelch the debate. We don't need such concentrations because we don't need the output of such concentrations. Just take a look at the general capability of non-urban small-scale production and look at the general needs of people and you'll recognize a match. The industrial revolution is over. We don't need economic growth. We don't need "efficiencies of scale". We don't need fossil fuel, we don't need credit, and we don't need "dear leader".
Considering that the US has several hundred mid-to large size cities for which to locate, I have trouble seeing how we can't have plenty of local economics on that scale. It seems when I say "city" or "urban" everyone is locked in this stereotype of Queens or the Bronx or East LA. Only in the US do people entertain such negative (and often racism-based) attitudes toward cities. Portland, Or, or Burlington Vt; are cities too. The most livable US city in a recent survey of Europeans was Pittsburgh. Or just consider most European cities.
Moving productive enterprises into the countryside or small towns means heavy car and truck use, and a corresponding large carbon footprint. Period. Putting productive activities in at least a small city city provides access to public transit and railroad infrastructure. Consider the exanple of Europe.
When I moved to the mid-sized citiy of Lexington, then larger Pittsburgh, I found more ways to engage in the local community and be part of the local community - a feeling of importance really, than I could ever find in a rural area, or god forbid, faceless suburbia. I also have access to far more locally made or grown products and food than one can ever get in say, the middle of Kansas.
That's why I'm thinking of moving back to the city. St Louis City isn't too bad and there's some vibe. It's just that when I made my decision on the apartment to live in, it was great at first but then when the landlords changed, it got sloppy. It's pretty hard to find a decent apartment in the city but I think I'll give it another try. Living out in the suburbs in a condo happens to be much cheaper per month but after rethinking my going to work 45 miles every morning and another 45 back, I don't think that this is sustainable health-wise alone. Even if I leave my current job, there's almost always another job in the city while the suburbs has not as many opportunities especially for my education and experience.
Jennifer,
Have you considered a radical income reduction as a tradeoff from your present job in order to increase your independence, health and consequently longevity? I don't know what you do but most jobs these days can be done from home if they involve a computer. If you are a sales clerk, then you can't get around being at the store but like you said, 45 miles adds up to time and money spent which may be affecting your health. I was stuck inside a reinforced concrete, windowless building in front of a radar scope for most of my career. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably open a gardening supply center or some other, less lucrative profession. Is it worth it to bust your ass for 50 weeks a year in order to live in a nice pad and vacation at a luxury hotel for a couple of weeks? For some people it is. Not for me.
AGG, that is indeed a great question. I've been hesitant on it. On the one hand, I want to have a safe enough amount kind of as a backup thing such as if I have to switch jobs and it takes longer than expected. I do get to work from home finally at least until the end of summer and I can see the difference. My current job used to be closer and I used to live 1 mile away from my nearest metro station even though going from metro to work would take longer than driving that same distance. There were so various factors I had considered when I got to moving from my apartment in the city. I did expect longer driving time but not as nasty and I am considering moving back to the city. I'm 28 but I feel that I have a long ways to go before I think I can own my own business. Maybe I'm just getting worried that the costs of living are only rising. I don't make a whole lot for my current job but it's a decent wage for what it's worth. I'm also hesitant to leave my current job given the current economic conditions but I'm open to that option. Usually, when I would drive in the evening hours, it would be past the rush hour range since I would go to my athletic club right near my office and work out for about an hour. Theoretically, it would take an hour and 15 minutes but with traffic jams, it can range from 1.5 to 2 hours and sometimes beyond. It was bad enough that my car engine broke down midway to home. I think I have a lot of planning and deciding to do but 45 miles is indeed overkill.