I am reflecting on how our newer homes generate more propensity to be indoors and more use of resources.
As we get more technology, we get further away from each other, we get further away from how the natural world really works... we get more insulated in the suburban homes with small lawns and ornamental trees and a few topiary bushes... and 2-car garage and double pane windows on a very large house with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and a tv in most rooms.
As we get more comfortable, we occupy more indoor space, and have less interest to interact with outdoor space. I lived in Venezuela for 10 years, traveled to Ecuador and Costa Rica, India... people live partially outside there when they are doing things we normally think of as indoor activities. It's healthy, it's spacious, it's connecting for people to their environment and community.
In the USA, people spend 90% of their time indoors. I want a home that helps me be outdoors while being 'at home.' Check out these terraces, patios.
As we get more technology, we get further away from each other, we get further away from how the natural world really works... we get more insulated in the suburban homes with small lawns and ornamental trees and a few topiary bushes... and 2-car garage and double pane windows on a very large house with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and a tv in most rooms.
And we must move to reducing carbon in our own homes, businesses and cars, not waiting for industry and government to take care of everything, centrally. I drive down I75 and see oceans of solar panels. We need these distributed to each of our homes and businesses for true sustainability, for wildlife, for space, for our sense of contribution/empowerment, for closer/efficient electric, and relationship to our environment.
These solar farms make sense on paper, but don't make sense on the land.
According to Green Power EMC's website, the vast majority of the electric membership corporation's 503-MW generation portfolio — 93% — is made up of solar power resources. Green Power EMC President Jeff Pratt in a statement noted that the project will "help power more than 11,000 EMC households." See story. How are birds, animals and plants going to survive these solar farms? Is pasture with cows more sustainable than these monocultures of metal and glass? Are these unsustainable solutions for sustainability? I support distributed solutions, not huge engineered central solutions.
More and more, we get more comfortable as the needs of the earth get more dire. There is less land, less air, less water, fewer corridors for earth's beings to just live.
I have hope in the new generations, and the new administration, and I plan to help plant trees, and live in a more connected way.
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