longer distance - part of this is choice. we want our cake and we want to eat it to. a cost of owning a home on the mountain or in the burbs is often that of a car or two in the drive, insurance, fuel, upkeep, and hours of life wasted in front of the windshield. not to mention increased costs in building, transportation of materials, burden on services, built in inefficiencies (how far did that wire have to carry that power? or that pipe with water?, etc.) oh, and throw in 40,000 deaths a year in auto related 'accidents'...
close in (for me) is a good thing. walk / bike to basic services. drive when needed with the little one, when the weather sucks, or when the load is too great - and even then - things are close relative to others i know. compared to my folks in suburban ohio - i'm 15 minutes by bike from 'downtown'. they are 15 minutes by car from decentralized suburban strip mall.
choices, most.
hard to make, for sure - esp. when influenced by $$$.
i'm drawn to a parcel in the woods, with a pond, and a small house. but everytime we debate it out - we realize that car time would go up - drop the little one at school, get to a yoga class, shop at the coop, meet friends, pick up milk, etc. etc. etc. we are not ready, nor willing at this point to make those sacrifices. yes - we could still ride many places, for sure, as i do that now - to far away destinations... but it complicates things for sure.
tim - i would think there is no real political value to dislodge the status quo. too much money at stake. too many people too comfortable. no one willing to make hard choices on a grand scale.
change is opportunity. but the opportunity needs to seep through the wall of our status quo first, then go through a few freeze thaw cycles, until bricks become dislodged, and eventually the wall breaks down and people start to pick up the bricks to make something new.
kunstler was way off on Y2K. but fun to read, in a downer fatalist sort of way. i'll have to check out world made by hand. but i try to avoid fiction.
