NYC The Tumblr

Is there a better U.S. environmental role model than Vermont? There are many — and the best of them, I believe, is New York City.

This choice may seem ludicrous to most Americans, including most New Yorkers, because for decades we have been taught to think of crowded cities as one of the principal sources of our worst environmental problems. In the most significant ways, though, New York is a paragon of ecological responsibility. The average city resident consumes only about a quarter as much gasoline as the average Vermonter — and the average Manhattan resident consumes even less, just 90 gallons a year, a rate that the rest of the country hasn’t matched since the mid-1920s. New Yorkers also consume far less electricity — about 4,700 kilowatt hours per household per year, compared with roughly 7,100 kilowatt hours in Vermont and more than 11,000 kilowatt hours in the United States as a whole. New York City is more populous than all but 11 states; if it were granted statehood, it would rank 51st in per-capita energy use.

The key to New York City’s relative environmental benignity is the very thing that, to most Americans, makes it appear to be an ecological nightmare: its extreme compactness. Moving people and their daily destinations close together reduces their need for automobiles, makes efficient public transit possible, and restores walking as a viable form of transportation. (Dense urban cores are among the few places left in America where people still routinely go around on foot; in the suburbs, you seldom see anyone walking who is actually traveling to a destination rather than merely moving between a building and a vehicle or trying to lose weight.)

Metropolitan New York accounts for almost a third of all the public-transit passenger miles traveled in the United States, and it has, by far, the nation’s lowest rate of automobile ownership. (Fifty-four percent of New York City households — and 77 percent of Manhattan households — own no car at all. In Vermont and the rest of the country, the percentage of no-automobile households is close to zero.) Eighty-two percent of employed Manhattanites travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s 10 times the rate for Americans in general, eight times the rate for workers in Los Angeles County, and 16 times the rate for residents of metropolitan Atlanta.

Population density also lowers energy and water use in all categories, constrains family size, limits the consumption of all kinds of goods, reduces ownership of wasteful appliances, decreases the generation of solid waste, and forces most residents to live in some of the world’s most inherently energy-efficient residential structures: apartment buildings. As a result, New Yorkers have the smallest carbon footprints in the United States: 7.1 metric tons of greenhouse gases per person per year, or less than 30 percent of the national average. Manhattanites generate even less.

Except it’s hard to see through all the smug.

I’m having Deja Vu. I feel like we might have already had this conversation a few years back. Word for word even:

The average Manhattanite consumes gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn’t matched since the mid-nineteen-twenties, when the most widely owned car in the United States was the Ford Model T. Eighty-two per cent of Manhattan residents travel to work by public transit, by bicycle, or on foot. That’s ten times the rate for Americans in general, and eight times the rate for residents of Los Angeles County. New York City is more populous than all but eleven states; if it were granted statehood, it would rank fifty-first in per-capita energy use.

Photo

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:18:50 -0500

Perhaps a good test of whether you will smile while reading is the following exchange: “[T]ry...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:56:37 -0500

Perhaps a good test of whether you will smile while reading is the following exchange: “[T]ry to make yourself happy in some way,” says Luis. Sam responds: “Okay, I’ll buy a new emo CD.”

Steven Poole likes emo I guess.

"Good opinion writing isn’t about making pronouncements from a position of authority; it’s about..."

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:44:00 -0500

“Good opinion writing isn’t about making pronouncements from a position of authority; it’s about making a persuasive argument…Show, not tell.”

- Spiers

youngmanhattanite: fek: The scumsucking sketchfaces at ANIMAL...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:24:42 -0500

youngmanhattanite:

fek:

The scumsucking sketchfaces at ANIMAL NEW YORK - The Estimable Bucky “I Hooked Up With A Gawker Intern” Turco, A.J. Daulerio, and The Southern Ass Stomper Formerly Known As The Cajun Boy - have redesigned their site, and with it, put an ugly new name on their masthead: mine. I’m writing a column for them that goes live every Friday; it’s called Evil Empirical. Here’s how AJ sold me on it:

Irrational anger, you do that well. Do this. And don’t be fucking late.

Needless to say, it’s been just as much fun missing AJ’s deadlines as it has been ranking the most evil people in the world each week. It started slow, but Week 2’s Media Deathlord Edition saw such familiar names as Mike Albo and A.J. Daulerio make the list. Week 3’s Religion Rundown called out the US Army’s bullshit Buddhist. Week 4’s Cult Craziness made a case for the Mormons and fans of Glee. Week 5, coming tomorrow!

In the mean time: Cajun is still going whole hog on blogging: his Twitter Period feature is ridiculously great. Talk about old-school, Mark Copyranter is throwing some awesome stuff ANIMAL’s way. And Will Sherman’s art coverage is superb. ANIMAL’s already been called The Less Literary Than The Awl New Gawker. Soon we’ll be called The Dominating All Over Your Face Website, and then we’re going to open up The Domination All Over Your Face Domination Consulting Group. Tell people you were a part of our scrappy little operation first.

No women on the masthead. Just an observation.

Yah, no women. Weak. Too bad too, they used to have one that was really good.

Gloria is a pop song originally written and composed in Italian...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:34:00 -0500

Gloria is a pop song originally written and composed in Italian by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi.

katiebakes: Why do people LIVE in Manhattan when we could LOOK...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:40:25 -0500

katiebakes:

Why do people LIVE in Manhattan when we could LOOK at Manhattan?!

That’s a really good point. My best days, most fufilling and happy, when I really love living in New York City, is on those rare occasions I am driving a siblings car over one of the many bridges, and I finally get to actually, you know, see Manhattan.

I liked the internet a lot more before tumblr

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:58:07 -0500

I liked the internet a lot more before tumblr

youngmanhattanite: 92y: Frank Bruni on Jeffrey Chodorow,...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:17:29 -0500

youngmanhattanite:

92y:

Frank Bruni on Jeffrey Chodorow, anonymity and much more. He regrets not reviewing Peasant.

[92Y Food Talks]

The gold here is all the places he says he goes to on his own time.

And a silver star to both of them for tackling the issue of swallowing.

youngmanhattanite: YANKEES. Cheering for the Yankees is like rooting for Wall St.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:39:58 -0500

youngmanhattanite:

YANKEES.

Cheering for the Yankees is like rooting for Wall St.

matthewgallaway: The New York art world is a shell of its...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:31:05 -0500

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/media/video/8887

matthewgallaway:

The New York art world is a shell of its former self. And I think that’s because New York is such a hard city to live in, that it is really difficult to imagine advising a young artist to move here. And I think, in a way, that has been good for the art world because it has decentered New York. New York is no longer the center of the art world. I think the NY art world is Berlin.

— Glenn Ligon, Interview Magazine, October 2009 (via)

92y: With the elections taking place tomorrow in New York City...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:26:02 -0500

92y:

With the elections taking place tomorrow in New York City and around the country, we have a timely update to the Share Your Story™ series. In the video above, 27-year-old Matt Bishop, resident of Astoria, Queens, stepped in front of the camera at the Share Your Story™ booth during the 92Y Street Fest. Bishop told us he spends most of his time doing what he really believes in, public service. Being involved in local politics and policy, being involved in your community, Bishop argues, is the most effective way to change things:

I hope that people will realize that they’re part of a community, and they’re part of something that is much bigger than themselves. And I hope people get involved in politics, whatever your politics are…because when we step out of this democratic process, you have all sorts all of special interests that step in.

Hamilton Nolan – Liberal Asshole of the Week Also, do not like that I now know what he looks like. I...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:06:55 -0500

Hamilton Nolan – Liberal Asshole of the Week

Also, do not like that I now know what he looks like. I had a vision of him, and it did not include a suit.

“Gawker, a media gossip blog whose beat is New York’s hipster crowd…”

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:23:00 -0500

“Gawker, a media gossip blog whose beat is New York’s hipster crowd…”

(via katiebakes) Well look who was on the corner of Elizabeth...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:09:52 -0400

(via katiebakes)

Well look who was on the corner of Elizabeth and Houston.

At Yankees game, Jay Z & Alicia Keys walk to the stage, centerfield. http://twitpic.com/ng30e...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:40:50 -0400

At Yankees game, Jay Z & Alicia Keys walk to the stage, centerfield. http://twitpic.com/ng30e via @BrentSGambill