The Oil Drum

In a commute of a thousand miles, you have to start with one step. Changing that commute itself will be happening more as well, of course.

I wonder how much people's variable sense of 'security' (ie, the security of a Suburban) is going to be compatible with one of the next steps, carpooling.  I see the 'big car, big house, big yards, gated community' movement as part of a mentality in the US that sees  Success and Security in Isolation.  I don't think we're homogeneously antisocial by any means, but many people have grown very accustomed to the 'freedom' of not having to coordinate our efforts, deal with quirky neighbors, adjust our needs within a group for the sake of economizing..  Rusty old tools to start to sharpen up again.

My family built a passive solar house out in the Maine woods in 1980 with a lot of images of independence and being less dependent on many things 'mainstream', but it quickly became clear that the facet that was left incomplete was the lack of friendly neighbors and the amount of 'energy' available when multiple families are available to each other to do big lifts, watch kids, etc.

Bob Fiske