Where you live is a good place to start looking at sustainability in our lives, in more ways than one. The closer you live to where you work the less distance you have to commute. One of the reasons New York City is actually a pretty green city is that so many people live in small apartments and walk or use public transit to get around. Many people in large metropolitan areas with good transit systems do not own automobiles. If they need to go somewhere they want to drive to, they rent a car.

Many of the people reading this have a home office. The more you work there rather than commuting to another workplace, the less you are commuting. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to work exclusively out o our homes.

That means no commuting costs. Not owning a vehicle not only lessens the release of greenhouse gases it saves the expense of insurance, car payments, gasoline. One might speculate that it would also decrease the number of vehicle accidents and their associated costs.

Indirect savings might include removing the cost of a gym membership since you now walk and bike so much. Hopefully, that will result in a health increase as well meaning less money spent on doctors and medicines.

Live/work spaces are making a well deserved comeback. This is not a new idea-ask your grandparents. Not so long ago, it was common for a family to live behind or above their place of business. More businesses were small and family run then. The family farm really was where the family lived. The merchant, doctor or lawyer lived above, behind or next to his place of business. The church rectory is one of the few remnants of this practice. Perhaps the current downtown revitalization projects in many places and the growing popularity of live/work spaces will help revive the practice.

This is not a plea for a return to the old days. It is a gesture toward hope. Hope that we will be able to use our modern technologies and creativity to forge a balance between our runaway infatuation with efficiency and productivity and our ability to live a less frenetic, more creative life in which we can be as involved with friends and family as we have become with work and productivity.