Who’s Greener- the City or the Country?

Those of us who lived through the “back to nature “ movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s have long assumed that rural living was green, and city living was “brown”. But the “city mouse” may be greener than the “country mouse” according to a couple of gurus on the subject.
Stewart Brand, in his seminal book, Whole Earth Discipline, argues that the city is greener than the countryside. Here’s Stewart making the case:

David Owen, in his provocative tome Green Metropolis, says that contrary to conventional wisdom, New York City is the greenest, most environmentally responsible community in America. Like Brand, Owens makes a strong, fact-based case for urban density as the greenest way for humans to live. Both arguments seem to depend on how impact is measured. Measured by the square foot, New York emits more waste CO2, guzzles more energy, and creates more waste than any other place in America. But per person living there, the average Gotham city resident uses less stuff, produces less waste, devours less energy, and drives far less than other folks. All while walking and using more mass transit.

Owen fingers the car as the number one environmental bad guy, because it both wastes fossil fuels and emits noxious fumes, but destroys the open space we once had around compact cities. He and Brand encourage us to live more like we did for centuries, in dense urban environments surrounded by open space and agricultural lands. Think pueblos, Greek city states and walled towns of old.

So swap Walden for a NYC street map, your green country home (like mine, I admit) for a high rise, and your Prius for a good pair of walking shoes to sprint to the subway. Maybe in the new green future, we are all New Yorkers. Just don’t expect this rural New Englander to root for the Yankees.