David Owen, a writer for the New Yorker, thinks that New York City is the greenest place in America. He urges everyone to live like New Yorkers do: smaller, closer, and driving less.
New Yorkers certainly drive less than other Americans. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they live greener. For one thing, their transit system uses lots of energy and the power for it emits lots of pollution and CO2. I haven’t reviewed Owen’s book, so I don’t know how much analysis went into his claim that New York is greener than elsewhere.
But here are two people who are living Owen’s dream: they own a 175-square-foot room that used to be the maid’s room of someone’s luxury apartment. They eat out for all of their meals, “store” their clothes at the dry cleaners (which must mean they have they dry cleaned every night — how green is that?), and look forward to the day when they can afford a Murphy bed so as to free up the one-third of their room that is devoted to a bed.
