Car Sick

"If a group of aliens came to this planet and said they would bring us all sorts of goodies like jet skis, tomatoes in January, computers, and so on (or at least they would bring them to the richest of us), on the multiple conditions that we offer up to them a yearly sacrifice of a half-million human lives, change our planet's climate, individually spend increasing amounts of time serving them, and socially devote an ever-increasing amount of land and other resources to their service, we would rebel in a flash. Or at least I hope we would." - Jan Lundberg, Anti-Road activist making analogy to car culture, Alliance for a Paving Moratorium

The EPA is considering reversing a Bush Administration decision that has prevented many states from taking action to reduce global warming from cars. You can sign the petition HERE, and then consider the issue even further. Some say that the most destructive aspect of cars is destroying mountains to  access metals to build the car itself. Sorry hybrid lovers - sorry electric idealists - sorry LA! According to WorldCarFree.net, A car causes more pollution before it's ever driven than in its entire lifetime of driving. The EPA now estimates that mountaintop removal will double over the next decade, destroying forests, river systems, animals, and anything else that may be in the way.

When you combine that with ever-increasing road-building, which requires 250,000 tons of sand and gravel per mile, in addition to millions of annual deaths, and tens of millions of annual injuries caused by car accidents, we can't help but wonder if arranging your life to do most things locally isn't the best option? Maybe those locavores are on to something? Anyone else wanna give up their cubicle to work from home?

I could even go into the energy required to build certain bike frames (and how no matter how far you ride it, you could never compensate for the energy used to make the alloys) but I'll save that for another day. Get out your walking shoes... hmm..wonder what those are made out of and how much the person was paid who glued on the sole and stiched the seams?

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