From an Op-Ed in the Daily Herald: January 2nd. Click on the title above to view the original article.
We love petroleum-powered cars because they offer convenience, speed, power, prestige, and fashion. They are essential for the handicapped. However, they ...
• are expensive. About a fourth of a suburban family's budget is gobbled by cars' purchase price, licensing, fuel costs, repairs, and insurance.
• raise our taxes, because they need expensive roads. Cars have allowed us to build houses in suburbia, but that results in urban sprawl that devours our best agricultural land and requires lots of detested commuting, which requires expensive roads. Adding a mile of a single lane to a superhighway costs about $5 million.
• shorten our lives: Vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for young people and kill plenty of the rest of us. Furthermore, cars facilitate a sedentary life style, which contributes to our pandemic of obesity and diabetes. As if that weren't enough, petroleum-powered vehicles cause pollution in our cities, causing enormous health damage, equivalent to every resident smoking several cigarettes daily. And commuting eats into every week day.
• devour real estate: Roughly 50 percent of the land in American cities is devoted to them: roads, parking lots, service stations, car sales lots, repair shops, and auto parts stores.
• get us into wars. Our petroleum addiction has not only transferred too much of our wealth to oil-producing countries that hate us, but when those sources are threatened, we launch wars to maintain our access to oil.
Our addiction to petroleum-fueled cars is a big problem. Are there any remedies? Of course. We should ...
• Walk a little more. It's in our blood. The pioneer ancestors of many of us walked here from Omaha. The Mormon Battalion made one of the longest marches in military history. Many of us walked a lot on our missions.
• Bike a little more. We thought it was great when we learned to ride as kids, and some grown-ups still think it's fun. A few even commute to work, feel sorry for those in cars, and don't need to pay big gym fees for great aerobic exercise.
• Carpool more. It's cheaper and lets you use the much faster HOV lanes.
• Use public transportation more. Buses and trains with Wi-Fi can turn that hated car commute into office time, email time, game time.
• Drive our kids to school less if they can walk, bike, or take public transport. Hooking kids on cars is not doing them any favor.
• Move closer to work. Not always easy, but you could save a ton of money even if the new place costs more. While you are at it, look for a walkable community near public transport.
• Get an alternative-fuel, electric, or hybrid vehicle. They are cleaner, are getting cheaper, can save a bundle in the long run, and let you drive in HOV lanes.
• Idle less. Idling pollutes a lot. Never use drive-thrus. Get out and walk in.
• Elect leaders who understand all this. Vote for officials willing to put more money into alternative transportation and walkable communities and less unto the usual roads and zoning.
And think about choosing one or more of the above as a New Year's resolution.
• Don Jarvis is the sustainability advisor to Provo City Mayor John Curtis. His views do not necessarily represent the views of Provo city or the mayor.
We love petroleum-powered cars because they offer convenience, speed, power, prestige, and fashion. They are essential for the handicapped. However, they ...
• are expensive. About a fourth of a suburban family's budget is gobbled by cars' purchase price, licensing, fuel costs, repairs, and insurance.
• raise our taxes, because they need expensive roads. Cars have allowed us to build houses in suburbia, but that results in urban sprawl that devours our best agricultural land and requires lots of detested commuting, which requires expensive roads. Adding a mile of a single lane to a superhighway costs about $5 million.
• shorten our lives: Vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for young people and kill plenty of the rest of us. Furthermore, cars facilitate a sedentary life style, which contributes to our pandemic of obesity and diabetes. As if that weren't enough, petroleum-powered vehicles cause pollution in our cities, causing enormous health damage, equivalent to every resident smoking several cigarettes daily. And commuting eats into every week day.
• devour real estate: Roughly 50 percent of the land in American cities is devoted to them: roads, parking lots, service stations, car sales lots, repair shops, and auto parts stores.
• get us into wars. Our petroleum addiction has not only transferred too much of our wealth to oil-producing countries that hate us, but when those sources are threatened, we launch wars to maintain our access to oil.
Our addiction to petroleum-fueled cars is a big problem. Are there any remedies? Of course. We should ...
• Walk a little more. It's in our blood. The pioneer ancestors of many of us walked here from Omaha. The Mormon Battalion made one of the longest marches in military history. Many of us walked a lot on our missions.
• Bike a little more. We thought it was great when we learned to ride as kids, and some grown-ups still think it's fun. A few even commute to work, feel sorry for those in cars, and don't need to pay big gym fees for great aerobic exercise.
• Carpool more. It's cheaper and lets you use the much faster HOV lanes.
• Use public transportation more. Buses and trains with Wi-Fi can turn that hated car commute into office time, email time, game time.
• Drive our kids to school less if they can walk, bike, or take public transport. Hooking kids on cars is not doing them any favor.
• Move closer to work. Not always easy, but you could save a ton of money even if the new place costs more. While you are at it, look for a walkable community near public transport.
• Get an alternative-fuel, electric, or hybrid vehicle. They are cleaner, are getting cheaper, can save a bundle in the long run, and let you drive in HOV lanes.
• Idle less. Idling pollutes a lot. Never use drive-thrus. Get out and walk in.
• Elect leaders who understand all this. Vote for officials willing to put more money into alternative transportation and walkable communities and less unto the usual roads and zoning.
And think about choosing one or more of the above as a New Year's resolution.
• Don Jarvis is the sustainability advisor to Provo City Mayor John Curtis. His views do not necessarily represent the views of Provo city or the mayor.
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