Part One in an ongoing series linking energy consumption and development patterns
With the price at the pump topping record levels, many
advocacy groups have published their own versions of “10 Tips for Reducing
Your Energy Consumption.” While individual efforts – as well as critical thinking
in the ongoing alternative fuels debate – are integral, communities also
must start planning carefully to achieve the only sure-fire method for
curbing America’s oil addiction: cutting car trips. Imagine the possibilities if
we stopped subsidizing unnaturally low gas prices, and started letting the market
catch up to rising consumer demand for pedestrian and bike-friendly
communities near jobs, retail and public transportation. This is Part One in an ongoing
Metropolitan Planning Council Web series, highlighting how we, as a region, can
start recognizing every chance to grow or rebuild as another opportunity to
diminish our auto dependency. Check back every other Thursday to learn
innovative ways we can beat our oil addiction through sensible growth.
Ariel Diamond is a self-described “twenty-something in a suit” – who also
happens to be passionate about sustainability. A recent graduate of Wellesley
College, Diamond is an environmental policy consultant, has a tattoo symbolizing
sustainability on her right arm, and dutifully tends to a worm bin in her
kitchen, which will provide compost for the tomato and basil plants sprouting in
containers on the back porch of her Lakeview apartment. And, yes, she recycles.
But Diamond says the most sustainable decision she’s made is to steer
clear of car ownership in favor of walking, riding her bike, and taking
public transit. A study-abroad
stint
in
Melbourne,
Australia, quickly inured Diamond to
“alternative” modes of transportation; when she returned to the states, she made
a conscious choice to make these “alternatives” her primary means of getting
from point A to point B. She’s been asked more than a few times by well-meaning
people how she can survive without the convenience of a car, and she’s perfected
her response.
“It's
funny how people always think driving is so convenient, without acknowledging
how much time they spend caught in traffic, looking for parking, and getting
their cars repaired,” she said. “No matter how good [their car’s] gas mileage
is, mine will always be better – I don't use any gas at
all!”
After college, Diamond chose to settle in
the
transit-friendly
Windy
City.
She sought roommates who also wanted to live near an El station, and together they
chose a place two blocks from the train in a
Chicago
neighborhood with a lively scene. She
acquired a bike from a friend and learned to do basic repairs and maintenance,
so she wouldn’t be stranded by a flat tire or loose chain. And she quickly
learned that busses are her best friends: because the city streets are laid out
on a grid system, it’s a no-brainer to get just about anywhere, as she
discovered.
Diamond lives near the Sheridan Red Line station and shops frequently at
Alta Vista Foods -- or, as she calls it, "the magical grocery store," because it
carries an abundance of fresh foods, including meats and produce, all packed
neatly into a tiny storefront just steps from the station. Diamond says she
wishes more El stops had such conveniently located, full-service grocery stores
nearby.
Yet Diamond recognizes she’s lucky to live in a place where not owning a car
is possible. In many neighborhoods in Chicago, and many more across the region,
trying to do the stuff of life – whether commuting to work, picking up
groceries, or dropping off the kids at soccer practice – would be daunting, if
not downright impossible, without a car. Consider having the urge to walk to the
grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, only to realize you’d need to cross a
four-lane highway to get there. Or making the bold decision to take public
transit to work, only to search in vain for commuter train service linking your
home in Joliet with your job in Aurora. Unfortunately, these are among the many
hurdles Chicago-area residents must overcome before they can reduce their gas
consumption.
More
and more, people are realizing our built environment is the root cause of
America
’s “oil addiction” (to borrow
President Bush’s now-infamous utterance). Our reliance on cars to go everywhere
and do everything is a relatively new social phenomenon; indeed, car ownership
can be traced back just a few generations in most families. What has done more
to aid and abet – to very nearly mandate – our nation’s auto dependency is the
way we too-often consume land: thoughtlessly, without carefully planning to
connect homes, jobs, and transportation. By continuing to build new subdivisions
where the land is cheap, but the jobs are scarce; pave mile after mile of
highways to nowhere; and starve well-developed areas of much-needed transit
service, we will continue to default to a car-dominated culture.
And we need not speculate about the consequences: in 2003 alone, congestion cost
the
Chicago
region nearly $4.3 billion. Every day, parents are late picking up their kids
from baseball practice, and workers must reschedule morning meetings due to
traffic tie-ups. Emissions, belched from the hundreds of thousands of cars idling on
our roads each day, are dirtying the air we breathe. And the status quo
certainly isn’t helping break our oil habit:
the
U.S. spends a staggering $200,000
on foreign
oil every
minute, according
to the Center for American Progress.
There’s good news, though: Americans
are in the market to make changes. A 2006 poll conducted for Environmental
Defense shows 70 percent of us would drive less and walk, ride transit, carpool
or bike more to curb energy consumption and emissions. Yet today in urban areas,
an astounding 65 percent of all trips one mile or less are by car! Until we view
every time we build – a new home, new offices, or the infrastructure that
connects them – as an opportunity to provide a range of housing and travel
options allowing Americans to move about more freely, we’ll never know how many
of these short trips could be taken by foot or bike, instead.
The rest of this series will provide an overview of the many ways local
communities can plan better to help residents curb their auto dependency. While
individuals like Ariel Diamond continue to pursue sustainable lifestyles, local
leaders from communities around the region – no matter their stage of
development – can put more options on the table by building up around transit
stations; creating pedestrian and bike-friendly streets; ensuring a healthy
range of housing options in all communities, so families can afford to live near
work or transit; encouraging mixed-use developments to encourage lively street
life and walkable destinations; and supporting an efficient, well-funded transit
system that’s accessible throughout the region. Communities can make local
decisions to meet residents’ wants and needs, and address the energy crisis, a
problem of regional and global significance. Let’s get started.