Did we learn anything from ‘snowpocalypse?’
Now that the very last remnants of 'snowpocalypse' are gone, I thought it would be a good time for the DJC Green Building Blog to ask "just what did we learn?"
(For those of you not in the Seattle area, a thick blanket of snow carpeted the Pacific Northwest for most of the past week and a half. In Seattle, this amounts to a once-every-15-years-event).
As a city there weren't many surprises: we learned Seattle doesn't really know how to deal with snow and local drivers understand how it works even less.
But as individuals did we connect to our immediate environments a little bit more? I did. I live in a very walkable neighborhood with a market, restaurants and a coffee shop all across the street. A little further away there's a retail district and a movie theatre. I walk to these places constantly and use them frequently.
But here's the thing: beind snowed in forced me to think about my local amenities differently. No longer did I have the choice to drive to the movie theatre. If I wanted to go, I had to walk. And if I wanted other entertainment not across the street, well I had to reconsider just how much I wanted that too. Was I willing to walk for it?
Cutting out the choices shifted my perspective. If city planners ever hope to make the car a defunct item, that's the kind of space they're going to need to create.
Apparently I wasn't the only one who was thinking differently: all of my local restaurants were packed whenever I passed by them (even sushi.) People I know who never take the bus were doing it. Or walking to places they had never considered walking to.
The Seattle Times reported on local retailers seeing big foot trafffic. Looking back on the week and a half, it was annoying, yes. But having Mother Nature limit my choices for me was also kind of nice.
Green building is about creating a structure that gives back to its community a little bit more than the standard product. But a green building in the middle of nowhere only does so much good. Sustainable living, on the other hand, is about creating a community that doesn't just take but gives back. In a way, the snow made me give back more to my community because it forced me to interract even more with it.
There's a kind of momentum there, if a city could only capture it. But how is it possible to capture a forced locality, if you will, and turn it into better urban planning? It seems like there's a great opportunity there, if only someone would step up and find a way to take it.
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December 30th, 2008 - 09:21
Life was easy and kind of fun for this pedestrian commuter, just another few minutes to get anywhere. But it would be a lot easier if more buildings would shovel their sidewalks in the CBD, Belltown, LQA, etc. I can see slogging through deep snow on the way to work, and maybe even coming back, but it shouldn’t be necessary the second day, or the third, or during the melty-slush phase.
December 30th, 2008 - 11:52
I found the snow very enjoyable, even though I had to walk to work every day. What I find interesting is that those that don’t live in dense communities found it less than enjoyable, and those that were completely snowed in far from any services probably found it miserable.
How do we recreate these conditions? I found $4 gas brought us pretty close to this, when housing prices in cities went up along with bus ridership and alternate transportation. People walked more because walking is free. There are other ways to recreate this, most of which center on making driving less desirable: decreased parking availability, decreased road area, car-free zones (ever been to Dubrovnik, or Lucca, or Xian?), dense multi-use construction, good public transit…
December 30th, 2008 - 22:46
Interesting to read how much foot traffic there was in the City of Seattle. The City of Redmond was pretty much shutdown. Even though I happened to go to work most of the days, there certainly were very few people around the office.
So Katie, that’s great that you were able to walk and get everywhere you wanted. You mentioned that you had less choices, were you happier to have fewer choices?
It seems like more neighborhood commercial areas for the subs would be a good thing to keep the number of trips down.
December 31st, 2008 - 08:24
Personally I’d love to see a greater number and better quality of neighborhood business districts. Seattle, Redmond (to a degree), and the County are all going in this direction, strengthening and creating urban villages and sub-downtowns. For example, Downtown Redmond is becoming a place where you can live within walking distance more and more easily. Redmond could use more places like that.
December 31st, 2008 - 09:10
I tend to avoid Seattle when it snows as it is a bit more difficult to get around. However, it was nice to see folks adapting to it. By the way, I have lived in the Puget Sound for 43 years and every decade or so we we get a cold spell that lasts for a few years as sun spot activity reaches the solar minimum. Katie, you site this as a weather cycle. So then, why is there always such hysteria about ‘man made global warming’? It appears to me the nature is quite a bit more powerful than mankind’s ability to alter or manipulate it. Just a little more proof that nature will do what it wants and humans are self absorbed, arrogant knuckleheads. They are easily manipulated by powerful people that stand to make a GREAT deal of money off of increased taxes, carbon trading schemes and regulations imposed on the public while they are exempted from these laws.
Have a great day and always enjoy your perspective.
December 31st, 2008 - 12:23
[John], I hesitate to argue large concepts like global warming in the comments of an unrelated post, but I’m still amazed that there are deniers around. Just take a look at the raw data for the past few years, or even better for the past 50. And don’t try to blame it on volcanoes – they emit 1/130th of the total CO2 that humans do. I won’t even go in to global temperature, which keeps hitting record levels every year. Models tell us that Seattle will have wet, cold winters in the future thanks to global warming, but I have no idea if this winter is any evidence of that.
December 31st, 2008 - 12:28
There are a lot of good points here, so thank you all for commenting!
Peter – Yes, in a strange way… I was happy to have fewer choices because it was simpler. I can’t say I’d be happy to have fewer choices forever though, and by the end of the week, it was wearing a little thin.
Mhays – What was wearing very thin was watching how side streets off of major arterials were completely ignored, a week after the snows. I had to pick someone up from the airport last Saturday and I still couldn’t get my car out. Not fun.
Matt the Engineer – Yes, I’m betting it was less enjoyable for those in less-dense areas. But then again, that’s all part of the choice in deciding where you live. My boyfriend’s father lives in a (mostly) rural area of Olympia. From what I heard, he had an ok time of it but then again, he’s a pretty self sufficient guy.
JohnZ – While I’m going to stay away from the question of global warming, I completely agree about humans being arrogrant knuckleheads. It’s always interesting to see what happens when nature reminds us it was here first! … And you are right, as well, about a lot people standing to make a lot of money on green. But that’s a topic for another day (or post!)
Another interesting thing I observed in my neighborhood is when I asked people working at shops – be it the market across the street or the coffee shop – about how their commute was, they all pretty much shrugged their shoulders and said they live close enough to walk or bike to work. And in case you’re wondering, I live in Wallingford.
December 31st, 2008 - 13:02
It’s interesting to see the article on foot traffic business did well while car-centric stores – or specialty businesses that rely on regional traffic – did worse. The only notable winner was Amazon.com I guess if you can’t get it down the street, you have the UPS man deliver it to your warm and cosy home. Is that what lies in our sustainable future?
January 6th, 2009 - 07:50
good stuff Katie, I am going to link you up on my blog.. Keep it up!