{"id":158945597,"date":"2010-01-14T15:33:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T15:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=158945597"},"modified":"2010-01-14T15:33:17","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T15:33:17","slug":"your-car-will-not-save-your-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=158945597","title":{"rendered":"Your Car Will Not Save Your Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sarah Goodyear<\/span><\/p>\n

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Today on the Streetsblog Network<\/a>, member blog Riding in Riverside<\/a> sets out to explode the myth of the “wundercar” — a vehicle powered by sustainable fuels that will allow us to hold onto our driving lifestyle and all its accoutrements, while saving the planet and feeling “green.”<\/p>\n

That kind of futuristic fantasy isn’t going to solve our problems, writes the blog’s Justin Nelson. The answer, he argues, lies instead in older patterns of development and mobility:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"3936973020_bc1a9152e6.jpg\"This is not an environmental silver bullet. (Photo: bindermichi<\/a> via Flickr)<\/span><\/div>\n
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[E]ven if we were to devise a perfect car, one made out of recycled tires
\nand printer paper, one that harnesses photosynthesis to not only be
\ncarbon-neutral, but actually make energy from atmospheric C02, even if
\nwe could make a car with no direct environmental impact, it would still
\nbe an environmental and social disaster. Our waterways are contaminated
\nby engine fluids and lubricants that run off of road surfaces. Our
\nnatural groundwater tables are falling because rainwater is unable to
\npenetrate pavement. <\/p>\n

Cars still allow sprawling development that eats up
\nwild lands and spits out bland suburbia. Species’ ranges in the few
\nprecious areas of wilderness that we have are disrupted by highways. We
\nwould still live in a society where we shut ourselves off from one
\nanother in our own private boxes, promoting inequality and a lack of
\nrespect for shared humanity. We would still leave our inner cities to
\ndangle. Our streets would still be unsafe places for children to play,
\nand we would still kill thousands every year in automobile crashes.
\nAlternative fuels are, on a perfect day, a solution to only a few of
\nthe myriad problems that cars cause.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, instead
\nof pursuing unproven technologies in a desperate last-ditch attempt to
\nhang on to the way of life we’ve been living for the last 50 or so
\nyears, why don’t we look ahead and try to build a better world.\u2026 Instead of a risky gamble to maintain a failing
\nlifestyle, we should spend our resources on forging a bright future
\nbased around principles of city-building as old as cities themselves.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\nhttps:\/\/dc.streetsblog.org\/2010\/01\/14\/your-car-will-not-save-your-planet\/<\/a>oldId.20100114153317909<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sarah Goodyear Today on the Streetsblog Network, member blog Riding in Riverside sets out to explode the myth of the “wundercar” — a vehicle powered by sustainable fuels that will allow us to hold onto our driving lifestyle and all its accoutrements, while saving the planet and feeling “green.” That kind of futuristic fantasy … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Your Car Will Not Save Your Planet”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158945597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158945597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158945597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158945597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158945597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158945597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158945597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}