I sat in on two presentations yesterday. I was very disappointed in both of them, quite unhappy, in fact. Obviously it still bothers me. The first, which I thought was to discuss sustainable stormwater infrastructure, was instead about constructed wetlands and blackwater treatment systems. I was quite rude and walked out early. I lived in Austin in the decades when constructed wetlands were being designed. I was part of that whole live-off-the-land, be a part of nature ideology. But even the groups I was involved with then came to realize that true sustainability means getting more people to live in cities, in dense urban arrangements, rather than sprawling across the countryside putting engineered systems in place and calling it "natural". I sold my undeveloped country property and became an urbanite; I don't know how many of them did the same. Some people tout a new ideology in order to keep more people from moving out to where they live - an "I've got mine but you can't have yours" philosophy. When confronted with this presentation on systems I had moved beyond long ago, it was incredibly discouraging. Do we never learn from past mistakes? Will every generation repeat itself? No, because if they do human civilization won't survive.
That presentation was naive and dangerous greenwashing. Last night I went to another presentation, one I thought would restore some sense of hope and sanity. It was by David Owens, author of The Green Metropolis. His thesis is that Manhattan is the most sustainable city in the country, and our goal should be to live more like Manhattanites. He was preaching to the converted. I agreed with most (not all) of his points (I might want to live more like Londoners than Manhattanites, especially where traffic is concerned, for example). This is what he was preaching; but he lives in a big old farmhouse in a village in Connecticut and has no desire to move back to Manhattan. At times he seemed more concerned with the people moving out to where he lives creating sprawling development; he would rather have those people move to Manhattan instead, I think. It's more of that "I've got mine - you stay away and don't spoil it" philosophy. He preaches a great message but doesn't practice it. Wouldn't that be considered hypocrisy?
I get upset with people I work with for the same reasons. I hold people in our profession to a higher standard, especially since all the firms I've worked for have been in urban practice, designing multi-family mixed-use buildings in cities, not single-family homes. Yet almost every person I've worked with lives in a single-family home - especially at the last large firm. At one time I was the only person there, out of almost 200 people, who lived in a multi-family building. What kind of example are we setting? We tell people how they should live, and build so that they can live well that way, but we don't choose to live that way ourselves? Sheerest hypocrisy. It's "I've got mine you can't have yours" in spades, and it makes me crazy. Hence this rant.
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