After spending the 40th anniversary of Earth Day yesterdaywriting and reporting from the confines of a six-foot by six-foot recycled 'artists studio' in Manhattan, I've been thinking about space - that is, how much of it do we need to live and work comfortably?

While I found it comfortable to work in, a six-by-six dwelling certainly isn't enough to reside in by most people's standards - mine included - though it certainly would be cheaper and easy to maintain. The question is mostly about our stuff and our sanity. Technology undeniably is helping shrink our need for storage: the digitization of photos, CDs, books, just to start.

But not everything can be squeezed into megabytes on the computer. We need shared spaces to enjoy our time together as a family, entertaining ourselves and our guests. We need private places where we can seek refuge from the chaos of the outside world.

And, of course, our stuff needs a home: Our hobbies, passions, children's favorite toys - these are part of the fabric of history we create with our families. As my parents have aged, they've slightly 'upsized' and altered their own living quarters twice, from the 1,800-sq-ft starter home they owned when I was a child to a 3,800-sq-ft suburban house where I grew into a messy teenager to their retirement home, a 2,700-sq-ft house with separate guest cottage and detached garage with storage.

They don't need all the space all the time, but having it lets them keep family and visitors close (though not TOO close) and lets them hold onto some of the physical memories of our time on this Earth together. In other words, space protects their history and their sanity, though of course one day somebody (probably me) is going to have to go through it all and make tough decisions.

This goes counter to U.S. housing trends, where average square footage has been declining recently - a likely reaction in part to rising energy prices and the recession. Bigger houses mean higher energy bills and higher maintenance costs. But bigger houses also may mean more order and calm and more room for a family to spread out.

Personally, I took the 'more space' route. After Sept. 11, 2001, when my one-bedroom New York City apartment building next to the World Trade Center was temporarily closed from damage, I bought a 2,000-sq-ft fixer-upper in the country. Now I dwell in a bigger space, but I'm making big strides to reduce that space's impact on the environment and my energy bills, using solar panels for my hot water, composting, growing food and heating with a high-efficiency wood stove using wood split on my property.

Gwendolyn Bounds

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中词汇)
• writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中词汇)
• dwelling [´dweliŋ] n.住所；寓所 (初中词汇)
• maintain [mein´tein] vt.维持；保持；继续 (初中词汇)
• mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中词汇)
• computer [kəm´pju:tə] n.计算机；电子计算器 (初中词汇)
• refuge [´refju:dʒ] v.&n.避难(所)；庇护 (初中词汇)
• fabric [´fæbrik] n.织物；结构；组织 (初中词汇)
• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中词汇)
• cottage [´kɔtidʒ] n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中词汇)
• physical [´fizikəl] a.物质的；有形的 (初中词汇)
• reaction [ri´ækʃən] n.反应(力) (初中词汇)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中词汇)
• apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt] n.一套房间 (初中词汇)
• reside [ri´zaid] vi.居住；(权利等)属于 (高中词汇)
• shrink [ʃriŋk] v.收缩；退缩；畏缩 (高中词汇)
• storage [´stɔ:ridʒ] n.贮存；存储器 (高中词汇)
• garage [´gærɑ:ʒ] n.汽车房；汽车修理厂 (高中词汇)
• counter [´kauntə] n.计算者；柜台；计算机 (高中词汇)
• maintenance [´meintinəns] n.保持；主张；保养 (高中词汇)
• environment [in´vaiərənmənt] n.郊区；周围；条件 (高中词汇)
• anniversary [,æni´və:səri] n.周年纪念(日) (四级词汇)
• manhattan [mæn´hætən] n.曼哈顿 (四级词汇)
• retirement [ri´taiəmənt] n.退休；撤退；幽静处 (四级词汇)
• temporarily [´tempərərili] ad.暂时地 (四级词汇)
• suburban [sə´bə:bən] a.郊区的 n.郊区居民 (六级词汇)
• impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (六级词汇)