Being Green in an Apartment

I have had several discussions the past few weeks regarding home ownership vs. renting. I am tempted to (though I won't) go into the philosophy behind land/home ownership, and why it is not the achievement, status marker, or privilege it once was. Witness the plethora of "subprime" loan defaults, and what this has done to the world economy.

But land ownership no longer means you "own" the land. Let's say you own, and would like to be green. Put up a solar panel or install a compost box in your front yard, and you earn the wrath of your sullen neighbours. Thou Shalt Not Violate the Neighbourhood Covenant. Thy lawn shall be cropped, your car shalt not lie upon cinder blocks, and you and your family shall be beautiful, easy on the eyes, and loving at all times for thy neighbours' benefit.

Welcome to Pleasantville (formerly Dysfunction Junction).

I'm sure you're picking up the sarcasm, as was once quoted in the masterpiece Tommy Boy, because I'm laying it on pretty thick. Home owners' agreements (HOAs), neighbourhood covenants, and the like are a not-so-subtle method of control - community feudalism. And it's unnecessary.

Not that home ownership is never a good idea. For many of my friends, married with families, home ownership makes quite a bit of sense. I grew up out in the countryside of Ohio with farms bordering 3 sides of the house, and I can't imagine spending that childhood trapped in a Dayton apartment or condo with no room to explore outdoors. Though of course, owning a house means lots of work - you're committed to those studs and drywall, and you may even find yourself hosting a DIY party!

Nothing spells "fun" like alcohol, power tools, twelve friends, and a guest bathroom that needs redone.

The whole reason for this post is that I am in the process of discovering just how fun being in an apartment can be. As a birthday gift last year, I got my first issue of ReadyMade magazine and have fallen in love with their little DIY projects. I find myself looking around my little apartment saying, "what can I do with THIS corner? what can I build that would do this??" And with a little help from my favourite store of all time, 10,000 Villages, it's working pretty well, I must say.

Plus, in the words of the late, great Mitch Hedberg: "I wanna go to the Apartment Depot. Just a bunch of guys standing around saying 'I have an apartment, I don't gotta fix s***'."

Now, after all that, I will definitely admit to looking at a house for sale on Oak Street this week, and wistfully thinking about how great it would look with a new deck...