Off the Urban Grid

Why Sustainable Self-Sufficient Living in the City?

A lot of us have this notion in our heads that you have to move out to the country, get a bunch of acreage, and build an earthship or other custom “green” home in order to find sustainable living.  So we sell our city homes, buy rural land, and move out there, determined to live off the land (or as close as possible).

There are just a few potential problems to consider before doing this (lest you become one of the statistics who soon moves back to the city and sells your country land at a loss)…

1. If you’re a born-and-bred urbanite or suburbanite, chances are you’re not going to fit in if you plop yourself down into a rural community.  You’ll have a hard time finding folks with common interests, you’ll be disenchanted by the lack of shopping and recreational amenities, and people will think you’re weird.  Trust me. You’re from the city.  You’re weird.  I’m not saying you can’t make it work, but unless you’re a special case, you’ll probably find you miss the conveniences of the city a lot. I had some of these feelings just moving from Seattle to what-do-you-mean-the-library-isn’t-open-on-Sundays Spokane a couple years ago, and Spokane isn’t exactly a rural country location.
2. You probably already have family, friends, and community where you are.  If you believe, like many of us do, that times are going to get tougher, not easier, in the near future, it may not be wise to walk away from friends and family to set up somewhere that you know no one.  Even though I toss around the term “self-sufficient” in this blog, what I really mean is cutting down on reliance of the corporate controlled systems that surround us.  I’ve yet to find a catchy word that means that though.  Even in the country, you’ll find that no one is truly self-sufficient: neighbors rely on neighbors and families stick together.  A community can become largely self-sufficient, but no matter how much land you have, you’ll find it unlikely you can do it all yourself.
3. You have a job in the city (or a better likelihood of getting one).  Even if you pooh-poohed at the other points I made, you may find this reality hard to get around.  There aren’t a lot of jobs in the country, and it’s likely it’d take you years to build up a rural homestead that could create enough food or goods to sell or trade the surplus and make enough money to buy the necessities you can’t get from your own land.  While there are ways to get around the city-job deal (hey, I make a living entirely over the web), you may find that you really miss having coworkers and the social life that often revolves around work.

Okay, those are just some of the reasons you might not want to move out to the country.  What I want to talk about now are some of the reasons you don’t need to move to the country to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.

1. It’s possible to grow move food than you think even on an average-sized urban lot.  Don’t believe me?  Check out what the Dervaes family in California is accomplishing (they grow more than 6,000 pounds of food on a 1/5th acre urban lot–1/10th of that is growing space).  Granted we don’t all have that beautiful California sun year around, but even in climates with harsh winters, you can grow a lot.  Don’t have your own lot?  Get involved in a community garden.
2. The ability to walk and bike to shops, work, and recreation opportunities is greater in dense urban areas than anywhere else.  I’m out in the suburbs these days (the price I paid to own some land), and I’m a bit nostaligic for my urban condo where I could walk to two grocery stores, three coffee places, a pet store, a park, a major bus route, two bookstores (gotta have new and used, ya know), several restaurants, and countless service shops within five minutes.  That kind of easy access to amenities lets you be completely car-free if you wish, and eliminating your personal reliance on gas is a huge step towards independence.
3. Renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind make more economic sense when you can go in with others or take advantage of “buying in bulk” so to speak.  Many of us would love to have a set of solar panels on the roof right now, but the price tag makes it unaffordable for the time being (without going into debt, and it hardly makes sense to rack up a fortune in debt in order to save a few bucks a month).  Cities offer economies of scale that aren’t found in the country or even the suburbs.  Where a homeowner of a single-family house couldn’t afford solar, a 10-unit condominium complex just might be able to.

Thoughts?  Experiences to share?  Chime in below!

Tags: urban homestead