It's easy for me to say -- and hard for almost everyone else in the U.S. to do anything about -- BUT:
Private passenger vehicles are not sustainable.
Even if they run on AIR.
It is not feasible for everyone -- or even every family -- to ride around in their very own personal 4156 pounds of steel (average weight according to a 2020 report from the Environmental Protection Agency).
IT DOESN'T WORK!
Besides the pollution caused by fuel emissions, there are:
- Traffic Jams
- Parking Problems
- Accidents
- Not to mention all the resources used and pollution created in the manufacture of PPVs.
SO FORGET ABOUT ELECTRIC CARS!
THEY'RE NOT THE ANSWER!
You might wonder why it's easy for me to say these things. I've been saying these things for 45 years. For some reason, even though I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I have never enjoyed driving. I was the only teenager in the history of the city that didn't get my Learners Permit the day I turned 15 1/2 and my Drivers License the day I turned 16. This is an absolute ironclad rite of passage in the City of Angels. Didn't do it.
Yes, I did learn to drive, very painfully. First, I took Drivers Training, a free class at high school. Almost all kids learned to drive from their parents BEFORE they took the class. They only took the class to get a lower insurance rate for their parents. In fact, I was the ONLY student in the car who didn't already know how to drive, which really pissed off the teacher, who had no interest in teaching anyone how to drive. He just liked talking to cute teenage girls. And I wasn't even CUTE!
When I took the final driving exam, my incompetence was exacerbated by the fact that I could barely see because my eyes were streaming. You see, I had gone to the horse races for the only time in my life the day before, wore my fairly new contact lenses, stared into the sun for hours watching the horses (I was a horse-crazy girl) and abraded my corneas. Well, I certainly wasn't going to wear my GLASSES! I was there with family friends and their SON who I hoped would ask me out on my very first DATE. (He didn't.)
So the Drivers Training instructor told me he was going to give me a D because if he failed me, then I would have to take the class again, to get the lower insurance rate. He couldn't take the risk that I might end up in his car again.
I KNOW all of this has nothing to do with Global Warming, but Blogmistress simply cannot resist telling stories from her sordid past.
THEN my parents took on the task of teaching me to drive, which they knew nothing about. The teaching, I mean. The very first thing my father had me do was try to parallel park one of the two family cars behind the other family car. Of course I rubbed the two vehicles against each other like they were cats in heat.
My father wasn't angry. He understood that we were both deeply flawed. He hired a professional, and I finally learned how to drive.
Admittedly there was a lot of pain and trauma in my introduction to driving. But even BEFORE that, I just didn't wanna do it. I'm a walker. I love to walk.
So yes, it is EASY for me to say:
WE GOTTA GET RID OF PPVs!
But just because it's easy, that doesn't mean I'm WRONG.
AND I am very much in favor of taxis --- subsidized for those who have trouble taking public transit like the disabled, the old, mothers of small children, whatever -- and UNsubsidized for rich folk. And yes, I also believe tradespeople need trucks to do their work. I'm not a purist. But everyone gets to have a car when they grow up?
NO.
I want to leave you with a very clear, entertaining and instructive video about Glasgow by a wonderful resource I've discovered:
The Juice Media.
All for now, Bloggelinis. Terry
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