I grew up in Huntingdon which is a small town in central Pennsylvania about 25 minutes away from campus. I live out of downtown Huntingdon though in McAlevy’s Fort. McAlevy’s Fort is an automobile suburb while downtown Huntingdon is a combination of a pedestrian-oriented an automobile suburb. In town some people choose to walk and do not own cars, however the major of the population does own cars and drives everywhere. Huntingdon is home to just over 7,000 people. This is the town that I grew up in and I loved growing up in a small town. However, I do feel it can be rather wasteful how we do not have a bus system and so very few people walk to the places that are easily accessible on foot. In that case I feel this town is not as sustainable as it could be.

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusettes is a city known for walking where the residents there rarely own vehicles. I think Huntingdon could learn a lot from this sustainable city. Due to the residents here walking and owning bikes they save a lot of money by not owning cars and paying for gas and car insurance. If more residents in Huntingdon walked everywhere they would boost their family’s monetary status. Another thing Huntingdon can learn is the effects of walking everywhere versus driving. The people of Beacon Hill are exceptionally healthy from the amount of exercise they get. If the people of Huntingdon would start walking or biking they would also see health benefits. I know walking and biking isn’t the ideal option for the people that work out of town but for the people that do live and work downtown walking and biking could be a highly beneficial life style change that could boost the sustainability of Huntingdon.

Chicago is another city Huntingdon could learn a lot from. Urban agriculture has become rather popular and seen in Chicago as a way to make the city more sustainable. Although there is a lot of agriculture already prevalent in the rural parts of Huntingdon, the residents of downtown Huntingdon could benefit from growing their own produce. Growing their own food on their porches in hanging baskets, or using a small portion of their yard would go a long way in saving residents here money on their grocery bill and helping them to eat better. It would also help to clean the air from all of the solution from the cars driving through downtown. Gardening has also been known for relieving stress. Finally the residents that choose to sell their produce could also make money from this. There are lots of benefits to Urban Agriculture and Huntingdon could learn a lot from Chicago’s example.