Lowe's foresees the future (but it's probably too late)

I found the following curious chart over on James Kunstler's website "Clusterfuck Nation". It shows the amount of retail space shoppers enjoy in different nations. From 1.1 square feet per shopper in Italy to 20.2 square feet for each and every American! Maybe what this shows us is how consumerism in America runs rampant. That we're materialistic bastards? Or maybe it's just that we have shopping centers and strip malls coming out our ears (to put it politely)?

Kunstler is trying to warn us about the upcoming scenes in a post-peak oil world and the black hole we may now be heading into. That's why I found a recent sales circular from Lowe's encouraging when I saw what they were selling -- downsizing!

It comes in the form of what they call "Katrina Cottages" and they market them as affordable and durable (140 mph metal roof - probably good for the increasingly severe global warming storms coming everywhere!) little houses for the gulf coast region. They're also available from Lowe's in other parts of the country where they are sold as "starter homes" or "vacation cabins."

As Americans accustomed to growing bigger and bigger houses which mirror our world record shopping spaces, none of us would really want to live in such little things, but they'd make a great "beach house" or "mother-in-law's apartment" out in the back yard we're told.

But while these little beauties arrive too late to change the bleak futures we all face in suburbias built based on the abundance of cheap oil of the past, I couldn't help ponder how we might have delayed that future had we lived in homes with the equivalent spaciousness to what Italians enjoy in while shopping?
Anyway, here's the little Katrina Cottage fantasy I picked out for Mrs. Dada, me, and Sam (the dog). I opted for a modest 697 sq. footer with 1.5 bedrooms (.5 in the loft). Moving into one of these would definitely force one to deglutter!