Hyland,+The+White+picket+fence

The White Picket Fence

One part of the matrix of sustainability problems which have led to the global sustainability crisis is the American idolizing of the white picket fence. This symbol, which emerged as a marker of status and comfortable living in the 1950’s, has grown to represent middle class and suburban living. As of the year 2000, people living in suburbia made up about half of the United States population and suburban populations have risen every year since.(Hobbs, et all) The fundamental problem with suburban living is not necessarily the sheer amount of space per person that is being, rather what people have been doing with that space. The lush, green, manicured lawns which adorn the fronts of most suburban homes are frequently upheld through the use of fertilizers which incorporate chemicals that are harmful to the environment and people's health. The lawns inability to retain the amount of water that a crop field or prairie can hold causes theses chemicals to run off into sewer systems and eventually making their way into the water table and into the drinking water of the people who are using them, as many suburban communities drink from well water from their area. Additionally, the sewer systems and general water distribution that serves suburban communities generally consists of hundreds of miles of piping which while easily navigable and serviceable in cities, go unmaintained due to long stretches just to get supply to and from the suburban communities as well as awkward home placement which leads to a messily developed sewer system. Suburban regions that do not draw water deliver sewage to a city generally use septic systems which are almost never appropriately maintained and frequently leak hazardous chemicals and biowaste into the ground.

The infrastructure involved in building a suburban community is also a large sustainability issue. Road patterns are often designed with privacy in mind rather than navigability and efficiency. This leads to there being far more blacktop than is necessary to serve the communities transportation needs. The distance required for people to commute also becomes a real issue.(Randall, et. All) Because of the self and family centered nature of a suburban household, people are less likely to reach out to their neighbors and townsfolk and resultantly less likely develop carpools even though they have a longer drive to and from work, services, and groceries. The amount of road surface also contributes to waste and harmful chemicals from cars and homes entering the water table via run off.

Converting space which was once forest, prairie, or farmland into grass longs and concrete does not only create negative effects on the area aquifers which are eventually consumed by the very people who are polluting them, but they also do not absorb sunlight as well as the landscape which was in place before the sprawl. This leads to an increase in the atmospheric temperature worldwide which then compounds into various other environmental concerns. In the American Southwest, the temperature increase and superfluous water consumption for keeping lawns maintained have lead to dried up aquifers and arid top soil and vegetation which has become one of the primary reasons for a recent increase in forest and brush fires in the area.

On a interhuman basis, suburban sprawl leads to segregation of people based on economic class and resultantly race. This perpetuates classism and racism and forces the socioeconomically downtrodden to participates in unsustainable activities such as supporting fast food chains, improper disposal of waste, and participation in generally poor inner city education because they are the only options they can afford and the idea of trying to rise out of their circumstance to live a healthier more fruitful life becomes far more daunting when they see the scarce number of people who they socially identify with being able to do what they would like to do.

The myriad ways in which the concept of a white picket fence and the suburban lifestyle accompanying show that this is definitely a major node in the matrix of sustainability problems. From damage to wild live and vegetation through hazardous runoff, to stress between different groups of society, to the human health aspect which includes chemical illness from runoff and depression linked to a life of isolation this issue rises as one which is in dire need of being addressed and fixed.

The Stakeholders:
 * Suburban dwellers physical and mental health
 * Everyone who survives off the water table near a suburb or in between the suburb and a city
 * Everyone based on increased fuel consumption and emissions as well as green house gas production and contribution to global warming
 * Local wildlife being displaced from their habitat
 * Socio-economic minorities who are generally forced into urban slums though in ability to grow into suburban communities
 * People and environment occupying space before they were forced out for development

Image source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/16/urban_legends?page=0,2

Bibliography: Clark, George E., __Environment Magazine__, “Bytes of Note”, []

Davey, Peter. (1993, November). Sustainable suburbia. The Architectural Review, 193(1161), 4. Retrieved October 26, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 5767138).

Hobbs, Frank and Nicole Stoops, U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Special Reports, Series CENSR-4, Demographic Trends in the 20th Century, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2002.

Randall, Todd A., and Brian W. Baetz. "Evaluating Pedestrian Connectivity for Suburban Sustainability." Journal of Urban Planning & Development 127, no. 1 (March 2001)

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