Time to Copenhagenize

In a country where driving half a mile to the grocery store is a chore and time spent making dinner is often counted in seconds, is it any wonder that we take the path of least resistance in the fight against global warming? Looking at American society, it is as though we have built it entirely on the idea of maximum convenience. Whether it is buying a lawn mower at Wal-Mart at 3 AM or ordering our groceries without every getting out of bed, we have put a great deal of effort into making our lives easy.

It is for this reason why I think Michael Maniates has it so spot on in his piece Going Green? Easy Doesn’t Do It. When nearly all of us have been blessed with a life of convenience, it makes sense that we try to do the same when it comes to combatting the environmental consequences that such a lifestyle helped create. Nothing short of a revolution can help turn around what we have done. While double-sided printing and changing those incandescent light bulbs helps, one must take much more radical steps in order to make themselves “greener”.

Mr. Maniates has a great point when he focuses on our desires to become greener through individual action rather than community cooperation. While we have great power as individuals to change our communities, when it comes to the fight against global warming, I believe that significant sacrifice and lifestyle changes are necessary for a real revolution. A quick look at some of the greenest cities in the world shows why, such as Copenhagen, Denmark. In its goal to increase the percentage of residents commuting by bike to 50% by 2015, the city has made driving difficult within the city. One of the ways it does so it by removing 1-2% of city parking spaces every year, as to make owning a car so difficult that people will become frustrated and give up their cars. Copenhagen is making life inconvenient for its car owning residents, believing that drastic life style changes will pay off in the long-run. When combined with strict urban planning rules and terrific public transit, Copenhagen is an example of how greening should be done.

The case of Copenhagen offers a valid lesson for Americans trying to go green; it is not easy. Recycling and double-sided printing are certainly admirable first steps and should not be discounted, but these efforts are merely drops in the ocean. Real change requires real action, such as changing urban planning policies to avoid urban sprawl, hiking up the price of gas to reveal its true cost, prioritizing public transit, bicycling and walkable communities over driving and requiring buildings to be built with more than just costs in mind. While truly going green will be tough in the short-run and require sacrifice from all of us, I think a quote from the show Scrubs sums up my thoughts on going green perfectly; “Nothing worth having comes easy”.