There seems to be a universal assumption, even among environmentalists, that we all have an inalienable human right to use a car in the first place. All the suggested solutions to this number one carbon emitter are merely tinkerings with our practice of using cars without need.
I suggest two actions.
First, it is about time that environmentalists recognize that the biggest cause of greenhouse emissions is the individual's use of the car, not governments and corporations. YOU are to blame, not them.
Second, I believe the car should be a privilege reserved only for the sick, disabled, elderly and transporters of goods and children.
I say personally to all climate change activists, you are giving me an extremely cynical eye, when a lot of you actually do use cars.
I blame car advertising...
Hi Harry,
I feel your frustration very keenly.
You say : "There seems to be a universal assumption, even among environmentalists, that we all have an inalienable human right to use a car in the first place."
Why do you blame individuals ? Why do you think it is that people have that message lodged in their minds in the first place ?
The history of the huge levels of private car ownership has several key milestones that have stuck :-
1. Car manufacture is "an important part" of the Economy, and so gets "supported" by Government overtly and covertly.
2. The centralisation and privatisation of public services and private companies means that people are obliged to travel more and more for work, retail and play.
3. The privatisation of public transport services means that public transport services are not as good as they could be (apart from places like London and Manchester).
4. There is absolutely no restriction on car advertising. Everywhere you look you are bombarded with car advertising : television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, shops, roadsides, road hoardings, product placement, even in the cinemas (and often in the films themselves).
5. There is an aggressive assertion by national and town planners that the road network is king, and that motorised transport conveyance facilities (roads) should be built, protected and defended, to the exclusion of all other networks and forms of transport.
For many people, the only way to get from A to B is by car these days.
For myself : I can drive. I have a licence. I have driven. But I've never owned one, I don't have one and I don't want one.
Break the mindset :-
http://www.carbusters.org
http://www.adbusters.org
Good Points
Hi Jo
You make some excellent points there about the pressure applied on the individual to use the motor vehicle.
I believe the individual is under duress but can resist and must wherever possible. The oil companies and car makers would have no power at all if people rejected their products. We as individuals can crush these undesirables or simply consent to their system like slaves.
I do agree it can be very hard though.
Not really
I own a motorbike and car.
The bike i use to get to work as public transport is 3x the cost and takes 2x the time (at least, 90mins on a good day). As well as being cramped and unreliable.
The car is for shopping (fortnightly) and travelling to hockey matches (i'm a keeper and the kit is very big and heavy). If i used public transport it would cost me about £30 to get to every game and i'd lose an entire day.
I recently pulled my back so public transport/walking to get to the doctors and osteopath wasn't an option.
Please find some way to convince me that an extra £200 a month is affordable,and i should sacrifice an extra day a month to travelling.
Well under my scheme, if you
Well under my scheme, if you have a physical problem, then it is okay to use a motor vehicle.
Also, looking at the broader picture, I believe the cost of having the routine convenience of cars in our daily lives will be the widespread death of unknown people in the future.
so lets get this straight
I spend X thousand to buy a car, but insurance, MOT, Tax, and i can only use it when injured. Well that makes sense.
The widespread death of unknown people is of little concern to me (this is why i don't spend every day crying as millions throughout the world die). A viable alternative is required to the transport issue. Be it public transport, or alternative fuel cars, banning is remarkably narrow minded view that will never acheive any support.