Sunday, July 24, 2016

War on cars

Not a clever social media meme, the war on cars is real, the victims are real, and destruction of the biosphere is a possible result.

On one side, the billionaires, working through the banks, controlling governments and media.

On the other, the people of the world, just trying to survive.

Cars cause sprawl, sprawl causes growth, growth threatens all life. Cars kill directly by collisions, and indirectly by dirty air. Cars waste energy, leading to economic collapse. Car dependency leads to shooting wars. Cars require expensive infrastructure.

As with any war there are divisions on both sides. The people are divided by nation, "race," gender, and many other ways.

The billionaires are divided by capitalist competition. Some want to preserve the system, others willing to risk collapse for short-term gain.

The difference between the billionaires and the people is that the billionaires know it's a war.

The most effective weapon against the cars is the fare-free bus. Every little victory counts. When critical mass is reached the car subsidies will be seen as unnecessary. We will eventually get back to walking and biking in cities.

Do not expect hi-profile urbanists, politicians, celebrities, environmentalists, etc to lead this fight. Because they are hi-profile, they are easy victims for the carrot and stick. We have to do this ourselves at the local level.