Green Metropolis

Starred review from June 1, 2009
While the conventional wisdom condemns it as an environmental nightmare, Manhattan is by far the greenest place in America, argues this stimulating eco-urbanist manifesto. According to Owen (Sheetrock and Shellac
), staff writer at the New Yorker
, New York City is a model of sustainability: its extreme density and compactness—and horrifically congested traffic—encourage a carfree lifestyle centered on walking and public transit; its massive apartment buildings use the heat escaping from one dwelling to warm the ones adjoining it; as a result, he notes, New Yorkers’ per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than a third of the average American’s. The author attacks the “powerful anti-urban bias of American environmentalists” like Michael Pollan and Amory Lovins, whose rurally situated, auto-dependent Rocky Mountain Institute he paints as an ecological disaster area. The environmental movement’s disdain for cities and fetishization of open space, backyard compost heaps, locavorism and high-tech gadgetry like solar panels and triple-paned windows is, he warns, a formula for wasteful sprawl and green-washed consumerism. Owen’s lucid, biting prose crackles with striking facts that yield paradigm-shifting insights. The result is a compelling analysis of the world’s environmental predicament that upends orthodox opinion and points the way to practical solutions.

August 1, 2009
Want to reduce your carbon footprint and save the planet? Move to Manhattan.

New Yorker staff writer Owen (Sheetrock& Shellac: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement, 2006, etc.) seeks earnestly to overturn the traditional wisdom that says the only way to show your love for Mother Earth is to move to the country, make candles and go locavore."New York," he writes,"is the greenest community in the United States." This may seem counterintuitive, but consider: Most urbanites live in small spaces rather than the McMansions of suburbia, if only because they cannot afford anything larger, and most walk to the grocery store, take mass transit and get enough exercise to avoid becoming slugs (mere consumers, that is). Conversely, a back-to-the-lander may live virtuously, but taking a Volvo rather than Birkenstocks to the store undoes many good intentions. Owen assembles useful facts, some of them sure to be surprises even for the most learned of NYC boosters. Still, he recognizes that were it not for the accident of crowded island life, Manhattan and environs could just as easily be Los Angeles."When cities are built on a'human' scale," he writes,"they virtually force the creation of vast suburbs, with miles of freeways, long commutes, traffic jams, and shopping malls." Occasionally the author inflates the significance of the facts to support his thesis. After all, it comes down to the hows as well as the wheres—a vegetarian living in the country, for instance, no matter how car-happy, will use fewer resources than a meat eater in the city. Owen works the city-versus-countryside theme into the ground—ruralites may feel a little picked-on—but the author does an important service in pointing out that those who live in cities can be just as green as your garden-variety organic farmer—and even more so.

He's no McPhee or Pollan, but Owen provides a dogged, contrarian argument that scores some good points.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2009
"New Yorker" writer Owen lays out a simple plan to address our environmental crisislive smaller, live closer, and drive less. He presents a convincing argument that the antiurbanism of American environmental thought is flawed [Stewart Brand makes the same point in his "Whole Earth Discipline", see aboveEd.]. The built-in efficiencies of urban life create and preserve open spaces, whereas suburban sprawl contributes to energy inefficiency and further environmental degradation. Just as Thomas L. Friedman in "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" discussed the role of oil in American life and our need to redefine America's vision, Owen asserts that every discussion about the environment is, in the end, about oil and that reducing environmental destruction means redefining our view of prosperity. He effectively connects the dots among oil, cars, public transportation, ethanol, rising food prices, and the role of plastic in modern life. VERDICT Owen's engaging, accessible book challenges the idea of green and urban living. Recommended for readers interested in urban planning or environmental issues. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 6/1/09.]Robin K. Dillow, Oakton Community Coll., Des Plaines, IL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Counterintuitive is the watchword in this strongly stated investigation into the environmentally beneficial aspects of big cities. Owen, who is anecdotally informative in books about such benign subjects as home repair and golf, is bracingly forthright in his assessment of the severity of the environmental breakdown were facing and our woefully inadequate response. He mocks the misuse of the word sustainability, bluntly declares such small gestures as recycling irrelevant, and turns our assumptions about green space upside-down. We wont find any ecological solutions in the countryside, where people have to drive everywhere, but rather in Manhattan, where people dont own cars and use substantially less energy because they live in small spaces. Density equals less waste, and Owen has the numbers to prove it. He also has lancing things to say about the anti-urban attitude of most American environmentalists. With arresting and nonconformist views on agricultural, architecture, videophilia, and the healthy aspects of city life, Owens offers a fresh, lucid, irreverent, and realistic view of how we live and what environmental improvement we can actually achieve.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)