Fortress Suburbia
At 8:45am every weekday morning the draw bridge opens and the gleaming metal carriage rides out of the fortress.
No, this is not the scene from a medieval story, but rather everyday suburbia. It's not really a draw bridge, just a massive electronically-operated garage door that is raised to reveal a thirsty behemoth of a car. Some children are being taken to school. But in fact the scene is repeated several times a day. The thought of simply walking out the front door to go to the shops or elsewhere has become an alien concept in this day and age of convenience.
Perhaps it's more than that. In the suburbs we seem to want to close ourselves off from the big, bad outside world. So if we do need to venture from the absolute safety of our homes we need to surround ourselves by a tonne of metal and glass. Not content with having our whole house airconditioned to the perfect temperature, we also have to take that perfect climate with us. No matter what the consequences are for our global climate.
No, this is not the scene from a medieval story, but rather everyday suburbia. It's not really a draw bridge, just a massive electronically-operated garage door that is raised to reveal a thirsty behemoth of a car. Some children are being taken to school. But in fact the scene is repeated several times a day. The thought of simply walking out the front door to go to the shops or elsewhere has become an alien concept in this day and age of convenience.
Perhaps it's more than that. In the suburbs we seem to want to close ourselves off from the big, bad outside world. So if we do need to venture from the absolute safety of our homes we need to surround ourselves by a tonne of metal and glass. Not content with having our whole house airconditioned to the perfect temperature, we also have to take that perfect climate with us. No matter what the consequences are for our global climate.
Labels: environment
posted by Bruno at 3:49 PM [permalink]
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