I would add to this is that in addition to raising hell with the companies we buy from and making use of what we already have, we should also engage our power as citizens to pressure our governments for stronger regulation.
One of the things companies do is lobby to create conditions which enable them to lower and externalize costs (like pollution). It's up to us to fight back to make sure corporations absorb all the social and environmental costs they create.
You know, I have to agree, that our lust for the newest technology isn't going to slow, so it makes me wonder what we can really do about it, and it frustrates me.
It boils down to individuals. We see so little value in what already exists and have to have more and more and more and more and newer and newer and newer.....it's exhausting and expensive, and we work so hard to pay for all these new things, and then we complain because we don't have the time we want to spend with our families. Yet, if we lived with less, we wouldn't have to work so hard....
So, isn't it embarrassing to be part of a society that projects our lust for the newest technologies to maintain momentum?
Good article. Just a note, one must live in/near a city/suburb to be car free. Where I grew up, rural country / farm land it is necessary to have a vehicle to go anywhere. In fact, sidewalks don't even exist there yet. This model only works for urbanites/city folk but as more and more people continue to flock to cities, I hope this approach flourishes.
Thanks for the great post Miki. Your sentiment reminds me of themes Douglas Rushkoff covers in Life Inc. “Each home was to be its own fiefdom. Self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man with his private estate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic.”
A recent survey shows that three-quarters of Americans confess that they don’t know their next door neighbors. In the UK, six out of ten people don’t know their neighbors’ names. It would seem that the consumer culture of “more” helped businesses get bigger while prying us further and further apart.
We need more pioneers like you using social technologies to reinvent the way we share and interact with our neighbors in the physical world.
A simpler approach is to continue using Facebook - BUT - just directly control who can read your postings (including Facebook).
A free FireFox Plugin from CloakGuard let's you encrypt your Facebook posting with your own private Keyword. Only people you've shared your Keyword with can then read that Facebook posting. It's available from www.cloakguard.com and from Mozilla at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/194385/
thanks for the kind words, everyone... doctor_jimmy, I consider that reading totally legitimate, I doubt you're alone, and I am glad some people read it that way! I actually consciously conceived of that, in advance, as a metric of the story's success -- that some people would read it as a utopia and others as a dystopia.
I feel so alone. Am I truly the only one here who reads this as a brilliantly written and conceived but thoroughly depressing dystopian nightmare? It's like "Brave New World" on steroids. I think my rating in such a society would be pretty f***ing low.
As a Boston resident who works in downtown and commutes via transit - I am taken aback that the City is spending so much money on bike lanes when there seems to be such disregard by cyclists of the traffic laws. Until laws are passed and enforced and obeyed - why bother giving cyclists their own lanes?!? Here's an example of what I see everyday as I walk from South Station to my office. Bikers running red lights, including when we pedestrians have our all-walk phase. When I have my walk signal - I have the right of way! I shouldn't have to watch for bikes anymore than I should have to watch out for cars. Bikes riding against one-way streets. Bikes riding down the wrong side of the road (against traffic), Bikes riding on sidewalks! I think if you want to ride in Boston Proper - you should be required to have a license and carry it with you. Enough putting pedestrians, drivers of cars, and yourselves in danger!! I realize some drivers and jaywalkers create hazards for cyclists too, but if you want respect - you need to respect the rules of the road (and sidewalk - get off!) too! And lastly - these aren't just messengers I see doing this - regular cyclists as well.
Did William Gibson and Bruce Sterling have a baby together and name him Benjamin? I mean that as a compliment! This is really good and refreshing to read in a 'starved for good SF' way.
the title made me think immediately of Dr. Phil (you know...'Dick'). great title.
Thank you!
hear, hear - in the meantime, Matt, you may want to try Readibility bookmarklet - that's what I use to get more readible and print-optimized version of blog posts and webpages: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability
So good to see this. We live a car-free life, too, over here in equally car-focused Germany. Need not tell you that it can be done.
One point you mention, though - borrowing a car from neighbours. I prefer anonymous renting because I dislike "owing to" or being dependent on friends. And while they borrow out the car gladly, I don't like taking it.
Great article, Abby! I admire any family that can ditch their cars and rely solely on bicycles as their transportation. Monica and Paul show it can be done and the whole family is better for the transition. I so enjoy riding my bike and walking everywhere, though I'll admit to still using my car on certain occasions. Still, I'm keen on more of the former and less of the latter. Also, the sooner a car sharing program comes to Eugene, the better!
This is so inspiring! We purposely walk most places, and are building toward bikes that could accommodate the whole family. I am not quite ready to sell the car to finance it...however, I have thought about it!
Regarding the aerospace engineer suggestion: I disagree with people who think colonization is a solution. Do they not realize the vast amounts of oil that would take? Oil that we are rapidly depleting. Do we really want to use up what remains so that a handful of doomed humans can boldly go where fools always go in such circumstances, that is, to their rapid demise? Do they not realize that only a very small number of people could ever even attempt such a thing? Do they not realize the certainty of failure of such a mission?
Listen man IS Earth. We are not separate from the planet. We are part of the Earth organism. We cannot survive separated from our planet for very long. Man needs more than food, water and oxygen (and even that is not assured, not by a long stretch). To think otherwise is misguided.
Fight to save this planet. Let's not use, abuse and then abandon her for another. I refuse to even consider it. It's sheer folly.
As a mom who would love to shop local and support my local farmers, I like the farmer's market because they all meet in one place. It saves me a load of time. I can't travel to 6 different farms every week. I feed a family of 7 and we rent. We don't store food that needs to last a long time. We can't. So rather than travel to all the farms, or shop at my nearest chain store...a farmer's market is a viable option for for people who want to support the local economy and eat local foods without driving all over three different towns.
Great story, well, more than a story; great lifestyle. I am not quite car-free, but very car-lite. I really wish more people would do this so it becomes more the norm and not the exception. There's a long way to go.
aj
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289538783666
I would add to this is that in addition to raising hell with the companies we buy from and making use of what we already have, we should also engage our power as citizens to pressure our governments for stronger regulation.
One of the things companies do is lobby to create conditions which enable them to lower and externalize costs (like pollution). It's up to us to fight back to make sure corporations absorb all the social and environmental costs they create.
You know, I have to agree, that our lust for the newest technology isn't going to slow, so it makes me wonder what we can really do about it, and it frustrates me.
It boils down to individuals. We see so little value in what already exists and have to have more and more and more and more and newer and newer and newer.....it's exhausting and expensive, and we work so hard to pay for all these new things, and then we complain because we don't have the time we want to spend with our families. Yet, if we lived with less, we wouldn't have to work so hard....
So, isn't it embarrassing to be part of a society that projects our lust for the newest technologies to maintain momentum?
Good article. Just a note, one must live in/near a city/suburb to be car free. Where I grew up, rural country / farm land it is necessary to have a vehicle to go anywhere. In fact, sidewalks don't even exist there yet. This model only works for urbanites/city folk but as more and more people continue to flock to cities, I hope this approach flourishes.
I am actually based in Sydney and would love to learn more about what you are doing with threadswap. Rachel www.collaborativeconsumption.com
Thanks for the great post Miki. Your sentiment reminds me of themes Douglas Rushkoff covers in Life Inc. “Each home was to be its own fiefdom. Self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man with his private estate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic.”
A recent survey shows that three-quarters of Americans confess that they don’t know their next door neighbors. In the UK, six out of ten people don’t know their neighbors’ names. It would seem that the consumer culture of “more” helped businesses get bigger while prying us further and further apart.
We need more pioneers like you using social technologies to reinvent the way we share and interact with our neighbors in the physical world.
Rachel
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A simpler approach is to continue using Facebook - BUT - just directly control who can read your postings (including Facebook).
A free FireFox Plugin from CloakGuard let's you encrypt your Facebook posting with your own private Keyword. Only people you've shared your Keyword with can then read that Facebook posting. It's available from www.cloakguard.com and from Mozilla at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/194385/
thanks for the kind words, everyone... doctor_jimmy, I consider that reading totally legitimate, I doubt you're alone, and I am glad some people read it that way! I actually consciously conceived of that, in advance, as a metric of the story's success -- that some people would read it as a utopia and others as a dystopia.
I feel so alone. Am I truly the only one here who reads this as a brilliantly written and conceived but thoroughly depressing dystopian nightmare? It's like "Brave New World" on steroids. I think my rating in such a society would be pretty f***ing low.
As a Boston resident who works in downtown and commutes via transit - I am taken aback that the City is spending so much money on bike lanes when there seems to be such disregard by cyclists of the traffic laws. Until laws are passed and enforced and obeyed - why bother giving cyclists their own lanes?!? Here's an example of what I see everyday as I walk from South Station to my office. Bikers running red lights, including when we pedestrians have our all-walk phase. When I have my walk signal - I have the right of way! I shouldn't have to watch for bikes anymore than I should have to watch out for cars. Bikes riding against one-way streets. Bikes riding down the wrong side of the road (against traffic), Bikes riding on sidewalks! I think if you want to ride in Boston Proper - you should be required to have a license and carry it with you. Enough putting pedestrians, drivers of cars, and yourselves in danger!! I realize some drivers and jaywalkers create hazards for cyclists too, but if you want respect - you need to respect the rules of the road (and sidewalk - get off!) too! And lastly - these aren't just messengers I see doing this - regular cyclists as well.
Did William Gibson and Bruce Sterling have a baby together and name him Benjamin? I mean that as a compliment! This is really good and refreshing to read in a 'starved for good SF' way.
the title made me think immediately of Dr. Phil (you know...'Dick'). great title.
Thank you!
hear, hear - in the meantime, Matt, you may want to try Readibility bookmarklet - that's what I use to get more readible and print-optimized version of blog posts and webpages:
http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability
Really cool bike and an awesome baby carrier...:)
So good to see this. We live a car-free life, too, over here in equally car-focused Germany. Need not tell you that it can be done.
One point you mention, though - borrowing a car from neighbours. I prefer anonymous renting because I dislike "owing to" or being dependent on friends. And while they borrow out the car gladly, I don't like taking it.
Great article, Abby! I admire any family that can ditch their cars and rely solely on bicycles as their transportation. Monica and Paul show it can be done and the whole family is better for the transition. I so enjoy riding my bike and walking everywhere, though I'll admit to still using my car on certain occasions. Still, I'm keen on more of the former and less of the latter. Also, the sooner a car sharing program comes to Eugene, the better!
This is so inspiring! We purposely walk most places, and are building toward bikes that could accommodate the whole family. I am not quite ready to sell the car to finance it...however, I have thought about it!
Thanks for sharing this story.
Fantastic article! And very inspiring. :)
Regarding the aerospace engineer suggestion: I disagree with people who think colonization is a solution. Do they not realize the vast amounts of oil that would take? Oil that we are rapidly depleting. Do we really want to use up what remains so that a handful of doomed humans can boldly go where fools always go in such circumstances, that is, to their rapid demise? Do they not realize that only a very small number of people could ever even attempt such a thing? Do they not realize the certainty of failure of such a mission?
Listen man IS Earth. We are not separate from the planet. We are part of the Earth organism. We cannot survive separated from our planet for very long. Man needs more than food, water and oxygen (and even that is not assured, not by a long stretch). To think otherwise is misguided.
Fight to save this planet. Let's not use, abuse and then abandon her for another. I refuse to even consider it. It's sheer folly.
As a mom who would love to shop local and support my local farmers, I like the farmer's market because they all meet in one place. It saves me a load of time. I can't travel to 6 different farms every week. I feed a family of 7 and we rent. We don't store food that needs to last a long time. We can't. So rather than travel to all the farms, or shop at my nearest chain store...a farmer's market is a viable option for for people who want to support the local economy and eat local foods without driving all over three different towns.
Great story, well, more than a story; great lifestyle. I am not quite car-free, but very car-lite. I really wish more people would do this so it becomes more the norm and not the exception. There's a long way to go.
aj
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=289538783666
@shareable Can you add an option to “click here for printer-friendly version” ?
This list is irrelevant, any profession can be made "to make things less dystopian". However, these are some verrry cool jobs.
Yay! I'm so happy to hear of another carfree small-space family doing great things in the world. And wow, 22 bikes is a lot of bikes :)
I've already been doing this near my home, but I never thought of the name "free Market." I love it.
Been reading your excellent blog for quite a few weeks now, and i am enjoying many of your excellent topics.