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Re: GBlist: Earthships, straw-bale const, etc




I musat disagree strongly with your comments below, Olivia.

Firstly, as you note, many many people (millions in fact) love living in
NYC. Living in a city can be wonderful.

Secondly, let's not get confused about living in a city and living in am
American city. Thanks to the drug war (prohibition 2) we have some of the
most violent cities in thw world right now, but that is hardly the norm.

I spent over a year in Dublin Ireland and it was without a doubt the best
place I ever lived! Very little crime, great culture.

----------
> From: James.Olivia <james3@NIEHS.NIH.GOV>
> To: green building <greenbuilding@crest.org>
> Subject: FW: GBlist: Earthships, straw-bale const, etc
> Date: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 8:08 AM
> 
> I love the ideal of the city of Florence as you described it but I don't
think
> art and community events are the solution. These people lived in a
culture
> where the town WAS a community. It was reasonably safe, I assume; it was
an
> exciting and vital alternative to a world of wilderness and seas and and
> strangers . . . Now we are in a world with too many of us. We are
suffocated
> by our numbers, by violence and disease. Looking around at our cities we
feel
> unsafe, we feel suffocated, we feel the destruction we have caused. This
is
> nothing to take comfort in and want to be close to. I don't think
cultivating
> the arts can be expected to create the community you speak of any more
than it
> has created that community for New York. Though I guess that could be
argued
> -- many New Yorkers really love the city. But in our culture, you don't
get
> that excitement without crime and abuse and poverty and insanity
somewhere in
> your midst. I won't go further into this on this list but I hope everyone
> realizes that if there were fewer of us, we WOULD be able to enjoy the
culture
> of shared lives, instead of closing off and trying to move as far away as
we
> reasonably can.
> 
> To get back to the topic, I think it's wonderful to explore more
sustainable
> options for city living. It's crucial that we look into this and work
toward a
> community more open to these structures. Please consider though, if you
> haven't already, that we wouldn't find ourselves here, needing to debate
the
> options, if we would all have fewer children or be willing to take some
of the
> extras. There are plenty around. I really think that would put us a long
way
> toward this idyllic community.
> Olivia 
>
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