The Chicken or the Egg?

Thierry posted this question in his comments on my February post:

Is there anyone out there modeling for us the goal in a manner which is compelling and attractive on a number of levels? Jim, can you introduce us to communities which already exist and are thriving?

Unfortunately Thierry, at this time, my answer is “No.” In the US there are plenty of cities and larger towns where one can live low-emissions. But my target audience—folks now living in suburbia—clearly are not attracted to either cities or larger towns. I’ve heard there are multi-family PassivHaus dwellings in Germany, but I don’t have any info on them yet. I just e-mailed Katrin Klingenberg at passivehouse.us asking for leads to research this.

Wendy posted a number of challenging comments recently:

Give up their cars? Are you kidding? It's not going to happen until people, again the vast majority, are forced by circumstances beyond their control. Who is going to have the money to buy the places you want to see built?


Wendy, I have no hopes of reaching the vast majority now. What I’d love is to reach a handful of folks who want to share a multi-family dwelling and live without adding to Earthocide. I’m talking about some very, very low-hanging fruit. Some early, very early adopters. Folks who know they don’t want a big car, a big house, and a lot of stuff. I’m envisioning compact, connected dwellings selling in the $90,000 USD range. I know quite a few singles in their 40s, 50s, 60s (me), and 70s who would adore to buy into a sweet little community like that. How about you?


I agree that suburbanites are not going to demand affordable, sustainable homes. US suburbanites are so intimidated by government backed fear-mongering that they won’t even demand good health care, an end to the oil wars, just consequences for Wall street bankers, the truth about 9/11, or good leadership. They’re too scared to demand anything. They’re afraid of losing their jobs, the repo man grabbing their cars, the banker foreclosing their ticky-tacky box. This is the chicken.


There’s yet another reason they remain so docile. They know intellectually that life on Earth is in grave danger and worsening every day. It’s all over the medias. Hard to avoid. They know too that their daily acts—driving their car, heating their home, using electricity, buying all those consumer items, is part of the problem. But they have no idea how to deal with the guilt and grief their actions engender. Andrée Zaleska, writing in Energy Bulletin , Mar 12 2010, nails it: “If we are clinging to trying not to feel bad, then there’s no possibility of real transformation.” The chickens are numb.


So, no, they’re not going to lead the way to sustainability. And no, they’re not going to budge until the dollar cost of gasoline, heating fuels, electricity, food and taxes puts them out in the street. Before that time comes, I want to build some examples of my vision. I want to build and sell sustainable dwellings to folks while they can still sell the sprawl house they now own, before it’s too late. I want their friends and acquaintances to notice the change: their energy security, their food security, their community circle, their entire not-harmful-to-Earth existence. This is the egg. Then there will be demand for more eggs.


Sure there are a lot of other obstacles. Most suburban zoning regulations prohibit healthy diversity; prohibit the sort of multi-family connected dwellings that can be easily powered by renewable energy. But there are a few exceptions. For example, Portland, Maine’s zoning ordinance includes:


R-7 Compact Urban Residential Overlay Zone


. . . to encourage and accommodate compact residential development. Sites suitable for in-city living should be within walking distance of downtown or other work places, shopping and community facilities and have access to public or private off-site parking or transit service. The intent of this zone is to foster increased opportunities for compact in-city living for owners and renters representing a variety of income levels and household types.


OK, it may be too urban to appeal to sprawl-dwellers. Maybe I’ll have to keep looking. But it’s a start. I’ll be visiting Portland soon researching available properties.


I have a hunch that big-time organizations like the National Association of Home Builders, while still focused on sprawl housing, know that for the dead end it is. You’ll find this on their current web page:


Foreclosures Weigh on Builder Confidence in March - 3/15/2010


Once there are successful examples of sustainable communities, NAHB will jump on the bandwagon. There’s plenty of money to be made in sustainability! I’ll end with Wendy’s ending:


May our culture awaken to the many ways in which we can ease our inevitable transition out of hyper-industrialism, hyper-consumerism, and into a sustainable, vibrant, healthy and prosperous in-the-true-sense-of-the-word, economy and society.
Wendy