Paving of Paradise in the Suburbs

Suburbanization has been a trend in the United States since the fifties where people relocate from central cities to live in the suburbs. These communities are the “municipalities and places in metropolitan areas outside of the political boundaries of the large central cities.” (Baldassare 487) The lifestyles of modern suburbanites are at odds with the original idea of neighborhood values. As suburbanites continue to use up resources, the environmental conditions are continually getting worse. The consumerism mentality that the residents follow is reflected in the set-up of the suburbs, themselves. This has perpetuated the destruction of the environment by fostering the consumption of expensive cars, large homes, and other large multinational retail corporations.

The popularity of personal vehicles is higher in the suburbs because the layout of the land. Because land is cheap in the suburbs, economic activity is spread out. The suburbs are set up in such a way that residential homes and places of work are built with large distances between them. (Kahn 584) Al Gore voiced that “In the last fifty years, we’ve built flat, not tall: because the land is cheaper the further out it lies, new office buildings, roads, and malls go farther and farther out, lengthening commutes and adding to pollution.” (1998) Modern day transportation has made this possible because although work places used to be confined to walking distances, technology with automobiles has created opportunities to work much farther from home. As a result, suburbanites have become much more dependent on personal vehicles, both adding to environmental problems and diminishing the personal encounters that happen with walking or public transportation. As traffic worsens, commuters need to leave earlier for work and get home later, making the time spent with family less and less.

More energy is now needed to commute for daily activities than is needed for people who live in cities because the distances traveled. The longer commutes mean that more fuel is consumed, which leads to more hydrocarbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. The unnecessary and excessive use of personal vehicles in the suburbs can cause excessive greenhouse gas emissions. [“Automobile use is clearly the most significant contributing factor to transportation impacts for both high-density and low-density development…because of the much higher car dependence…traveled by residents of the outer suburbs…per capita transportation [greenhouse gas] emissions and energy use associated with low-density development are found to be 3.7 times higher than those associated with high-density development.”] (Deese 17)