Victories and challenges of an environmentalist in the suburbs

In 2021, Maude Carmel left Montreal, where she grew up, to settle with her partner in Chambly. A dream nourished by a desire for space, nature and self-sufficiency, but also inhabited by the determination to transpose one’s eco-responsible lifestyle. Is it possible to live with respect for the environment in the kingdom of the car? Maude Carmel documented her quest in the Diary of an environmentalist in the suburbs.

In the collective imagination, the suburbs are associated with the car, large houses and overconsumption. Is living there necessarily irreconcilable with an eco-responsible life?

We need to use spaces differently, that’s for sure. There are additional challenges in achieving the same lifestyle as when you live in a large metropolis, close to public transport and shops. But with a good dose of will, it is possible. It also depends on the suburbs. If we have the luxury or the privilege of being able to settle near the small village heart of the suburbs or near the bus or train terminus, it sure makes things easier. For our part, the house had to be a maximum of one kilometer from the bus terminal and a 15-minute walk from a grocery store, so that we could have just one car.

What were your main apprehensions at the start, the challenges that you anticipated would be the most important?

The car. Beyond the ecological dimension, I didn’t like driving, I wasn’t someone who drove in the first place, so I knew I was going to have to drive more, to go from one suburb to another , For example. Because yes, going from Chambly to Montreal by public transport is doable, but going from Chambly to Delson, Saint-Constant or Longueuil is much more complex.

What particularly encouraged you to leave your Montreal apartment was the idea of ​​getting closer to nature. It’s a heartbreak that many people who are sensitive to the environment live with, since in a context of urban sprawl, this love of nature is sometimes difficult to reconcile with a low carbon footprint…

When we think of someone who has an ecological lifestyle, we think of a person who lives in a small three and a half apartment next to a metro and a bulk market, but also of a person who lives in the back of a row, in the countryside, who raises his chickens and who has his garden. But we don’t realize that this person probably has a very large plot of land, therefore uses a lot of resources and is completely dependent on the car. We never think of a person in the suburbs when we think of an eco-friendly person, whereas I find that it is a better in-between than living in the countryside so that the use of the car is combined with the use of active and collective transport.

After two and a half years of suburban life, one more child and a baby on the way, how do you view your lifestyle?

I am proud of the lifestyle we have. We chose a not too big house. I am proud of the fact that each of our decisions concerning the land is linked to biodiversity and that we try to optimize our space as much as possible. But it’s certain that I don’t take the car anymore [une voiture à essence, mais achetée usagée] than I expected. The first year, when I didn’t yet have children, I traveled a lot more by bike and by public transport. I didn’t realize that early childhood has so many challenges in terms of travel. Sometimes it’s so complicated that we go there by car. Time is a rare commodity.

We often talk about individual behavior, but what role can institutions play in helping citizens change their habits?

Make cycle paths safer, add more, and increase the frequency of public transport. But if no one uses public transport, how do you expect the city to want to invest to increase its frequency? So it’s the chicken and the egg all the time. Who will encourage the other? But municipalities really have more powers than we think because they are close to the needs of citizens in terms of land use planning. Building condos that are far from any local businesses is not a move that will encourage good behavior, that’s for sure. Also, widen sidewalks, make pedestrian streets, put obstacles to cars and remove obstacles to bicycles. It’s not normal that it’s easier to park my car than to park my bike when I go to a store.

Diary of an environmentalist in the suburbs

Maude Carmel

Les Éditions du Journal

176 pages