Rant of Hope and Glory

[tomp@tvo.org (Tom Ponessa)]

Just some random ranting on the cusp.

I'm enjoying the small/less-small thread here. It also suggests
the debate of urban/small town/rural. Re-using the city makes
sense except that we are at the mercy of so many others who
are in major enviro-DEnial and insist on solo car commuting,
suburban (no centre for jobs) living (oxymoron), massive
over-consumption, and the usual litany of western social ills.

I have this discussion periodically with Martin Liefhebber, a
Toronto architect whose Codicile House is finally going up...
(it is a small footprint, vertical house on an existing lane that
is meant to be completely off the grid). I have to admire his
determination to provide a model and direction for cities. His
scheme could produce a large amount of new, low impact
housing by simply filling up the wasted space in Toronto.

But... my pessimistic view is that environmentally, the city
is a lost cause. It is too toxic and will remain so for too long
to be a healthy place to live. The ultra-conservative climate
does not bode well for creative brilliance like Martin's. (The
irony is that the conservatives are not conservative, right
David?) So, in spite of the Sewell commission (previous
Ontario left wingnut government- I have Sean's attention now)
which clearly laid out an alternative to suburban sprawl,
which clearly laid out the huge costs of sprawl, and which
took steps to put OUR environment at the centre of
decision making ... the new conservative government is
planning to scrap all that work- if they haven't already.
DUH.

The crazy socialists had a plan to CONSERVE natural
resources but the conservatives are incapable of figuring
it out. End of political rant.

To get back on track... there are valid questions
about where to build as well as whether to build new at all.
So far I can't see the city holding any potential with its
accumulation of toxins and concentration of greed.
My current opinion is that small towns may be a compromise
between toxic cities and filling the landscape with single
homes on 5 or 10 acres. Of course the small towns may
have something to say about this. And I have to admit
that I would love a piece of land to Live on ( a la Lawrence
but with fewer trombones). I also have this conceit that
10 acres of mine would be well cared for.
So the argument goes around and around. Any guiding
lights out there? DE? Kim? Rob? Balehead? Lawrence?
Catherine?

The large home for two people is not only a
problem on its own, it is a symptom of a larger, mostly
unacknowledged malaise. Simply put we are consuming
ourselves and the planet to extinction. As Paul Hawken
puts it, we consume in a day what it took the planet many
hundreds of years to produce. You don't have to be a rocket
scientist (anyone seen Sherwood lately?) to see it will come
to a screeching halt. The huge weight of
denial/ingrained habits/media driven lunacy is what we are up against.

And I say we because this group is a
tiny island of sanity that has become a place of refuge for me.
This is where I find inspiration to keep going. Thanks to all of
you for simply being yourselves. And THANK YOU JOE AND
EVERYONE AT CREST!

Someone once asked me how I got started on the environmental
kick. By simply observing how things are degrading, one cannot
help but realize the dangers we face. It changes the way you
think. Sure, it's frightening to be aware of the scope of the
problem. No one person can change it. But each of us can
change our own habits and make our statements that may
influence others. It may seem a hopeless  task but, like David,
I find I can't make any more compromises.

I have no doubt that the greed system is due for collapse- there
is no alternative for a system that treats the world, and therefore itself,
as linear
and disposable instead of cyclical and renewable. Disrespect
for nature is ultimately suicidal.

I think the New Year deserves a more upbeat welcome. This group
and all the individual efforts shared here are the seeds of what will grow
out of the ashes of the old. This is a hopeful group with a vision.
There are three hundred or so points of light here. We are pushing
an absurd technique on a world that doesn't know it needs it and
what we would like to accomplish is practically impossible.
Is this great or what?

Straw rules!

Happy 1996

Tom Ponessa