<aside> 👉🏽 Oscar/Hisho
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The American Dream is, fundamentally, a belief in meritocracy. It’s the idea that you can come from any social background and work your way to the top of the social ladder.
For many, at least historically, the image this conjures is one of owning a single-family home in a cul-de-sac, two cars, two kids and a high-paying job.
But what are the environmental consequences of living the American Dream?
Hello listeners and welcome to Fighting Failure, the podcast where we discuss solutions to the climate crisis.
I’m your host for this episode, Hisham Kanaan.
And I’m your co-host, Oscar Archibald.
Unsustainable housing methods and ideologies have been integrated into society throughout the developed and developing world. At the helm of this increase in unsustainable housing has been the USA, hence this episode’s title.
To clarify, “The American Dream” represents a certain idealistic American lifestyle. The biggest problem - from our perspective - with this is the idea of cul-de-sac housing in suburban areas. However, it’s worth noting that the American Dream is a little more than a cul-de-sac house, two kids and two cars. According to a poll (linked below), almost 80% of Americans agreed that having personal freedom was crucial to their dream.
In this episode, we’re going to discuss the environmental problems with America’s cul-de-sac affliction, and how we can fix them.
(scripted)[audio plays]
Male voice: Article 25. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.
As we’ve just heard, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, housing is one of the most basic provisions that needs to be ensured in a functioning society. So the real problem is, what is a stable housing situation?
Cul-de-sac developers in the USA advertise cul-de-sac developments as safe, structured investments that reduce strain on urban centres - in particular, through reduced traffic.