I love my neighbors, and I'm lucky to live in a neighborhood where the neighbors are neighborly. On a week that the IPCC released its third working group report, gas prices surge, and war continues to rage, and we continue our countdown to peak oil, I thought I would offer a little picture of what my neighbors are doing to change their lives.
My neighbors across the street are one of the city's more prominent families, including high-profile lawyers and realtors (as in the cover of the phone book high-profile). But the ones who live across the street are clearly the black sheep of the family. One brother and one sister live there, taking care of their aging and infirm mother. About a year ago, the sister started tromping around the neighborhood with a backpack and a bald head, looking for all the world like a homeless man. Her brother confided in me that she is schizophrenic, and I realized that she was also recovering from cancer (thus the bald head).
Last fall, she moved into a tent in a large field outside her mother's house. She lived in the tent all winter, and is now building a teepee. I was passing by with the kids the day she started building the teepee, and offered to bring her a load of lava rocks for her fire pit. She was delighted, and said that I was the only person who had shown her any support. A few days later, I was out for a walk with my baby when I ran into her on the trail. She had been down to the river for a swim with her dogs, and was resting, and reading a book called "The Cure for All Cancers," which made me cringe with fear of excessive goofiness. I considered blasting past her, but my baby wanted to play with the dogs, so we stopped.
She started by thanking me for the rocks, and we had a suprisingly delightful conversation, about problems with mercury, endocrine-disrupting plastics, and pesticides. I love gloomy conversations as much as the next person, but I suddenly got frustrated, and said "I do all I can and every day there's something else to be afraid of." She responded, "Then do all you can, and the next day, do a little more." I chewed over that one all night long.
A few days later, I ran into her again at the post office, and offered her a ride home. As it turned out, she was on her way downtown to get a bus pass, and so we went with her to go watch the trains (baby's favorite activity). Emboldened by our recent conversations, I asked her if people gave her grief over her new lifestyle. She said categorically that I was the only one who supported her in any way, and that most people got very angry that she wouldn't drive or live in a house or eat regular commercial food (only organic, whole foods). She felt like her lifestyle choices were made for her own health, but that her family particularly sees them as accusations, and they feel threatened that she won't participate in their climate-controlled, TV-watching, SUV-driving lifestyle any more. I offered that I have experienced the same thing, particularly when I choose to be without a car or a TV. It makes people mad, even people who should know better!
So that's one neighbor. The other neighbor is totally different, a housewife who is the president of the PTO, involved in her kids' education, a devout Christian, pillar of the community, and one of the biggest gas-users I know. We both live about a block (a short block) from the elementary school, and about 4 blocks from the middle school. Every weekday, we set out to walk our daughter to and from school, and every weekday, she passes us, driving her kids in the Escalade. She tried one day to make the kids walk, but they didn't like it, so she gave up. They have several SUVs and trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, and a giant, 40-foot RV, which they use to haul their big boat down to the lake for some "camping." This winter, while we were building snow forts, they hitched the sled to the ATV and did wheelies around the yard. The kids, who are wonderful, are also total video junkies, and spend their free time parked in front of their giant TV, although her son told me once, "If I lived at your house, I would play outside all the time." I asked him why he didn't do that at his house, because he has a larger, nicely landscaped, yard, better jungle gym, etc. He looked confused, then answered "I have video games at home."
So.... one neighbor living sustainably in a teepee, growing her own food, walking, bicycling, and riding the bus. The other neighbor, driving her kids home 200 yards in an oversized SUV, to plunk them in front of the TV with a bowl of candy. The clincher came the other day when the PTO mom asked me if she should file a complaint with the village against the teepee neighbor. I explained that she had cancer and was seeking a healthier lifestyle. The mom nodded sagely. "She's crazy, huh?"