acorn54

i don't understand if we need to save the planet by less auto use and it is common knowledge why do 98% of people in this country still drive cars? is it that they don't care if the planet dies?

crypticlineage

People don't take things like that seriously, until it starts affecting their lives.

rhm

There's probably also a peer pressure kind of thing going on... since most people are ignoring the problem, it seems unnecessary to take it seriously.

evblazer

If we are to accept that your original statement is in fact true.
It is a long way away planning wise for most people. I mean retirement is so far off I may not make it that far, pretty high chance I won't, so why the heck am I putting money away for it? Yeah I know my wife
What I mostly hear is:
It is beter for the environment for me to run this crap vehicle into the ground and then buy something better, of course they just buy another F350 for commuting themselves to work anyhow but it sounds good at the time and sort of makes sense.
Why should I cut back if no one else is?
People would think I'm weird I'd be kicked out of all my cliques?
They'll fix it sooner or later so why suffer in the mean time?
and what should be mine.
Why the heck should I care since I don't have kids? If the world is going to hell I'd like to see it. It might be a good show

I expect a great majority of people really think they can truely do nothing about it, for those that believe anything is happening at all. They are right if they keep going along with their lives as they live them they really can't. They might even be right if what we are doing is such a small part of something bigger like the earth trying to cleanse itself of the Human Infection.

C Law

Why should Americans conserve while China and India use all the earths resources over the next 50 years?

(not my personal opinion, just what I hear 'round the office)

ctyler

This is a car culture. EVERYTHING revolves around the automobile. People just can't see that there are other ways to get around. Bikes are toys or for recreation. Buses are for the poor. Trains are nonexistent. People live separated from facilities like grocery stores and jobs. Kids get driven the .7 miles to school in the SUV. (At least in my neighborhood they do.) Every house comes with a 3 car garage. You can buy a car with no money down and 0% interest. We're still spending money like crazy building new roads so people can get somewhere easier and faster.

derath

I am pretty much positive the planet is not going to die. It may kill off all of us, but it will recover as it has in the past. It'll suck for us, but hey we kinda deserve it.

-D

fat_bike_nut

Even a lot of the people that claim to be environmentalists do not want to give up their cars. I've been on another message board where this was the case. One lone poster suggested shelving the car in favor of riding bikes, walking, and taking public transportation, and was immediately shot down and branded a Republican who hates the poor

People love their cars too much.

fat_bike_nut

I'm guessing this is where we're heading, too.

Chris L

The simple fact is, the automobile is not even close to being the biggest threat to this planet or to mankind. Before anybody flames me, it's worth remembering that I've probably been car free for longer than anybody else on this board, it's just a fact. The rate at which people are breeding is what's really chewing through the world's resources. Even if these people don't drive, a lot of them still burn electricity and consume goods which are transported by trucks and made in a polluting industry. I always laugh when I hear people in the current election campaign here in Australia talk about reducing carbon emissions by 50% -- what is the point if there are twice as many people polluting by the time it happens?

If anybody was serious about doing anything about climate change, there would be a tax on people who have children, and it would need to be administered globally. Of course, it would never be an election winner, so it's virtually impossible as long as people consider democracy as some kind of virtue, but unless global birth rates are slowed dramatically, everything else is just a waste of time.

slowjoe66

Well, I am car-lite, not exactly car free, but as to the topic, cars are less of a threat to global warming and the environment than the bovine:

"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November.

Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that's more than the emissions caused by transportation.

The latter two gases are particularly troubling – even though they represent far smaller concentrations in atmosphere than CO2, which remains the main global warming culprit. But methane has 23 times the global warming potential (GWP) of CO2 and nitrous oxide has 296 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide.

And I appreciate a good T-bone now and then.

CyLowe97

The planet's not in peril.

Though, the dinosaurs had this same internet conversation 68,000,000 years ago.

aMull

I agree with chris, there are way too many people on this planet, we should get down to 1 or 2 billion.

BarracksSi

Wait a minute -- that sounds backwards...



Call me car-lite -- I can't give up my car. My parents live 1200 miles away, I drove to a Halloween party twenty miles away (if you think I'm going to ride back that far in that part of town on a Saturday night, y'all are crazy), I've made regular multi-hundred-mile trips across the rest of the east coast, etc. Zipcar/Flexcar won't work for me, and I'd only bother with rentals if I had other people with me to help defray the cost. Besides, it's paid for, and it's only five years old; I plan to keep it for at least another eight years or so.

But, I only drive maybe once a week, and pretty much only use it when I need to carry a bunch of stuff (including my tuba, which is prohibitively difficult to take on a 40-mile trip via bike). It also gives me flexibility and reach that a bike or public transportation can't match.

If I had a family, I could easily see having just one car. I'd even consider selling my car if my wife's was better (that is, if I get married at all). For now, though, it rests in the garage until I need it.

/end excuse-laden sob story

fat_bike_nut

I didn't mean for my post to be an anti-car rant, so much as a rant against hypocrites

These were people who saw cars as absolute necessities, rather than as tools, for going around in the downtown part of an urban area. You know, where the grid-like, one-way, narrowed asphalt street layout isn't quite as convenient for driving as it would be for walking.

Smallwheels

"i don't understand if we need to save the planet by less auto use and it is common knowledge why do 98% of people in this country still drive cars? is it that they don't care if the planet dies?"



The level of ones spiritual awareness is what dictates decisions. Knowledge alone won't get people to act.

Dr. David R. Hawkins created a scale of spiritual awareness in his book "Power vs. Force". The higher the number, the more advanced the person. The scale is logarithmic, meaning 101 is more than one bigger than 100. The scale goes from 0-1000. One person at the level of 600 would balance out 1,000,000 other people at the level of 100 in an average.

When a person reaches the level of 200 they reach the level of integrity and begin to see the consequences of their actions in relation to others. People below 200 only think about themselves.

The world average only reached the level of 200 in 1986. It has since climbed to 207. Most people in the world are below 200. That means most people still only care about their own lives and needs. Even though many of us are concerned about the world and are taking steps to help, most people will not do so.

Though the USA has the highest overall average level on the Scale of Consciousness, nearly half the population is still below the level of 200. The USA has many people that are high on the scale balancing out the multitudes below the level of 200.

The good news is that the overall level of consciousness of humanity is rising very quickly. The question is whether we will be able to overcome the problems of humanity in time to save the planet or not.

aztoaster

On the CNN special they estimated population will grow from the current 6.5 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050.

As Jim Morrison said, "The future is uncertain but the end is always near."

BarracksSi

No problem; I didn't plan for my post to sound so pro-car, either.

What I thought was funny was how the forum you mentioned derided the cyclist for being a poor-people-hating Republican. I've always thought that cyclists were stereotypically socially-progressive liberal types, which is far away from being Republican.

bbunk

Two things I see that I think may be making people slow to change:

1. There is no consensus in the scientific community that the global warming is man made and that we can change it. The earth has warmed but it has done so in the past. If not, we would never have learned about the Ice Age in school. What made it change then and can we stop the change now?

2. The "Leaders" of the climate change evangelist have done nothing to change their lifestyle to lessen the impact they are telling other people about. It is one thing to tell everyone to change and then go home to your mansion on a private jet and another to make some serious changes in your life to match what you claim to believe. I think people listen but are not moved to change because they feel the person giving the message is insincere.

That is what I see from my vantage point. I do feel there is a need to make changes and promote greener lifestyles if only to make the air cleaner to breath, or make it so you can't see it again like it used to be. I live in Arizona where the sun is always shinning but there is no push to get people to install solar power on their homes. Most people don't know that you can get rebates from the Govt. and power companies to help with the cost.
There is a lot that can be done that is not, including reducing car usage.

My 2 cents.

Domromer

I saw a saw a cool bumper sticker on the back of a utility trike. It said "Environmental stickers don't mean s##t if there on the back of a car!"

How true it is.

JusticeZero

One, population increase is pretty much passe - it's increasing, because of longer lifespans, but it's already wound to snap back down pretty hard. Industrialized nations have birth rates below maintenance. The population increase is all in places like South America, SE Asia, and Africa, where they were having lots of children in hopes that a couple of them might actually live long enough to take care of things, and suddenly.. they stopped dying. There's already a solution for that; the faster they get economies up and running the faster their birth rate plummets. if you want to save the world from overpopulation, invest in every "sweatshop" company that employs overseas third world labour you can.
Two, climate change is as close to a consensus as the scientific community gets. There's more consensus on climate change being real than there is on the theory of gravity being correct.
Three, people CANNOT IMAGINE not using cars. I ride a bicycle and people think i'm a loonie for doing it and talk about how it's a huge commitment, and how my Clydesdale self is in such amazing shape, and stuff like that. They cannot even visualize it. They sit around hoping for someone to make their car safe for the environment because imagining not having it feels like imagining not drinking water or eating food to them. We need to keep showing them the way until it actually clicks into their mind as something they too are able to do.

pj7

Why do I smoke even though I know it is hurting me and could very likely be the death of me?
Why do I drink so much alcahol even though I know it is destroying my body?
Why do I eat more food in one day than some people eat all week?

Because I'm stubborn, and idiot, and apathetic. And I probably represent a majority of that 98%

kjohnnytarr

can't we just make global-warming it's own damn board?

heywood

Dude..you've just become my hero!

lyeinyoureye

No. We have to mix everything into a horrible convoluted mess so that as few as possible will understand even a small fraction of what's going on. Good bidness and alla that.