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My family and I have changed our ways. I used to live a typically American lifestyle - spending 4 hours every day in the car, mostly parked on a freeway, to ge

My family and I have changed our ways. I used to live a typically American lifestyle - spending 4 hours every day in the car, mostly parked on a freeway, to get to work. Ordering takeout 5 times a week because I was too exhausted to cook for myself. Buying useless crap that filled my house, only to get a bigger house for more useless crap. But, after the 9/11 attacks, I took a good hard look at myself. You could say, the blowback factor was real. Now I live in a modest house just outside the city where I work, and I can cycle into the city in 40 minutes through a green landscape when the weather is good. My family and I are avid gardeners and grow our own veggies for 4/5th's of the year - sourcing it from local farmers for the rest of the time when our garden is sleeping for winter. We cook for ourselves like demons, and have massively improved health as a result. My children are taller and stronger than their peers, because they've been raised on home cooking and fresh vegetables where their peers were not. I also ride electric, always and only - a small, weak, underpowered electric moped gets me through the city comfortably, and I recharge it every few days from house power, derived from renewables (solar and wind). Its pretty much ideal in terms of carbon footprint. It took a big change however. I had to leave the USA and now live in middle Europe (Vienna, Austria) - a country that has long since decided to upgrade the standard of living of its people through smart economic policies designed to reduce dependence on petroleum. Its not perfect - there is still a lot of work to do in my community - but its certainly better than the, frankly disturbing, lifestyle I led in the USA. The point is, the resources are there. People can actually massively reduce their carbon footprint if needed. You may have to move - far and wide - to escape the city trap. If you are spending more than an hour every day in your car, just to support your lifestyle, this is a clue that you MUST change. Every hour spent in traffic is a crime against the planet.

22dingdongdung 7y ago
(I'll be labelled a bigot but go look at the increased crimes...) I want to move to Europe someplace without the immigrant problem- is Austria good?
- CalRobert 7y ago
  "move to Europe" "the immigrant problem" Well, you see, the act you're referring to is "immigration" so, by definition, no.
  - johnisgood 7y ago
    Moving to Europe does not inherently turn into an "immigrant problem" though. He needs to specify what he means by problem.
datenhorst 7y ago
> (Vienna, Austria) - a country that has long since decided to upgrade the standard of living of its people through smart economic policies designed to reduce dependence on petroleum. As someone from a bordering country, that is a surprising statement. Could you expand on that point a bit?
- fit2rule 7y ago
  Austria's Green Electricity Act 2012 has been regarded as pretty much successful. It helps that Austria has a tradition of strong ecological standing - it has very much protected its natural resources and its forests have been maintained (by their private owners) for centuries now, as a form of renewable energy. Austria is pretty well regarded as a hydroelectric producer, and from where I stand here now, I see fields of wind power production far off in the distance. My immediate energy supply is 100% renewable - house solar, charged from the aforementioned grid when necessary - but installed on the basis of a government subsidy. Not a day goes by when I don't see new electric vehicles on the road. Not just Tesla's, but also mopeds. In fact, this year the European electric moped revolution seems to have kicked off ..
CalRobert 7y ago
Would love to compare notes! Left the US in 2013, and living on a bit of land in Ireland at the moment. Remote work helps a lot. The city trap is a big problem for a few reasons, and I LOVE cities. Sadly we have artificially constrained them (especially in the US, where it's illegal to build a real city and not just a zombie stretch of suburbia). In short, if you're in debt for the necessities of life (i.e. you have a mortgage) you are not free to choose your actions, and instead must choose them in a way that helps in servicing your debt.
- fit2rule 7y ago
  Debt is indeed a big part of the trap. The only way to avoid it is to work ones ass off. Such is the nature of the world. Cities have their pros and cons. A lot of cities, especially in my neighbourhood, have their amazing cons, and I don't mean conveniences. Living as though ones external geometry was governed by the size of a horses ass, for example, can be a real drag. (Vienna is a horse town.)

22dingdongdung 7y ago

(I'll be labelled a bigot but go look at the increased crimes...) I want to move to Europe someplace without the immigrant problem- is Austria good?

CalRobert 7y ago
"move to Europe" "the immigrant problem" Well, you see, the act you're referring to is "immigration" so, by definition, no.
- johnisgood 7y ago
  Moving to Europe does not inherently turn into an "immigrant problem" though. He needs to specify what he means by problem.

datenhorst 7y ago

> (Vienna, Austria) - a country that has long since decided to upgrade the standard of living of its people through smart economic policies designed to reduce dependence on petroleum. As someone from a bordering country, that is a surprising statement. Could you expand on that point a bit?

fit2rule 7y ago
Austria's Green Electricity Act 2012 has been regarded as pretty much successful. It helps that Austria has a tradition of strong ecological standing - it has very much protected its natural resources and its forests have been maintained (by their private owners) for centuries now, as a form of renewable energy. Austria is pretty well regarded as a hydroelectric producer, and from where I stand here now, I see fields of wind power production far off in the distance. My immediate energy supply is 100% renewable - house solar, charged from the aforementioned grid when necessary - but installed on the basis of a government subsidy. Not a day goes by when I don't see new electric vehicles on the road. Not just Tesla's, but also mopeds. In fact, this year the European electric moped revolution seems to have kicked off ..

CalRobert 7y ago

Would love to compare notes! Left the US in 2013, and living on a bit of land in Ireland at the moment. Remote work helps a lot. The city trap is a big problem for a few reasons, and I LOVE cities. Sadly we have artificially constrained them (especially in the US, where it's illegal to build a real city and not just a zombie stretch of suburbia). In short, if you're in debt for the necessities of life (i.e. you have a mortgage) you are not free to choose your actions, and instead must choose them in a way that helps in servicing your debt.

fit2rule 7y ago
Debt is indeed a big part of the trap. The only way to avoid it is to work ones ass off. Such is the nature of the world. Cities have their pros and cons. A lot of cities, especially in my neighbourhood, have their amazing cons, and I don't mean conveniences. Living as though ones external geometry was governed by the size of a horses ass, for example, can be a real drag. (Vienna is a horse town.)