Bronwyn T gave me a link to your sight. Kudos to you for your interest and efforts. There seems to be a very slow awakening from a deeply comatose eco-denial (sustainability) in this country, although most of it is still generated by personal economic fears, in my view.

…Still, when 4.5% of the world’s population consumes 32% of the Earth’s resources, it is frustrating/galling and difficult to change…to see Hummers on the road still (and myriad other SUVs here in the “heartland”). Even worse, what is our economy judged by as main barometers? New homes starts and car sales. In Zurich or ….pick a place….Berlin/ Auckland/I’d venture to say even Vancouver the economony isn’t linked to such unsustainable measures of “success.”

Walkability- amen. Enjoyed your site and hope to meet you w/ Bron someday soon. You’re her coolest “Elkhart friend” by far given what I’ve heard and who I’ve met thus far.

Keith Mitchell
Indianapolis

The glass is not half empty (or more) This sort of small town could be a poster-child for electric vehicles/carts/scooters and bikes -(even in spite of the rough Midwest winter climate).

Our daily travel patterns are almost entirely within a four mile radius. That’s been one reason we have not moved to one of the newer developments outside of town. Intelligent policy decisions that would mandate sidewalk construction on any road upgrade could upgrade the quality of life considerably.

If a town is struggling to rebuild with new ruralism in mind, some infrastructure to tie in nearby suburbs for electric vehicle, bike and scooter access could go a long way to building community cohesion.

The lucky ones would still get to live downtown.

My last address, 648 Broadway, NY NY, ranked a perfect score: 100 out of 100. That was a serious walking neighborhood. Literally everything you could ever want was within five blocks, from a dog kennel to motorcycle repair to artisinal cheese… which was a big change from when I moved there out of college in ’77 and the nearest food of any kind was a mile away. And it was falafel. You also ran the highest risk in the country of being hit by a cab or a bicycle messenger before you got there.

I never heard of Neuton mowers—they look pretty sweet! I’m considering a battery-powered edger. But one lawn commitment at a time… Grass is okay but I’d like to think of ways to minimize it (like planting more flowers…)

Thanks for reading & commenting!

I was once a fly-mo devotee,too, and I stuck with using it for the little weed patch that was our back yard for a couple years. After a while, the fly-mo just wasn’t flying for me anymore. Then there was an interlude when I turned to a lawn service, because I didn’t want to buy another piece of equipment. But, after a while I couldn’t stomach paying such a ridiculous amount of money for such a little yard. So, then I reconsidered my options (gas mowers were never one of them) and decided on a Neuton battery powered mower. The battery holds a charge for a decent amount of time, so it’s not an electricity hog when it comes to recharging. Better still, no need to store gas in the garage.

In France, we don’t have a yard. We have a terrace with some pots of flowers and herbs which is nice except for the pesky snails (cochinelles). I miss having a little bit of lawn to tend, though.

The vertical farm concept described by Despommier is like that to the extreme… basically living skyscrapers of food.