April 26, 2007 8:11 AM

Keeping Ahead of the Joneses

Trying to live green? Depending on where you live, you might have an obstacle in your way more prickly than your own will power and closer to home than the Bush Administration: the whims of your meddlesome neighbors:

A local Board of Architectural Review refused to issue the Saracheks a permit for the solar apparatus, having received a letter from at least 15 neighbors -- among them doctors, lawyers and other presumably well-educated people -- arguing that the panels "would clearly be an eyesore in our lovely Quaker Ridge neighborhood."

It's a fascinating read that would be funny if it weren't so frustrating, as this Alternet article accounts for how healthy home improvements are hamstrung by haughty homeowner associations.

We at Working Assets try to go green in our own office (I can't imagine if our neighbors told us we had to use bottled water instead of filtered tap water). Most of our calls to action, though, focus on systemic change: calling on Congress to increase fuel efficiency standards and take steps to reduce global warming.

This article reminds us that there are battles we need to fight closer to home. We need to educate our neighbors. And we need to take the lead ourselves, which we can do. For example, you can pay for your own carbon offsets, or you can let Working Assets do it for you.