After our year in rurality, we’ve come to believe that here we’re not living a sustainable lifestyle here.  Economically, environmentally, and health-wise, this is not - and cannot be - our final destination.

And you all, our readers, have been amazingly supportive.  I haven’t responded to each of your comments as we went through this, but I heard every one of your thoughts.  Each one meant a lot to me, and helped us understand what to do and where to go.  And so I thank you - from the bottom of my heart.

Where Our Readers Suggested.

I’ll continue to update this list.

1. 1.   Seattle, Washington
   

2. 2.   Portland, Oregon
   

3. 3.   San Francisco, California
   

4. 4.   Boston, Massachusetts
   

5. 5.   McMinnville, Oregon
   

6. 6.   Bellingham, Washington
   

7. 7.   Vancouver, B.C., Canada
   

8. 8.   Sacramento, California
   

9. 8.   Sonoma, California
   

10. 10. Boulder, Colorado
    

11. 11. Denver, Colorado
    

12. 12. Takoma Park, Maryland
    

13. 13. Ann Arbor, Michigan
    

14. 14. Missoula, Montana
    

15. 15. Clemson, South Carolina
    

16. 16. Mt Vernon, Washington
    

17. 17. Mt. Danenong, Victoria, Australia
    

18. 18. Northern Ontario, Canada
    

19. 19. South of France
    

20. 20. Amsterdam, Netherlands
    

21. 21. New Zealand
    

22. 22. Rural areas that do not surpass the area’s carrying capacity
    

23. 23. Urban and suburban areas that are transforming into more sustainable areas
    

Please see comments in this post for more GREAT information.

I personally want to thank several readers who were a great help to me in thinking this through, by offering their support and ideas.  Alan, Allie, Andrea, Angelina, Ann Marie, Anthony, Arduous, Bec, Becca, Becky, Ben, Belinda, Carolyn, Chile, Colleen, Danielle, Dancing Fat Cat, Deb, Dig This Chick, Dstopgal, Dug, Earth Heart, Emily, Gina, Gintoino, Girl Gone Gardening, Gotta Garden, Green Bean, Hatchet, Ivy, Jayedee, Jen, Jenny, Johann, John, Julie, Julie, Kate, Katecontinued, Kathy, Katie, Katrina, Kendra, Kirk, Kory, Kristi, Laura, Lisa, Lissa, Lori, Maggie, Mama Roo, Meg, Mel, N., Patrick, Priscilla, Tina, Reneelouise, Rhonda Jean, Robin, Sarah, Shawna, Sue, SuzyQ, Stacy, Tameson, Vickie, thank you all so much!  If I’ve forgotten anyone, please know that your words are very important to me, it has just been a tough couple of weeks. 

And thank you all for reading and following our story.

Where The Polls Suggested.

Top Ten Sustainable U.S. Cities

1. 
   

2. 1.   Portland, OR
   

3. 2.   San Francisco, CA
   

4. 3.   Seattle, WA
   

5. 4.   Chicago, IL
   

6. 5.   Oakland, CA
   

7. 6.   New York City, NY
   

8. 7.   Boston, MA
   

9. 8.   Philadelphia, PA
   

10. 9.   Denver, CO
    

11. 10. Minneapolis, MN
    

12. 
    

13. (From Sustainlane)
    

Top Ten Liberal U.S. Places

1. BIG CITIES (100,000 or more)
   

2. 1.   Boston, MA
   

3. 2.   Cambridge, MA
   

4. 3.   Berkeley, CA
   

5. 4.   Oakland, CA
   

6. 5.   San Francisco, CA
   

7. 6.   New Haven, CT
   

8. 7.   Providence, RI
   

9. 8.   New York, NY
   

10. 9.   Baltimore, MD
    

11. 10. Seattle, WA
    

12. 
    

13. MEDIUM CITIES (25,000-99,999)
    

14. 1.   Northampton, MA
    

15. 2.   Somerville, MA
    

16. 3.   Arlington, MA
    

17. 4.   Watertown, MA
    

18. 5.   Santa Cruz, CA
    

19. 6.   Alameda, CA
    

20. 7.   Ithaca, NY
    

21. 8.   Portland, ME
    

22. 9.   East Palo Alto, CA
    

23. 10. Chelsea, MA
    

24. 
    

25. SMALL CITIES (Under 25,000)
    

26. 1.   Provincetown, MA
    

27. 2.   Mount Rainier, MD
    

28. 3.   Albany, CA
    

29. 4.   Fairfax, CA
    

30. 5.   Garrett Park, MD
    

31. 6.   Orono, ME
    

32. 7.   Takoma Park, MD
    

33. 8.   Guerneville, CA
    

34. 9.   Bar Harbor, ME
    

35. 10. Johnson, VT
    

1. From ePodunk
   

Top Fifteen Green Cities (Worldwide)

1. 1.   Reykjavik, Iceland
   

2. 2.   Portland, Oregon, U.S.
   

3. 3.   Curitiba, Brazil
   

4. 4.   Malmö, Sweden
   

5. 5.   Vancouver, Canada
   

6. 6.   Copenhagen, Denmark
   

7. 7.   London, England
   

8. 8.   San Francisco, California, U.S.
   

9. 9.   Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador
   

10. 10. Sydney, Australia
    

11. 11. Barcelona, Spain
    

12. 12. Bogotá, Colombia
    

13. 13. Bangkok, Thailand
    

14. 14. Kampala, Uganda
    

15. 15. Austin, Texas, U.S.
    

1. Runners up: 
   

2. Chicago, Illinois, U.S.; Seattle, Washington, U.S.; Quebec City, Canada.
   

3. 
   

4. From Grist
   

Other Sources

Kendra also pointed me to Find Your Spot, which is a fun tool to play with for those of us in the U.S..  And another suggested website was Homestead.org, which has a forum that includes homestead listings.  And to find local farms, CSAs, co-ops, and farmer’s markets, check out Local Harvest.

*Australian, New Zealand, and European readers:  please add any links you know about in the comments - thanks!*

What We Knew Deep Down.

I know that polls don’t mean everything - we all know they’re flawed, biassed, skewed, and can’t possibly take into account every detail.  But guess what?  The place we picked is on all four lists.... 

Ok, on the last one it’s a runner-up..... 

(That was a big hint!)

Seattle, Washington.  For now.  The picture at the top of this page, and the one on our homepage is of Matt and I getting married in Seattle.  So you could say it was right in front of us all along, eh?

We thought very seriously about Berkeley, San Francisco and Chicago, and we ran through a million other places.  But aside from our checklist, here was our main reasoning:

1. 1.  A Known Entity. 
   

2. I’m from Seattle, and I know the place - I know it’s somewhere we will like living.
   

3. 
   

4. 2.  Family. 
   

5. I was beginning to count on my two hands how many times I was going to see my 97-year-old grandfather.  I get chocked up thinking about it.  We have several family members in Seattle, with possibly more on the way in the next few years.
   

6. 
   

7. 3.  Friends. 
   

8. We have really good friends in Seattle, and we know that it is a place where we can make new ones easily.
   

9. 
   

10. 4.  Work.
    

11. I’m looking for media work, Matt is looking for work at a law firm.  Seattle is a great place for both.
    

12. 
    

13. 5.  Year-round Farmer’s Market. 
    

14. Yep, unlike where we are now, we can go find fresh, seasonal produce year-round.
    

15. 
    

16. 6.  Public Transportation and Bike Friendliness.
    

17. Big plusses for us.  The bus system is good and the bike lands are very good.
    

18. 
    

19. 7.  Affordability.
    

20. Ok, not super affordable, but more so than the Bay Area.
    

21. 
    

22. 8.  Dog Friendly. 
    

23. I think the number of dog parks per capita may even exceed those of San Francisco.  Though don’t quote me on that!
    

24. 
    

25. 9.  Lots of People Who Have Similar Goals.
    

26. Almost everyone I know in Seattle is working in one way or another to help save/change the world.  I miss that synergy.
    

27. 
    

28. 10. Cutting Down On Travel. 
    

29. Last year we went to the northwest for 2 weddings, 2 holidays, 2 work-related ventures, and 1 family visit.  Yikes!  That’s time and money, but most importantly it’s a huge carbon impact.  That was the most travel we’d done in many years, but this year was looking to be a similar year due to more weddings and family affairs.
    

30. 
    

31. And one more, since I seem to be stuck on this whole eleven thing:
    

32. 
    

33. 11.  Garden parties. 
    

34. Wahoo!  The Shibaguyz practically invited us over for Prosecco and garden talk (in the comments) - ha!  Little did they know!  Crunchy Chicken is in Seattle.  Laura is in Seattle.  Sounds like a good party so far!  Who else?   I know there are more of you! 
    

So, there you have it.  Seattle is our next destination along the path.  I’ll be going up to Seattle early next week to look for work and homes (we’re planning to rent in West Seattle).  If any of you Seattleites have any leads in those areas, I’d be grateful!

What About All Living Together In One Place.

Something that came up often in the comments and emails was that it would be incredible to all move together somewhere.  Wouldn’t that be great?!  There have been lots of tries at doing something along those lines in a formal way (eg, a commune), and historically most of them just don’t work.  Ecovillages are a new and interesting idea, but I’m not sure I’m really the type for an ecovillage.  There are good village models in most third world countries - how do they do it?  A big thing they have going for them is history:  generations of people living in the same place and an infrastructure built around historical needs.  I don’t know how to get around that - do you?

I think the best form of action is to share our thoughts about existing areas.  Then hopefully we will become a little less spread out, we will be able to find like-minded people for friendship and critical mass, and we will be able to step away from the internet and onto our sidewalks a bit more. 

Since it is clear that Matt and I are not alone in looking for a sustainable place to live, I would really appreciate your sharing your ideas about this.  I think many of us will benefit from it.

Please Share Your Thoughts!

So, will you do me a favor?  Will you share what you’ve learned about: 

Where do you live and why?  Is it sustainable?  Will it be sustainable in 5 years?  Will it be sustainable when your kids are our age?   Where else have you considered?