Corporations Are Not Humans : Not Even Close ---Episode 56

                CAN WE GET BACK TO THE GOOD LIFE ?

   Consider the difference between living in a community organized around walking, bicycling, and public transportation compared to living where public spaces are dominated by automobiles and freeways. An environmentally friendly, low meat, low-fat diet, based on natural foods may result in better health and increased mental and physical vitality than a diet high in animal fats. A life free from fashion fads, impulse buying, junk foods, useless gadgets, and the long hours of work required to buy them is a life free from much of what alienates us from the life of family, community, and nature. 
   Herein lies the tragedy of nearly fifty years of economic growth and national development. Rather than building societies that create a good life for sustainers and bring the deprived into the sustainer class, we have followed the path of encouraging overconsumers to consume more, converting sustainers into overconsumers, and pushing many of those in the sustainer class into the excluded class. In the process, we have often made life more difficult for those who remain in the sustainer class by displacing the production systems that once met their needs and by giving priority to public facilities ---such as highways and shopping malls --- that serve overconsumers rather than those that serve sustainers ---such as public transit, bike lanes, and public markets. 

          From Overcomsumption To Sustainable Community

   We commonly assume that moving from an overconsumer to a sustainer lifestyle requires giving up the things that make our lives comfortable and satisfying. There is another, more attractive, possibility : organize our living spaces and production systems so that we improve the quality of our living while simultaneously eliminating the excessive burdens we now place on the environment.  When I started visiting my daughter in New York City in 2000, it helped me to see the possibilities. Although New York is deeply afflicted with crime, poverty, and other manifestations of the inequalities of modern economic life, I did not experience the cold, impersonal city I had expected. Instead, I found a city of ethnically diverse local neighborhoods and small family shops that throbs with human energy and vitality I have rarely experienced elsewhere. New York is far from a model of sustainability and has much that detracts from the quality of life, but I came to appreciate visiting in NewYork in ways I had not anticipated. 
   With a high residential population density---an average of 5,000 people per square block, housed in multifamily dwellings ---a functioning subway system, and shopping facilities within walking distance of most residences, NewYork's per capita energy consumption is half the average for the United States as a whole. MOST RESIDENTS DON'T HAVE A CAR. When I now visit my daughter and her family in Brooklyn, I ride the bus and subway. More than 90 percent of my shopping needs were met within a three-block radius of my daughter's apartment : pharmacy, hardware, electronics, books, groceries, clothing, housewares ---all in abundant selection. My daughter maintains an office at home, in addition to her office in Manhattan, and she satisfies her office needs by walking to  software store around the corner, and two office supply stores within a five-minute walk. 
   Similarly, there's a vast array of restaurants of every conceivable ethnicity and price range, clubs with live music, theater, concert halls, dance, art galleries, museums, free public concerts(for both adults and for my 4-year-old grandson) and health clubs ---easily accessible by walking or subway or bus. An extraordinary system of parks and botanical gardens make nature accessible even within the city boundaries. If my daughter and family need to get out of the city, they take the train or rent a car from a neighborhood agency. Rather than feeling deprived by by a lack of a car, they feel liberated --- no commutes in heavy traffic, parking problems, insurance hassles, or auto repair ripoffs. They save thousands of dollars each year.
   I especially enjoy the nearby farmers' market. Here, four days a week, people who operated neighboring small farms, dairies, wineries, and kitchen bakeries sold their wares ---eggs and poultry from from free-range chickens, milk from cows not given to bovine growth hormone injections, organically grown fruits and vegetables, fresh meat and fish all free of additives and artificial hormones. When I go to Brooklyn, I love visiting these neighborhood markets and eateries, and getting to know, by name, the proprietors. These purveyors know most of the people in the neighborhood and they often can be heard talking about "Mr. Smith's recent boating accident while fishing, or about Mr. & Mrs. Jones's son getting admitted to a fine college." I live in Lake Jackson, Texas, population 25,000, and the clerks at BestBuy and HomeDepot don't know my name and don't want to know it.