Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability

Read David Owen's posts on the Penguin Blog. From the acclaimed "New Yorker" writer, a thought-provoking, innovative, and challenging new approach to protecting our environment. Most Americans think of cities as ecological nightmares-wastelands of concrete, garbage, diesel fumes and traffic jams-but residents of urban cores actually consume less oil, electricity, and water than hybrid- driving Vermonters do, and they have smaller carbon footprints. Essentially, they're forced to. In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen offers an invaluable environmental template for a global population that is growing as natural resources shrink. "Green Metropolis" will change the way people think about the environment.

“Praise for Green Metropolis "[Owen] makes a convincing case that Manhattan, Hong Kong and large, old European cities are inherently greener than less densely populated places… [ Green Metropolis ] challenges many cherished assumptions about easy-on-the-earth country living… Pugnacious and contrarian, the book has a lot of fun at the expense of sentimental pastoralists, high-minded environmentalists and rich people trying to buy their way into higher green consciousness with expensive "eco-­friendly" add-ons (photovoltaic panels on their suburban McMansions, say)." New York Times "Owen''s style, here as in his 13 previous books, is cool, understated and witty; it does not appear to be in his nature to be alarmist. But this is a thoroughly alarming book, perhaps all the more so because Owen is so matter-of-fact: The facts alone are so discouraging that no rhetorical flourishes are necessary to underscore their urgency." Washington Post " Green Metropolis is important not for the answers it yields but the questions it raises questions that should be part of the ongoing dialogue about the health of our planet." Christian Science Monitor "In today's context of climate change, energy, and a new green economy, David Owen makes an eloquent case that density is in fact the most efficient form of human settlement… Green Metropolis is an important contribution to our understanding of how we live." The Boston Globe ""David Owen pumps some minty fresh air into the haze of green marketing. In his provocative new book, he turns conventional wisdom on its head and takes a clear-eyed look at what 'green' might truly mean in a nation of 300 million (and counting) in the 21st century." San Francisco Chronicle "A marvelously clear-eyed analysis of the growing energy/environmental crisis." Hartford Courant "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." Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Owen mounts a vigorous challenge… New York's dense urbanity, he contends, offers a compelling blueprint for addressing our ecological crises, not with pie-in-the-sky technology, but with the underappreciated virtues of physical and social connectedness." In These Times "With arresting and nonconformist views on agriculture, architecture, "videophilia," and the healthy aspects of city life, Owen offers a fresh, lucid, irreverent, and realistic view of how we live and what environmental improvement we can actually achieve." Booklist " Green Metropolis presents powerful challenges for modern efforts aiming to decrease human impact on the environment…. Green Metropolis is in many ways eye opening…. A must read for anyone interested in understanding the changes that we must make collectively as we move into a future with constrained resources and a population forever looking to increase the overall quality of life." Localplan.org "[A] wise, eco-urbanist manifesto… Owen is adept at debunking the increasingly accepted notions that urban parks, ethanol, and locavorism are 'green.' His portrayal of New York City as a kind of conservationist utopia amid vast rural wastefulness lands yet another blow on the myth of small-town values." The Village Voice "[A] provocative manifesto that inverts many of our sacred assumptions about environmentalism… [Owen's] book mounts a passionate, fact-studded case for 'the environmental advantages of Manhattan-style urban density.'… Green Metropolis is fascinating and thought-provoking." NPR.org " Green Metropolis … could not be timelier." Solutions Journal ""Provocative." Chicago Reader "Nobody makes the case for cities' superior environmental performance better than David Owen… [A] well-researched book that vigorously defends cities from misguided environmental thought…. Green Metropolis is riveting and fiercely intelligent." New Urban News”

A convincing case...Pugnacious and contrarian The New York Times Turns conventional wisdom on its head and takes a clear-eyed look at what 'green' might truly mean San Francisco Chronicle

David Owen is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of a dozen books. He lives in northwest Connecticut with his wife, the writer Ann Hodgman, and their two children.

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