22 Things We Lose When We Choose Cars - Part 2

Part 2

This is Part 2 of a two part article. Start with Part 1 if you haven’t already. The rest of this article is continued below… keep scrolling down!

22 Things We Lose When We Choose Cars - Part 1

Things We Lose When We Choose Cars:

Resilience 

Our society has taken out a huge gamble - that gas will always be cheap and easy to extract (or alternatives will be easy to create and distribute), and that we should build our entire society to be completely car dependent.  Imagine if all the gas stations shut down for a month - it would be chaos, and many people would be at risk of starvation, losing employment, etc.  Why are we so heavily reliant on such an expensive mode of transport?  

As I mentioned before, we’re not going to be making a significant switch to EVs any time soon, so fossil fuel reliance and car dependency will go hand in hand for at least the next few decades.

Adaptability

As our society moves towards a resilient, sustainable way of living, we must grapple with the shells of our former lives.  Will people still be able to afford to live in big, isolated, inefficient, car-dependent suburbs in thirty years?  I don’t pretend to know the future, but we should consider that possibility at least.  It’s going to be a challenge to eventually convert sprawled out developments back into something more efficient and useful, like farmland.  

Choice

Our society is built around freedom and choice for individuals.  However, lack of access to safe bicycle and transit infrastructure leaves people no choice but to engage in car-dependent lifestyles, even if they would prefer to use other modes.  

If I must use a car, is that really freedom?

Physical space - gathering places, places to just be 

Another car culture myth: streets are places for cars.  In fact, streets belong to all of us.  To name a few things that could be there instead of cars: small businesses, playgrounds, festivals, rallies, concerts, gardens, public co-working space, free clinics and non-transactional gathering places.

Mental space

Driving is stressful; people with driving commutes over 15 minutes reported lower life satisfaction.  Road rage is a thing - but I’ve never heard of bicycle rage.

Moving through the world at a slow pace can be soothing. Your mind has more time to react and take in the world around you.

Habitats

As we mentioned earlier, cars and sprawl are mutually reinforcing.  As the limits of the city expand, habitats are encroached upon and many animals and plants are killed.  And this threatens our own survival, of course.

Farmland

Farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate.  Look at where suburbs and sprawl are now; that probably was farmland or forests a couple hundred years ago.  

Our food supply is not really something we want to mess with.  We need to preserve farmland, especially our local food supply, so that we’re not relying on cross-country trucking for our sustenance.

Our rights

“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.” - Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

We have a right to movement, and we shouldn’t have to spend a quarter of our income, or put our lives in peril, just to exercise that right.

Support for ethical companies and regimes

Car dependence forces us to remain beholden to nefarious dictators and extractors of community wealth - i.e. oil barons and tyrants like Putin.  Decreasing our dependence on cars is another way of reclaiming our power.  We can vote with our money and resources to support more ethical entities.

Fun!!!

I saved the best for last!  Some people like the thrill of biking in the gutter near high-speed traffic, but I prefer the ecstasy of floating within protected bike lanes, sidewalks and trails. 

There’s lots of fun and increased freedom to be had. Let’s make it happen!

Let me know if I missed anything in the comments. 🌺