Be Green: LIve in a High Rise Condo

I saw this guy on Jon Stewart's show and he's a boob. He thinks road building is "anti-urban" because roads take people away from cities. But aren't roads "pro-urban" because they take people TO cities?

The drivel he spouted in the interview was beyond stupid.

Why are so many books published that are purely opinions? A few twisted facts, a little hedging, some made up statistics, add one huge ego and -bing!- you have a book.

Drivel.

I think people move to the suburbs to be with nature and then complain about coyotes, deer and the animals and then have them killed. People move to the suburbs and then destroy what they are seeking.

That's white the subdivisions are called "River Oaks" or "Hickory Falls". They name them after whatever they had to cut down to develop the land. A fitting tribute, right?

s/b "That's why . . . "

Or maybe all the suburb talk made me think of white.

Paging Dr Freud.

Why is Riversider telling us to live in a high rise building? What ever happened to individual freedom? if I want to live in a 6,000 square foot McMansion, that is my right. PLease stop spreading your Socialist nanny state propaganda.

Riversider: Just dropping in here : Did you see that show on Nat. Geo. channel last night; about how the Mossad tracked and snatched Eichmann out of Argentina? Excellent.
NatGeo is starting to out-program the History channel with Nazi shows.

P.S. You know much more about "individual freedom" than people seem to think.

Socialist: some mcmansions have energy bills that run upwards of several million dollars per year.

It's all the heated outdoor hot tubs and high end security systems, lights, outdoor climate controls, etc.

And right now, yes you have the right to buy all that electricity and thereby emit tons and tons of climate-change-causing gases into the atmostphere that we all share.

But you won't have that right for much longer. No one is going to be allowed (legally) to pollute at will for very much longer.

"some mcmansions have energy bills that run upwards of several million dollars per year."

Do you have any evidence? Links?

And FYI: cows pollute the air far more than McMansions. Are you willing to become a vegetarian? Tonight I am going to have a nice juicy stake. You can enjoy your tofu.

What are you eating for dinner tonight Graffitti? What did you have last night?

"some mcmansions have energy bills that run upwards of several million dollars per year."

???

"But you won't have that right for much longer. No one is going to be allowed (legally) to pollute at will for very much longer. "

and you, for one, welcome our new eco facist overlords?

ok, the only discernible consistent point this guy makes is that things should just be done his way.

They caught Eichmann? When did that happen? Now if we could just get rid of Saddam.

PS Riversider -- You know more about the price of UWS cream cheese than anyone I know!

Truth, so were you in montclair last friday? do you usually go with them? you should watch hdnet, that's the best one. and don't laugh, but dan rather reports is actually a fantastic program.

I don't believe that skyscrapers are greener. If they use so few resources, WHY ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE TO LIVE IN?

Skyscrapers are clearly a resource-wasting luxury for the rich.

also, if knocking down all the old small buildings is supposed to bring back the streetlife of yore...when the people in the streets lived in small buildings.....won't all the people who live in the skyscrapers not fit into the street? so many demented points, so little time. the best is jacobs was right, but clearly confused. what a jackass.

bob_d, just fyi. the expense of living in a hi-rise apartment is the staff to take out the garbage and keep out of towners from just wandering into the building like it's a mall. the monthly electricity bill on my 1200 sqft apt ranges from $22 to $111 --- and that includes HEAT and AIR CONDITIONING. Why? Because if heat escapes out my "roof", it has gone into the apartment above me. If it escapes out the 4 walls, only one of those walls (maybe two) leads to the outdoors. I defy any single family home in america to match my electric/heat/ac bill or usage. Oh, additionally, I don't even own a car, nor do I need one; cars in NYC are an INconvenience. So, I would respectfully suggest you are mistaken: it is single family homes with a garage that are "clearly a resource-wasting luxury" for people who like to waste money and pollute like they are rich.

There are certainly economies of scale that can be achieved in providing heating, cooling and electricity to a high rise building. Water heated for one apt does is still available to heat a second apt and the heat loss is minimal. Also buildings can do things homes cannot, like engage in co-gen, purhcase drives to maximize the efficiency of motors and there's less opportunity for heat loss. because you have some apt's above and beneath you

but....what if people don't WANT to live in an apartment in a city? are you seriously advocating removing the option?

"Oh, additionally, I don't even own a car, nor do I need one; cars in NYC are an INconvenience. So, I would respectfully suggest you are mistaken: it is single family homes with a garage that are "clearly a resource-wasting luxury" for people who like to waste money and pollute like they are rich"

this is how good ideas thought up by smart people become bastardized by the bitter and mediorce, and lead to violence by the stupid.

Most new high rise buildings seem to have an awful lot of windows (floor to ceiling windows). Those are the least insulated materials you can use.

Those windows are very efficient and quite different than the ones used in previous generations.

"the monthly electricity bill on my 1200 sqft apt ranges from $22 to $111"

"I defy any single family home in america to match my electric/heat/ac bill or usage."

Most single family hosues are 2 and 3 times the size of your apt.

Not to mention that high rise buildings have multiple elevators that use electric. Houses don't. High rise buildings also have lobbies and tons of hallways that need to be lit. Houses don't.

If it is so good to live in high rise apartments how come all the progressive thinking community boards in this city are banning the building of high rise apartment buildings?

Because the community groups are run by Old liberals who live in older buildings who want to protect their views and light?

Because high rise buildings are only for rich people and they don't want the buildings to block the view from their POS post war building.

oh, I know WHY they do it. It is out of pure self-interest, but isn't it self-interest to which they ascribe the bad behaviour of others?

Basically once they have entered their little gardens of eden they want to then bar the door so nothing else changes.

If you really believe in the benefits of urban life then instead of decrying the lifestyle in the suburbs you make it easier to build more Ariel towers on the UWS so it becomes more attractive and affordable for the suburbanites to move here instead of banning the creation of such buildings. (build enough of them and the price will drop.)

Basically the old rich person has bought a view and light, and uses the system to prevent someone else coming along and taking it. Older buildings constantly fight against newerbuildings coming up, blocking views, light etc. This is standard NYC brouhaha.

Skunkles is merely repeating some left-wing talking points, without any real analysis.

The amount of resources a thing uses up is rougly correlated with its cost.

It's pretty inexpensive to live in a small house in the midwest with car. What they call "garden apartments" are even less expensive.

Living in a skyscraper in Manhattan is massively expensive, so it must be using up massive resources. I'm sure if you could track down where every dollar goes, you would find that it's consuming lots of oil and other non-renewable resources.

In a highrise, a great many people are living in a small area(horizontally, not vertically). To house the same number of people in suburbia, more trees are cut down, animals displaced and environments ruined.

Of course in a city such as New York, more people can get by without cars, so there's that green side too.

forced sterilization. it's the only way. one kid per family, 900sq ft, for party memebers, 400 for everyone else.