2 ms·

In many large cities you see sprawling suburbs and neighborhoods with individual houses. These take up a huge area that could have been planted with trees, need

In many large cities you see sprawling suburbs and neighborhoods with individual houses. These take up a huge area that could have been planted with trees, need a lot of new infrastructure built (a lot of asphalt), and a lot of brand new lawns to water. All of which have plenty of negative environmental impact. This also encourages people to go for personal cars since public transport never really seems to keep up efficiently given the low density and large areas. And all of those cars go to the city every day. The problem is basically everyone thinks the solution to all of this is to buy an EV (I know I'll get a lot of hate from EV owners/fans for this one; still true for those who fit the rest of the description above) instead of seeing all the other ways with far bigger impact. Like not needing a car at all, for one. This would slowly reduce traffic to the point where cutting a lane doesn't cause any severe inconvenience.

AdrianB1 7y ago
I have family in the Paris suburbs: they never have to water the lawn, there is enough rain for that. Trey also don't have a lot of asphalt, there are some narrow streets connecting village to village and even smaller streets in the villages. There are lots of trees everywhere, it's as green as you can get.
- close04 7y ago
  What I described is a general problem around most if not all big cities. This is a random internet picture from a Paris suburb (close to CDG) [0]. While there are some trees it's far from a forested area. A green lawn is a far cry from a green forest when talking climate. And any unnecessary asphalt is too much. Just browse around with satellite view if you're curious how such villages look like compared to the actual patches of forest. This is a village ~25Km from Paris, right next to a forest [1]. While these low density suburbs definitely provide more comfort for their inhabitants much like cars provide comfort for their drivers, it's a very inefficient use of that land to everyone else's disadvantage and guarantees those people have to drive to the city. Public transport wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient when you start spreading tens of Km from the city in every direction. And there are far bigger offenders out there like in this random pic. [2] > they never have to water the lawn That sounds like an anecdote but I drove through plenty of suburbs (Paris or otherwise) and most lawns were green even after heatwaves and droughts. I'm pretty sure so many still generously water their lawns. Pools just add to that. [0] https://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cc7447863ce84406b71d51be29c7b830/france-seine-saint-denis-tremblay-en-france-residential-area-in-the-cpydm5.jpg https://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cc7447863ce84406b71d51be29c7b830/... [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maffliers,+France/@49.0754888,2.3034475,1837a,35y,5.44t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47e6433f72df61e3:0x8c8dc94c3c52b3e4!8m2!3d49.0773518!4d2.3069572 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maffliers,+France/@49.0754... [2] http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1291806/images/o-SUBURBS-facebook.jpg http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1291806/images/o-SUBURBS-facebook....

AdrianB1 7y ago

I have family in the Paris suburbs: they never have to water the lawn, there is enough rain for that. Trey also don't have a lot of asphalt, there are some narrow streets connecting village to village and even smaller streets in the villages. There are lots of trees everywhere, it's as green as you can get.

close04 7y ago
What I described is a general problem around most if not all big cities. This is a random internet picture from a Paris suburb (close to CDG) [0]. While there are some trees it's far from a forested area. A green lawn is a far cry from a green forest when talking climate. And any unnecessary asphalt is too much. Just browse around with satellite view if you're curious how such villages look like compared to the actual patches of forest. This is a village ~25Km from Paris, right next to a forest [1]. While these low density suburbs definitely provide more comfort for their inhabitants much like cars provide comfort for their drivers, it's a very inefficient use of that land to everyone else's disadvantage and guarantees those people have to drive to the city. Public transport wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient when you start spreading tens of Km from the city in every direction. And there are far bigger offenders out there like in this random pic. [2] > they never have to water the lawn That sounds like an anecdote but I drove through plenty of suburbs (Paris or otherwise) and most lawns were green even after heatwaves and droughts. I'm pretty sure so many still generously water their lawns. Pools just add to that. [0] https://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cc7447863ce84406b71d51be29c7b830/france-seine-saint-denis-tremblay-en-france-residential-area-in-the-cpydm5.jpg https://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cc7447863ce84406b71d51be29c7b830/... [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maffliers,+France/@49.0754888,2.3034475,1837a,35y,5.44t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47e6433f72df61e3:0x8c8dc94c3c52b3e4!8m2!3d49.0773518!4d2.3069572 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maffliers,+France/@49.0754... [2] http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1291806/images/o-SUBURBS-facebook.jpg http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1291806/images/o-SUBURBS-facebook....