A BETTER CAR ? ?
. . . . .Is making a better car like making a better cancer?
The thing is, we're looking for the better automobile, but couldn't we do much better for ourselves by finding ways not to have to spend so much time in them in the first place?
Here's a list of thoughts. Some of them are my own. Some of them are sparked by WorldChanging's Alex Steffan's recent post "My other car is a Bright Green City" (but references you'll find to the beauty and intelligence of my wife are my thoughts alone).
Societal obsession with inventing a high-efficiency vehicle obscures the fact that using our land to live in suburbs instead of compact villages and cities deprives ourselves not only a sustainable but a much more satisfying solution.
Cars cause about 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions.
The more we drive the fatter we are, the fatter we are, the more heart disease we have, the more heart disease we have the quicker we die.
If everyone in the United States deserves a car, then everyone in the world deserves a car. If everyone in the world gets a car, we're toast.
As our population grows, traffic will only get worse.
Studies show that building more roads only causes more traffic.
Where, in major cities like, say, New York, are you supposed to fit more roads anyway?
We need to help developing countries create better alternatives.
As Alex writes: "The single best way we can do that is to lead by example. By embracing our own models of sustainably prosperous living, we would do two things: we'd help change the cultural messaging about what prosperity really means, and we'd create some (perhaps many) of technologies and designs other countries will need to invent their own models."
Commuting by car, in traffic jams, breathing in the fumes, getting mad, and honking horns, like cars themselves, sucks.
3.5 million Americans now spend the equivalent of a month a year in their cars, according to Alex.
Not being able to walk to our neighbor's house, not being able to ride a bike to the store, not being able to let your kids play on the street--all these things are alienating. They make us lonelier and sadder. . . .. ... ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .note:for the good of the community don't believe all those slick automobile commercials and advertisements.
The thing is, we're looking for the better automobile, but couldn't we do much better for ourselves by finding ways not to have to spend so much time in them in the first place?
Here's a list of thoughts. Some of them are my own. Some of them are sparked by WorldChanging's Alex Steffan's recent post "My other car is a Bright Green City" (but references you'll find to the beauty and intelligence of my wife are my thoughts alone).
Societal obsession with inventing a high-efficiency vehicle obscures the fact that using our land to live in suburbs instead of compact villages and cities deprives ourselves not only a sustainable but a much more satisfying solution.
Cars cause about 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions.
The more we drive the fatter we are, the fatter we are, the more heart disease we have, the more heart disease we have the quicker we die.
If everyone in the United States deserves a car, then everyone in the world deserves a car. If everyone in the world gets a car, we're toast.
As our population grows, traffic will only get worse.
Studies show that building more roads only causes more traffic.
Where, in major cities like, say, New York, are you supposed to fit more roads anyway?
We need to help developing countries create better alternatives.
As Alex writes: "The single best way we can do that is to lead by example. By embracing our own models of sustainably prosperous living, we would do two things: we'd help change the cultural messaging about what prosperity really means, and we'd create some (perhaps many) of technologies and designs other countries will need to invent their own models."
Commuting by car, in traffic jams, breathing in the fumes, getting mad, and honking horns, like cars themselves, sucks.
3.5 million Americans now spend the equivalent of a month a year in their cars, according to Alex.
Not being able to walk to our neighbor's house, not being able to ride a bike to the store, not being able to let your kids play on the street--all these things are alienating. They make us lonelier and sadder. . . .. ... ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .note:for the good of the community don't believe all those slick automobile commercials and advertisements.
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