Sufferers of Congestion, Hear This
A recent television commercial involved a major American automobile manufacturer swapping new models of its automobiles with automobiles driven by typical consumers. The viewing audience then heard the reactions of the consumers on how they felt about the manufacturer's newest creation. I particularly recall one woman's reaction, filmed while she was behind the wheel of the new model, and I am paraphrasing her reaction: "I love this car, because it expresses my personality." Good Lord, I certainly hope that my automobiles haven't been expressions of my personality.
You see, looking back over the past few decades, I find that I have owned more than half of the automobiles that were once included on a published list of the worst automobiles ever manufactured. Further, I tend to think that the driver quoted above articulated the fundamental problem with the American attitude about the automobile. An automobile shouldn't primarily be an acquisition for expressing one's personality. Rather, an automobile should be thought of as, simply, a form of transportation, a means of getting from one place to another—efficiently, safely, unobtrusively, and with minimum detrimental effect to the environment. How absurd is it that television commercials for new automobiles still tout the amount of horsepower, reveal the scant seconds required to accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour, and ballyhoo the ostentatious luxury of the interior appointments. Even though I have owned many of the automotive turkeys, I have never, relatively speaking, spent a great deal of money to own them. I have often sat in traffic jams in one or another of my sad tanks—and have looked next to me at a ridiculously expensive luxury car, and felt amused at considering that the fool in the driver's seat was inching along at the same snail's pace as my tank. (Yes, I am perfectly aware that my reaction may have been a manifestation of vehicular envy).
Think of that, everyone proceeding forward at the same snail's pace, creeping along under a lovely beige tinted sky, heading for a cubicle workspace in a densely populated metropolitan center. There are simply too damn many automobiles, and, if the solution continues to be building more freeways to accommodate the proliferating metallic herd, we will in urban centers one day have more concrete and asphalt than grass and earth. God help us; some families have as many as three or four automobiles, and three car garages are quite common in the newer homes. Our transportation system, including the airborne, jet-propelled metal tubes, and the allied industries that support and service that system, are destroying us. We're choking to death. No, this isn't mere hyperbole.
SUFFERERS OF CONGESTION, HEAR THIS
The problem has been vividly borne home by a comparison of air quality during the rare time when parts of the transportation system have been shut down. In a recent article I included the fact that, as recorded in the Nova PBS special, Dimming the Sun, when air traffic was grounded for the three days following the 9/11 disaster, the atmosphere became significantly more clear and less polluted. Now it turns out that many media outlets are reporting that the Chinese government will be closing several key industries during the 2008 Summer Olympics, this so that visitors can breathe easily, and not go into convulsive fits of coughing because of ingesting the soot and carbon particles that blanket Beijing. The people in California, particularly in Los Angeles, will also breathe easier, because a great deal of the air pollution in Los Angles and other parts of California wafts over the Pacific from China. Perhaps the Chinese will also take steps to convince much of the driving public to stay at home and once again take to their bicycles, thereby reducing much of the emissions arising from the idling vehicles in massive traffic jams. One might also hope that the scientists who measure and track air pollution will exert their best efforts to document the difference in air quality during the industrial shutdown for the summer Olympics, and thus demonstrate to the people of the world the measurable problem of air pollution and the difference between clear and foul air.
Another hopeful development has been written about in several newspapers and magazines. Apparently, a number of major cities, particularly European cities like Stockholm, are levying, or thinking of levying, a charge on those who would drive into downtown areas. IBM has even developed a computerized system to control the traffic, a system involving cameras to monitor the incoming downtown traffic, and databases to handle the electronic billing of those who own the vehicles. Apparently, New York is also considering such a system to control traffic congestion in Manhattan.. The Stockholm system seems to have already reduced metropolitan congestion, and those drivers who simply have to motor into the downtown areas are having to spend less time commuting.
The point of these hopeful signs is that many leaders and corporations are beginning to think about solutions to air pollution, about how green technology is a profitable way to do business. This certainly will benefit the human population, and perhaps make all of us breathe more easily and enjoy better health and comfort between now and the time we run out of oil. Between now and that time, my advice to EarthLab readers is to slow down, simplify, perhaps get rid of one of your three cars, and find your bliss in driving in the slow lane—this while watching out for the trucks thundering at your tailpipe.