July-September 1994 Issue No. 8
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF CITIES
(cont'd on p. 3)
Inside:
How Walkable is My Neighbourhood? p. 8
Co-transportation: An Alternative p. 13
How Much Do Cars Really Cost Us All? p. 15
If Cars are Here to Stay, Then Humans Aren't p. 3
Sustainable Books and Events p. 16
San Francisco Bay Area anti-road activist Mike Vandeman writes to Oakland City Council
Re: Promoting Automobile Traffic at the Expense of Pedestrians
Gentlepersons:
Is it the policy of the City of Oakland to favor cars over pedestrians?
Apparently, it is. Everywhere I look, roads are being widened and made one-way,
speeds are increasing, speed limits are not being enforced, and traffic signals are being
set to give vehicles a larger share of the cycle.
Take, for example, the crosswalk that allows Kaiser patients and staff to
cross Howe Street in the middle of the block. That crosswalk is necessary, of course,
due to the huge number of people who need to cross there throughout the day. If it
weren't there, everyone would jaywalk, because it would be enormously inconvenient
to walk to the end of the block, wait for the light, and walk back on the other side of
the street, every time someone wanted to cross. The crosswalk allowed pedestrians to
cross whenever they wanted to.
Apparently because of some accidents at that location, the City, without
even consulting Kaiser, put a signal at the crosswalk. Now, whenever someone wants
to cross, they have to push a button, asking "permission" to interrupt the flow of
vehicles
(America's sacred cow), and wait a significant amount of time, before they are
allowed to proceed. How demeaning! You really make it plain that pedestrians are
second-class citizens in Oakland. You also give them again the temptation to cross
illegally, and
endanger themselves, in order to avoid having their valuable time "stolen" by you and
your traffic engineer.
I think that pedestrian lights should be outlawed. They are used primarily
to reduce the amount of time that pedestrians are allowed to cross their streets.
Pedestrians should be allowed to proceed whenever the main light turns green. If a
pedestrian light
cannot be avoided (e.g. if pedestrians are rare at a given crossing), at the very least,
the button should immediately cause the change cycle to begin (the light for cross
traffic should immediately turn yellow). There is no reason why pedestrians should
have to wait for left-turning vehicles, for example, before they are allowed to cross a
street. If there are no left-turning vehicles, they still have to wait!
The only sensible solution on Howe Street is to close the street to vehicle
traffic, except for ambulances, and create a pedestrian zone from the south end of
Howe to the entrance to the parking garage. Instead of moving somewhere else,
Kaiser should stay in its current, central, very transit-accessible location, and expand
by tearing down its huge parking garage and replacing it with additional medical
facilities. Bay Area Rapid Transit and eight bus lines give a degree of accessibility to
Kaiser/Oakland that would be very difficult to duplicate. With transit accessibility
like that, it is hard to imagine how anyone in the Bay Area could say that they need to
drive there.
I am very much interested in hearing your traffic engineering philosophy.
Measures that discriminate against pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users (e.g.
synchronizing traffic signals) and promote high-volume, high-speed auto travel create
a very unpleasant environment and increase interpersonal alienation. For that reason,
this probably contributes greatly to your high crime rate and the flight of middle- and
upper-class residents to other cities.
Oakland is potentially a beautiful city, and most of it is easily accessed by
walking, bicycling, and transit. But you are allowing (as are, unfortunately, too many
cities these days) motor vehicle traffic increasingly to dominate it and turn it into
something about as attractive as a parking lot.
Motor vehicles, in these numbers, won't be with us much longer. In about
20-30 years, as the oil begins to run out and be reserved for more important uses, we
will need to begin ripping out the unnecessary roads, freeways, and parking lots that
we are building today. Why not take a look down that road, and decide if we really
want to go there? Do you have a department that is planning how to handle the end
of the oil? If not, why not?
Sincerely,
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
AUTO-FREE ZONE is published quarterly by Auto-Free
Ottawa, Box 57006, 797 Somerset St. W., Ottawa-Rideau
Bioregion, ON K1R 1A1, Canada, and is mailed to sub-
scribers or members of Auto-Free Ottawa (see form inside last
page).
Auto-Free Ottawa is a grassroots group, whose mandate is to
draw public attention to the full costs of our car-dominated
transportation system, and to point out ecologically
sustainable and socially beneficial alternatives.
Opinions expressed in AFZ do not necessarily reflect those of
Auto-Free Ottawa members. Readers are encouraged to
submit articles, announcements, and graphics. Articles
should be submitted on diskette (WP 5.1) and limited to 1,000
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(include address and phone number which will not be pub-
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Articles reprinted from other publications are abridged to
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Reproduction of editorial content is welcome provided that
credit is given to the author and issue of publication. Please
send a copy of reprinted articles to Auto-Free Ottawa for our
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Editor:
Lucy Segatti
Thanks to the following for contributing articles (original
or borrowed), graphics, ideas or their time: Chris
Bradshaw, Ann Coffey, Paul Davis, Helen Hansen, Wayne
Leus, Marti Mussell, Maguy Robert, Michael Vandeman,
Andrew Van Iterson
Thanks to Nancy Shaver for donating two display boards for
Auto-Free Ottawa's literature table.
AFZ Graphic: Cathy Woodgold
Feet graphics: Nancy Shaver
Advertising: For information on advertising rates, please
contact Auto-Free Ottawa at the address above or at (613)
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AFZ is printed on unbleached, 100% post-consumer recycled
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Deadline for next issue: Fall equinox 1994 (September 21).
ISSN 1195-1958
AUTO-FREE OTTAWA ACTIVITIES
UPDATE
Since the last issue of auto-free zone, AFO members have
been kept busy helping prepare for David Engwicht's lectures
and workshop; staffing literature tables at Sandy Hill's
Greenfest, the Main Event, and the Peace and Environment
Resource Centre's bike rally; jointly with Ottawalk, presented
the "Green Transportation Hierarchy" and a proposal for an
auto-free By Ward Market submission to the Ideas Fair; and
gave a talk to the Resurgence Group in Brockville.
In addition to attending a myriad of public "consultation"
meetings on transportation studies, Auto-Free Ottawa
members have been asked to sit on the new public transit
(OC-Transpo) advisory committee at the City of Ottawa and
on the pilot Transit Advocacy Project. Auto-Free Ottawa is
also among the local NGOs that have been invited to provide
input to the newly appointed "Task Force on the Atmosphere"
of the City of Ottawa.
The last two issues of auto-free zone were mailed to over 60
community associations asking for input and articles.
At the provincial level, Auto-Free Ottawa is a member of the
Ontario Environmental Network and the Better
Transportation Coalition.
CREATING - AND USING - A RATING SYSTEM FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD WALKABILITY: TOWARDS AN
AGENDA FOR "LOCAL HEROES"
by
Chris Bradshaw, Ottawa, Canada, 613-230-4566.
A paper presented by Chris Bradshaw at the 14th International Pedestrian Conference, Boulder, CO, last October.
ABSTRACT:
"Walkability" is a quality of place, one that is being eroded by the day throughout the world. Although the term
has been appearing in literature for some time, the author, a pedestrian rights activist and public consultation
practitioner, knows of no attempt to measure it. This paper attempts to do that, as well as give three practical
purposes for using the "walkability index". One such use is to provide a motivation to induce more people to
become "local heroes", by re-establishing their links with their streets and neighbourhoods and committing
personal resources to rebuild their local physical and social infrastructure, so necessary to human life and the
ecology of "the commons".
WHAT IS WALKABILITY?
Walkability has four basic characteristics:
1. A "foot-friendly" man-made, physical micro-environment: wide. level sidewalks, small intersections, narrow
streets, lots of litter containers, good lighting, and an absence of obstructions.
2. A full range of useful, active destinations within walking distance: shops, services, employment, professional
offices, recreation, libraries, etc.
3. A natural environment that moderates the extremes of weather - wind, rain, sunlight - while providing the
refreshment of the absence of man's overuse. It has no excessive noise, air
pollution, or the dirt, stains, and grime of motor traffic.
4. A local culture that is social and diverse. This increases contact between people and the conditions for social and
economic commerce.
PROPOSAL FOR CREATING THE WALKABILITY INDEX
[Note: Like in golf, the lowest score is best. Each question gives the "demerits" to features or qualities that work
against walkability].
1. Density (persons per acre, up to centre-line of bordering features)
over 15 1
10-15 2
5-10 3
fewer than 5 4
2. Parking places off-street per household (unrestricted street access)
less than 1 1
1-2 2
2-3 3
more than 3 4
3. Number of sitting spots on benches per household (include seating in front yards)
.25 or fewer 1
.25 to .5 2
.5 to .75 3
more than .75 4
4. Chances of meeting someone you know while walking (survey)
10 or more per mile 1
3-10 per mile 2
fewer than 3 per mi. 3
"Are you kidding?!" 4
5. Age at which a child is allowed to walk alone (survey)
Age 6 or younger 1
Ages 7-9 2
Ages 10-13 3
Age 12 or older 4
6. Women's rating of neighbourhood safety (survey)
"I walk alone anywhere anytime" 1
"I walk alone, but am careful of routes" 2
"I must walk with someone at night" 3
"I never walk, except to car visible from entrance" 4
7. Responsiveness of transit service.
Within ten minutes 1
10-20 minutes 2
more than 20 minutes 3
no service 4
8. Number of neighbourhood "places of significance" (significant to the respondent) named by average respondent.
(survey)
10 or more 1
5-10 2
3-5 3
fewer than 3 4
9. Parkland (measurement)
>50 acres/square mile and average residence
and >1,500-foot walk 1
>50 acres/square mile and average residence
and >1,500-foot walk 2
<50 acres/square mile and average residence
and >1,500-foot walk 3
<50 acres/square mile and average residence
and >1,500-foot walk 4
10. Sidewalks (single point each)
Not on both sides of 90% of streets
Dips at each driveway
Widths less than 5 feet on residential streets; 8 feet on shopping streets
More than discontinuity (1" or more) per block
FINAL SCORE DIVIDED BY 20 WILL PRODUCE INDEX BETWEEN 0.45 AND 2.00
IV. SCALE IN HUMAN ACTIVITY
We live life a different scales:
global
national
city/region
neighbourhood
street/project
household/family
individual
Until recent times, few people lived their lives at scales above the city/region level. In fact, although many people
have jobs that operate in the loftier orbits, or favour international news to local news, or buy few locally produced
goods, life is still lived locally.
Think of the seven scales as a hierarchy inside a thermometer. As energy and cognitive capacity increases, the
mercury expands up the scale as the individual has the ability to operate at larger scale. Over the normal course of
a person's life, the scale starts low, climbs into adulthood, then drops slowly until death. If plotted against time, it
would be like a bell curve. But no matter how large a domain we can master, we continue to need to function
comfortably at lower scales.
The problem is this. we are losing the "infrastructure" for the street and neighbourhood scales. The streets have
become automobile feeders for the city-scale roads. City agencies have replaced neighbourhood and street-level
visiting of the sick and elderly. The child, who needs to have ever-widening contiguous spaces to freely explore as
he/she grows, is not allowed independent access to the street until after he or she is old enough not to have much
use for it. How many of us in our work produce for a local market or purchase local goods or services?
The result is cities designed only for AAAs: active, affluent adults. If you are young, old, or disabled, you stay
inside or go out only with a guardian in tow, usually ferried about in a car or bus. If you are poor, transit and long
walks under inhospitable conditions is your lot. These people not only are denied the human scale and lively
streets they need, but they now need more income to buy the "solutions": a car and a "better" neighbourhood.
Why has this happened?
1. The automobile - a vehicle more suited to freeways and rural roads - has taken over all streets. As a society we
now accept that streets are dangerous and dirty. Drivers are not held responsible for pedestrian deaths and
injuries; the pedestrians or their guardians are. The streets reflect "might makes right", rather than, "the more you
wield, the more you yield" that exists between boats on waterways.
2. Women, the traditional nurturers of the local scale, including the household, have joined the workforce and are
adopting men's love of the large scale, which they believe equals power. Unfortunately, street & neighbourhood
relations have suffered. (The solution, of course, is not for men and women to go back to their own separate
"domains", but for all adults to reestablish local links).
3. We are moving towards globalism: economy, government, and even environmentalism. There is little
in-between that is not owned or controlled by global interests: no "sinew", no connecting tissue. Why? The
large-scale interests want it that way: local interests, loyalties, goods, values, etc. are redundant in the "modern"
world.
Urban life, too, is disdained. Life is to be lived only after leaving the city job far behind each day and driving as far
away to a non-urban home as money and time will afford.
The result is an imbalanced infrastructure: People buying private solutions to public problems. There is no civic life
occurring in civic places anymore. We are told to expect only negative experiences in these places. They are
replaced by larger private yards, membership in health clubs, and exotic vacations in places where safe civic spaces
and human-scale streets still exist. When they must be used, one takes along "protection". We buy ever-more
sophisticated home and car alarms, rather than spend time rebuilding common, local space. The self-regulating
civic culture of the Commons is fast disappearing. In those spaces we now see the "weeds" of crime, litter,
unkempt buildings and grounds, noise and grime, and abandoned people.
V. HOW BROADLY DOES WALKABILITY IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT COSTS?
Applying the walkability index to taxes and development charges raises the question, "Shouldn't it be limited only
to the portion that applies to transportation infrastructure?" No. The effects of walkability are beneficial over a far
broader area.
The walkable neighbourhood makes less demand on several services/resources:
* roads and parking facilities: Because of shorter trips and smaller modes (space and weights), they make lower
use of roads and parking, and the real estate and maintenance costs they represent.
* transit: Transit subsidies are lower (or perhaps non-existent) for those living in walkable neighbourhoods: 1)
more riders per mile; 2) shorter trips and therefore more fares per mile; 3) more transit use in off-peak; and 4) more
bi-directional travel during peak period.
* police protection: The walkable neighbourhood provides a great deal more of its own surveillance, provides
more jobs and activities for youths, has fewer new, expensive cars to be stolen; and fewer off-street parking lots
where assaults are most often committed.
* density-sensitive services: Garbage collection, underground pipes, fire protection, and general administration are
services that cost more where development is less dense.
* social and health services: besides being sensitive to density, these services are also sensitive to the presence or
lack of informally provided community services, best illustrated by neighbours visiting sick neighbours or
providing babysitting or even a ride for a neighbour having a doctor or job appointment.
* economic development - the higher-density, the mixed land use, the availability of a larger and more diverse
work force, and the availability of marginal, "incubator" spaces and services makes these neighbourhoods more
powerful generators of economic vitality.
VI. ENTER "LOCAL HEROES":
I have started to invest more of my time into my local communities: my street and my neighbourhood. I am
starting to see the need - and the opportunities - for this involvement, and am trying to find a way to support
myself doing it. Here are my ideas and initiatives. I predict that, due to the downturn in the economy (and the
poor expectations for early recovery) and the arrival of the baby boomers in the empty-nester stage of life, many
more people will find their local interests growing.
What are "local heroes"?
The term local heroes comes from a movie of the same name in which the main character successfully resists the
moves of Burt Lancaster working for a multinational company to convert the local economy and resources to a
"higher use". In my mind, a local hero is and is simply loyal to that scale and to the specific people and places
within his/hers, the same way a mother is loyal to the family and to her family.
VII. AN AGENDA FOR LOCAL HEROES:
Local heroes need to spend time and mental energy getting to know their community and street better and
sympathetically. And that takes time. Our employer pays us to spend 40 hours a week focusing on his/her scale,
and if we have a family, we will tend to spend most of the remainder on the household and ourselves. Our
personal time will tend to be spend with larger-scale information and entertainment sources available in print and
electronically.
The first local heroes will need to be real leaders. They will need to conceive and create new institutions and
infrastructure for these scales. Here are some ideas that I am working on:
1. Start a "co-transportation" club. This is the way to provide "fractional" access to a car and break the need to use a
car a lot in order to justify the high fixed costs.
2. Local stories and maps. Get local people to record/share local knowledge, develop local maps, design
neighbourhood walks for newcomers & visitors. Then hold a walking festival with all the walks offered as part of
a multi-day blitz.
3. Visions. Organize street and neighbourhood visions/plans and bring together resources to coordinate future
changes to conform.
Try a Visual Preference Survey (developed by A. Nelessen) to focus people on their communities as place. It gets
people mentally out on foot in the settings they usually only drive through.
4. "Be a PESt!" (Pedestrian Environment Steward) and animate - and care for - the streets and parks.
5. Start a "DePoT" (corner store, recycling centre, laundry/photo drop-off, and postal station, and delivery point for
larger stores and catalogue shopping). Hire teenagers to help with pickup and delivery; supply them with
cargo-carrying "bringhy".
6. Be a "johnny greenseed" and restore your neighbourhood's ecology.
7. Get local merchants to "localize": 1) cater to local customers (the ones who don't use parking spots and don't
expect you to sit on busy road and advertise city-wide, 2) encourage locals to produce for your store, 3) hire locally
and help current employees to move into neighbourhood, 4) reduce outbound wastes
8. Start a neighbourhood BBS (computer bulletin board system) for local information and commerce.
9. Determine your community's walkability.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS
I hope I have related a context for recreating the missing links in the continuity of urban life, the scales that are
closest to the commons, the economic incubators, the cultural breeding ground, the feedback systems necessary for
reducing humankind's "footprint" on the earth and on each other. Walkability is pretty close to livability, to
healthy communities, to sustainability, but it's not as abstract. We can all relate to it. And it relates to so much to
quality of life: health, community, social equity, enjoyment, attachment to place, environment, fitness, low stress.
Let's look at walkability as a positive indicator of what we all want - to replace pollution, crime, traffic accidents as
indicators of what we don't want - and thus become a focus for action, the collective action, action and involvement
that re-creates community and caring for each other and the places we share.
Let me close with the words of Wendell Berry in his essay, "Words and Flesh".
"The favourite adjective of [the environment] movement now seems to be 'planetary'. This word is used, properly
enough, to refer to the interdependence of places, and to the recognition, which is desirable and growing, that no
place on earth can be completely healthy until all places are. But the work "planetary" also refers to an abstract
anxiety or an abstract passion that is desperate and useless exactly to the extent that it is abstract. How, after all,
can anybody - any particular body, do anything to heal a planet? The suggestion that anybody could do so is
preposterous. The heroes of abstraction keep galloping in on their white horses to save the planet - and they keep
falling off in front of the grandstand."
We cannot save the world by riding white horses, heroically or otherwise, or by duplicating global marketing. It
will be done locally in the places we know and love, where we live and work and walk and play. It will occur
within the dynamics of community and immediate, useful feedback on our own actions.
IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berry, Wendell, What are People For?. San Francisco, Northpoint Press, 1990.
Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage, 1961
"HOW CAN I NOT HAVE A CAR? I'VE GOT KIDS!" - Julie Serle
What should a child's map of daily life look like? Should it be all stop lights and parking spaces, or can it
include knowledge of where the squirrel lives, where along the sidewalk anise grows, where the friendly dogs are
and which shop has the strangest windows? One non-driving friend of mine with two small children says, "You
have to rethink your idea of time. For us, a new pair of ballet shoes is a half-day plan. My kids are used to it.
When we run out of juice in the evening, that's it. But as we walk we get to know all kinds of houses, gardens and
landmarks.
Another friend of mine says kids in cars zone out like TV viewers. On foot or in a stroller, kids not travelling by car
are happier, more interactive, and alive. The trip to the store is more fun for all of us. (Going Clean Journal via
Kokopelli Notes: Walking and Biking for a Greener Planet, Spring 94)
CO-TRANSPORTATION: AN ALTERNATIVE TO CAR OWNERSHIP
A Proposal for Canada's Capital Region by The Ottawa Co-Transportation Committee
The difference in terms of convenience and time (perceived or otherwise) between owning a car and depending on
a range of alternatives for one's daily and weekly transportation needs is wide¾so wide that most people choose
car ownership. This difference is growing as transit fares rise and frequency declines, and as danger for cyclists
and pedestrians grows. Unfortunately, the cost of this choice induces the owner to use the car for more and longer
trips than is necessary. Each person who chooses to meet his/her needs by almost complete reliance on the car
makes it harder for the rest of the population to forsake car ownership. As a result, ironically, the freedom to
choose how one travels suffers.
This freedom to pick one or more modes for each trip reduces costs and provides chances for exercise, social
encounters, and guilt-free movement. Even the use of monthly parking and transit passes which rewards loyalty
and overuse, further reduces this freedom of modal choice.
The Ottawa Co-Transportation Committee proposes to develop a set of transportation-consumer services that will
reduce car use and increase the demand for walking, cycling, and transit.
Car-Sharing
Today, with the economy in what appears to be a long-term slide, with environmentalism growing, and with
baby-boomers entering their "slower" and health-conscious years, more people than ever are looking for a way to
revisit the alternatives to car ownership.
Car-sharing is now in operation in Germany and Switzerland, where residents have formed stattauto clubs in
which members own a car collectively, each member using it when it is needed and relying of their feet and other
services at other times. For most, such use constitutes their only car access; for others it removes the need for a
second or third car.
Let's look at the usual alternatives:
Car rental firms have ignored the non-business users: 1) rental is for whole days, rather than for shorter periods, 2)
the outlets are located far from residential areas, and 3) the cost is high, due to the firms' choice of having very new
cars, cleaning them between each use, having to treat every user as a poor-risk transient, and incurring high staff
costs for each booking.
Transit has become slow, infrequent, unreliable, and expensive for shorter trips and during the evening and
weekends. It is hard to use for the very people whose circumstances dictate dependency. Seniors find the steps too
high and the ride too rough. Mothers with young children can't conveniently get their stroller on or off. Those
carrying parcels have trouble with the steps and the lack of a clean place on which to rest their goods. And parents
and schools find the confusing service and lack of social control a danger to children.
Walking has become only a linking form of transportation, rather than a mode in its own right. This is due to
"space pollution" in which destinations are too dispersed. Sidewalks and parks are not maintained. And the fear
of street crime makes walking at night¾and for many even during the day¾impractical.
Cycling is only for the hearty and hardy or is a recreational activity only. Cycling occurs along the gutters and the
rider races to reduce the speed differential with motor traffic just inches away. Rain, cold, wind, and darkness
reduce people's dependence on it.
Taxi use suffers from the same business-oriented bias as the car-rental industry: high cost and poor access from
most residential areas. Further, the vehicle conditions vary greatly and the attitude of drivers make it unsuitable
for transporting the disabled, seniors, children, and the poor.
How Car-Sharing Would Work
True car-sharing requires the establishment of a city-wide organization that would purchase the necessary cars
and arrange the insurance. Otherwise, car-sharing would be limited to a series of small-scale asymmetrical
arrangements between people who own a car and others with whom they would share their car, which now exists
sometimes between friends, coworkers, or family members. Without equity interest, the sharers are just
borrowers; the real owner, feeling more responsibility and expecting more privileges as a result, will often call off
the arrangement after a conflict.
The city-wide organization¾let's call it the Ottawa Co-Transportation Company (OCTC)¾would deal with
groups of sharers. These would either be a partnership formed for the purpose¾using a standard document
designed by OCTC¾or existing companies: e.g. the owner of an apartment building wanting to start a club for
his/her tenants, an employer wanting cars for weekday business use and who makes them available for a fee to
employees for personal evening or weekend use, or a condominium corporation or housing cooperative (or the
newer "co-housing" society).
This group or company would lease one or more cars from the OCTC for their members' exclusive use. The fee
would cover not just the car and insurance, but a weekly cleaning and gas-up service (possibly on-premises and at
off-hours), loaner cars during repairs, special vehicles required for unusual requirements (e.g. truck or camper),
and guidance on how to set up schedules and charges to facilitate sharing the car's expenses and availability.
OTHER SERVICES
The OCTC might also offer other transportation services as the sharers cope with reduced automobile access.
These include:
•occasional access to special vehicles, such as a pick-up truck or passenger van, and back-up vehicles for peak
demand;
•high-quality driver-escort services for those requiring special attention and for trips for members of the
household not able to drive¾to relieve the driving members of their responsibility, e.g., for transporting children
to evening and weekend lessons or disabled relatives to medical or social appointments;
•taxi credit arrangements and transit passes at reduced rates;
•access to special cargo-carrying bicycles, perhaps designed with electric motor-assist, for local trips involving
heavy loads or even smaller passengers; and
•political and economic "clout". As the number of people participating in co-transportation clubs grows, the
city-wide group would develop increased "clout" in pressing for improvements to walking, cycling, and transit
facilities and services, as well as changes in taxation and subsidies that induce over-use of the car. This would be a
role similar to that of the Canadian Automobile Association, which lobbies for more and better designed roads.
ADVANTAGES
The advantages to individual households:
•cheaper car access than either renting or car ownership;
•access to extra or special-purpose vehicles as demand warrants;
•an alternative to taxis to avoid driving young children or other dependents, or for urgent situations;
•no maintenance work on vehicles, no visits to gas stations, no cleaning of the car, reduced chance of a
breakdown, no need to cope with older vehicles or the periodic purchase a new car;
•less yard/garage space committed to the automobile (could allow redesign and conversion of space to other
purposes).
The advantages to landlords, employers, and existing groups of neighbours:
•reduced common-parking-area problems;
•opportunities for employers to reduce expenses, and for landlords and housing boards to increase incentives for
custodial staff (who receive extra income for managing the fleet);
•more lucrative use of land than is provided by parking lots (car-sharing can be a service that planners can specify
in the formal approvals conditions);
•an incentive to prospective employees and tenants ("car-free = carefree").
The advantages to neighbourhoods and city government:
•reduced use of motor vehicles and demand for related infrastructure: roads, traffic controls, police enforcement,
snow clearance and street maintenance;
•improved environmental factors: noise, air pollution, salt poisoning;
•stimulated neighbourhood business growth, due to improved local-resident loyalty and higher disposable
income;
•reduced crime and increased social life due to more people walking and cycling and the increase in people's
knowledge of and interest in each other.
The sum total would be increased quality of life and higher property values.
Contact: The Ottawa Co-Transportation Committee, Patrick Chen at 746-8234, or David Chernushenko at
(The next issue of auto-free zone will include an article on the highly successful co-transportation networks in Germany.)
MARKET COSTS AND EXTERNALITIES
Excerpts from the Going Rate: What It Really Costs To Drive, World Resources Institute, Washington D.C., 1992.
Making motor vehicle users bear their fair share of the total costs of driving would help curb the problems
stemming from our current transportation system¾congestion, excessive air pollution, growing greenhouse gas
emissions, and endangered national security, to name a few. But, for several reasons, motor vehicle users rarely
face the full costs of their driving decisions.
Government taxing policies frequently shift some of the direct costs of driving away from drivers. In this way,
drivers fail to bear directly a significant fraction of road construction and repair costs, the costs of providing
highway services, and the costs of providing commuter parking. In the case of externalities such as air pollution,
climate-change risks, and noise, everyone shares the costs, but those who impose the costs pay only a fraction.
Finally, some categories of costs paid by drivers don't bear any direct relation to their driving decisions or the costs
of these decisions.
To the extent that the price of driving¾as reflected, for example, in the price of cars, gasoline, and road fees¾does
not include all of these costs, people drive more than they otherwise might and shy away from competing
transportation systems¾such as public transportation or bicycles¾that can provide comparable services at lower
social costs.
The enormity of the problems spawned by the use of cars and trucks in the United States demands a full
accounting of these unborne social costs. Without such information in hand, the comparative advantages and
drawbacks of using, say, tolls, service charges, or fuel taxes to incorporate these costs into driving decisions will be
hard to assess.
U.S. MARKET COSTS
Annual costs of capital and operating investments in road construction and maintenance: $71 billion
Annual parking subsidy: $85 billion
EXTERNAL COSTS
Estimated external costs (including air pollution, climate change, security costs of importing oil, congestion,
accidents, noise, land loss) are $126.3 billion.
PARKING
Parking costs should be considered part of the normal costs of owning and operating a motor vehicle. Yet, parking
is supplied free to many motorists, effectively subsidizing the use of cars and trucks. The obvious example is the
suburban shopping mall: customers park free. People who drive to the mall pay the parking fees only indirectly
through the prices of the services and goods sold. Shoppers who walk or take public transportation to malls are
thus paying for parking spaces they do not use.
Most employers in the United States also provide free parking. Approximately 86% of the American workforce
commutes to work by car, and over 90% of all commuters park for free at work. In all, close to 85 million
Americans enjoy free parking space at work.
What is the dollar value of these unborne costs to commuters? Assuming a $1,000 per year average national value
for a parking space, the nation's 85 million recipients of free parking enjoy an annual parking susidy of about $85
billion in addition to other parking subsidies. [...] ending employer-paid parking would reduce the number of solo
commuters between 18 and 81%, depending on local circumstances and transportation alternatives, and it would
cut the number of cars driven to work by 15 to 28 percent.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Increased fuel taxes, increased taxes on trucks, parking and tax reform, tolls and time-
of-day pricing of roadways, reform of zoning and land use.
DREAM CAR SYMBOL OF AMERICAN DECLINE
- Terence Corcoran (What?!? Even Terence thinks we should stop subsidizing the auto industry???)
The one-way drive of the U.S. auto industry from economic wonder to government ward continued this week with
the announcement in Washington that the Big Three auto firms will be joining a Bill Clinton venture to develop a
prototype for a new high-tech automobile. "Today we're going to try to give America a new car-crazy chapter in
her rich history," Mr Clinton declared, sounding more like Lee Iacocca than the President of the world's only
superpower [sic].
The New York Times dubbed it the "Government Dream Car" project and conjured up images of a car that used
coatings developed to make the Stealth bomber invisible. Nobody drew any comparisons with the old East
German Trabant, a more real-world example of state-developed automobile technology. As the Washington
project spins forward, no doubt in classic extravagant U.S.-government style, the new car will probably hit the road
as a concept somewhere between the Trabant and the Stealth bomber, a massively overpriced and impractical car
that will need all the Stealth coatings imaginable to make the real costs disappear. (Globe and Mail, 1 Oct 93)
LET'S JUST PAVE IT ALL!
TEXANS WANT HIGHWAY TO LINK CANADA-MEXICO
LAREDO, Texas¾Texas state and count officials met with Mexico's transportation secretary in May to seek
support for a plan to designate Interstate 35 an international superhighway of trade. The meeting is the latest
development in what promises to be a struggle for federal highway construction money between I-35 backers, who
call it the "NAFTA Corridor", and supporters of the proposed Interstate 69, another Mexico-to-Canada route called
the "Midcontinent Highway". (Ottawa Citizen, 14 May 94)
AUSTRIAN ANTI-EU PROTESTERS BLOCK AUTOBAHN
VIENNA¾Demonstrators angered by heavy trucks thundering through the Alps blocked an autobahn in the first
public protest against Austria's European Union membership deal.
About 100 members of the Austrian environmental group Global 2000 sat on a road near the German border
outside Salzburg, preventing trucks from entering Austria.
The protesters, holding banners reading "No Transit Hell in Austria", attacked terms agreed between Vienna and
Brussels on goods transit over Austrian roads. This was the main obstacle to the membership deal finally struck
later.
They also fear an avalanche of heavy traffic through the Austrian Alps after a referendum decision in Switzerland
two weeks ago to ban foreign trucks from crossing the country by road by the year 2004.
"Our trees are already dying and our forests are being asphyxiated", a leading opponent of EU entry told Reuters.
"Eighty percent of traffic between the north and south (of the EU) passes through Austria and the EU admits this is
going to go up", said Freda Meissner-Blau, who is leading the campaign group "Austria Future".
"Look what's happening already in the Brenner Wiptal (valley in Tyrol). Those huge trucks go by every three
minutes, making houses shake as they pass. Some people already give their children valium so they can sleep", she
said. (Reuters World Service, March 3, 1994)
CLASHES AS ECOLOGISTS PROTEST PYRENEES TUNNEL: "We are not against progress. We just oppose
destruction. The tunnel is a crime against this valley."
PAU, FRANCE¾5,000 ecologists demonstrated against plans to build a road tunnel under the Pyrenees and boost
traffic near one of the last sanctuaries of the native European bear.
At least 10 demonstrators were injured as clashes broke out as police tried to disperse 500 protestors who entered
the tunnel building site where workmen have burrowed 30 metres into the mountainside since the project began in
April, correspondents said.
Work is shortly due to start at the Spanish end of the 8.6-kilometre (five-mile) tunnel under the Somport pass on
the Franco-Spanish border.
Ecologists say the tunnel and extensions to the existing road will turn the picturesque Aspe valley into a corridor
for international truck traffic. They also fear the tunnel will open the way for construction of a motorway.
The ecologists have called for the reopening of a railway from Pau in France to Canfranc in Spain which was
closed down in 1970 as an alternative to the road tunnel. (Agence France Presse, May 22, 1994)
SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVES
DELIVERY BY BICYCLE IN ELORA
The "Bicycle Works" is a pilot project under Ontario's Green Communities program. Two students working with
the Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence will transport goods around town by bicycle and cart in an effort to
reduce the number of short car trips taken in the area. They will be testing the feasibility of using bikes as a
business tool to provide an alternative to delivery vehicles.
Participating businesses include a flower shop, a fast-food restaurant, a grill house, an organic vegetable and fruit
store, and a variety store in Elora, and health-food and environment stores in nearby Fergus.
While the main thrust is to provide delivery service for businesses, the Bicycle Works is also offering personal
errand-running service for residents who are less mobile, or want to use their car less.
For more info: Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence (519) 846-7283)
PEDICABS IN NEW YORK CITY
While bicycle rickshaws are being banned in Dhaka and Jakarta because they are "primitive", new bicycle rickshaw
businesses have sprung up all over the U.S. and Holland. There are around 50 small pedicab businesses in the
U.S., and most of them are associated with beach boardwalks and tourist areas such as Harbor Place in Baltimore.
The New York and Amsterdam initiatives are unique in that they plan to focus on more general transportation
needs.
The New York initiative, founded by local activist and non-motorized vehicle designer George Bliss, will be a
cooperatively owned private business called PONY (Pedicabs of New York). PONY began operation in May 1994,
providing human-powered taxi service in lower Manhattan and to local subway stations. PONY is planning a call-
in service primarily for elderly and disabled people.
Initially, the cost of the pedicab service will be $0.50 per minute. If the pedicab is occupied half the time, this will
give the driver $15 per hour plus tips.
The new pedicab business in central Amsterdam has been launched by students of the Haarlem Business School.
The pedicabs are faster than taxis for very short distances, at half the price. (Sustainable Transport, June 94)
DO-IT-YOURSELF DEPAVING
Almost 4,000 residents in south Berkeley, California are going to benefit from the vision of the Halcyon
Neighbourhood Association and local depaving guru Richard Register.
"Rather than moving to Oregon to get away from the urban issues of this area, we can increase the quality of life
right here. Trees and greenery can bring beauty to an area that is currently an ugly parking lot," wrote the
Halycon Commons Planning Committee.
Using residents' own labour and donated services and materials, dozens of parking places will be eliminated to
make way for a park. The total cost may be $40,000 for the first stage, and $80-100,000 to complete. (Paving
Moratorium Update and Auto-Free Times, Summer 94)
ECO-SOCIETY IN SOUTH KOREA
The Baedel Eco-Society organized South Korea's first "No Car Day" on October 16, 1993. Traffic on Korean roads is
increasing by as much as 25 percent a year, and a high rate of accidents led to 11,640 fatalities and 325,943 serious
injuries in 1992.
The group has proposed alternative transportation systems emphasizing public transit and bicycle route networks,
and are preparing a Green Plan for Taejon City. Meanwhile, the South Korean government is raising taxes on
petroleum and has passed a law heavily taxing a family's second car.
For info: Baedel Eco-Society, Jung-ky, Jungchon-dong 102-2, Taejon City, 301-080, Republic of Korea. 8242-253-
3241.
(Baedel Update via Urban Ecologist, Winter 94)
TRANSIT VOUCHER PROGRAM GROWING
More than 500 employers in the San Francisco Bay area have now joined the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission's Commuter Check transit voucher program, and have given their employees more than $3 million in
transit fare discounts. Begun in 1991, the program provides incentives for employees to ride buses and trains
instead of driving. [...]
The cost of providing the vouchers is tax-deductible for employers, and employees can receive up to $60 worth of
vouchers a month as a tax-free employee benefit.
After two years of rapid growth, Commuter Check is now the second largest transit-voucher program in the U.S.
after New York City's. (Urban Ecologist, Winter 94)
Bus ridership in Boulder, Colorado has risen 13.9 percent in the last year due to incentive programs such as free
passes for students. (Go Boulder via Urban Ecologist, Winter 94)
SLOWDOWN IN GERMANY IMPROVES AIR QUALITY
NECKARSULM¾A four-day experiment to see if quieter lives reduced pollution in southern Germany ended with
significant improvements in air quality. Scientists said interim readings showed nitrogen oxides were 40% lower;
hydrocarbons were down 36%. (Ottawa Citizen, 27 June 94)
DISABLED VANCOUVERITE WINS RIGHT TO BUS TRAVEL
After complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, paraplegic Dennis Ralston succeeded in getting
wheelchair access to Greyhound buses. Greyhound now has 10 buses with side-loading doors, a wheelchair ramp
and two wheelchair tie-downs on regular inter-city runs from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and
Toronto. (Ottawa Citizen, 9 Apr 94)
OTTAWA BOARD OF EDUCATION GETS PAID PARKING
OBE trustees voted 16-0 to charge staff members $2/day for parking. Trustee Anne Scotton said that teachers'
reaction to the scheme reflects badly on their professionalism. She said that not even during the last two teachers'
strikes had she received such a volume of violent, threatening phone calls. (Ottawa Citizen, 14 June 94)
IF CARS ARE HERE TO STAY, THEN HUMANS AREN'T!
PLANT SPECIES UPROOT FOR COOLER 'CLIMBS'
NEW YORK¾Plants in the Alps are moving to higher ground because of global warming, a march that might
eventually lead dozens of species to extinction, researchers suggest. Perhaps 40 to 50 species might disappear in
100 years or more. (Ottawa Citizen, 9 June 94)
GLOBAL WARMING COSTS BILLIONS, GREENPEACE SAYS
LONDON¾Global warming has arrived and is costing the insurance industry billions of dollars as it forks out for
ever more frequent natural disasters, according to a Greenpeace report.
The Climate Time Bomb report, which cites recent changes in polar ice sheets, sea temperature, storms, drought and
flood damage, is the first attempt to prove global warming is already threatening to undermine the economic
health of the developed world.
The Greenpeace view is shared by some of the world's biggest reinsurance companies, including Peter Myer of the
Swiss Reinsurance Co., which endorsed the report.
The executive vice-president of Tokyo Marine and Fire, Shiro Horichi said: "The fact is that in recent years natural
disasters whose return period used to be regarded as at least 100 years have transpired every year in various
places in the world. It seems difficult to believe that these incidents are merely accidental."
The report describes how 8 of the last 14 years were the hottest on record. It details higher sea temperatures that
are killing coral reefs, intense forest fires, increasing drought, more hurricane-type storms, diseases spreading from
hotter regions, and a rise in insect pests.
Asked about other scientific reports claiming global warming was bunk, Greenpeace Climate Campaign director
Jeremy Leggatt said: "It reminds me of the early days of the anti-smoking campaign. For every scientist saying
smoking was harmful, there was one paid by the tobacco industry saying there was no evidence. The fossil-fuel
lobby is doing the same today with global warming." (Ottawa Citizen, 3 June 1994)
GLOBAL WARMING BLAMED FOR SHRINKING LAKE CHAD
LAGOS, Nigeria¾Global warming in the past three decades has dried 90% of Lake Chad, one of central Africa's
most important sources of water, a Nigerian expert say. Water Resources Minister Issa Mohammed told an
international conference the lake has shrunk to 2,590 km2 from 26,936 km2 in 1962. (Ottawa Citizen, 2 April 1994)
TROPICAL FORESTS CHANGING, STUDY FINDS: Ability to purify air reduced as more older trees die -
Wallace Immen
The "lungs of the world" may be losing their ability to purify the air.
Tropical forests have been changing as levels of carbon dioxide in the air increase, a survey reported yesterday in
Science magazine indicates.
Older trees with dense wood are dying in greater numbers and being replaced by fast-growing trees whose softer
wood doesn't store as much carbon, Oliver Phillips, a botanist at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis said.
The report suggests that if the trends continue into the next century, tropical forests could become yet another
source of carbon dioxide rather than a factor in reducing it. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow
and in the process release oxygen. But dead wood produces carbon dioxide as it decays.
Expansive forests like those in the Amazon are considered important to counteracting the global rise in carbon
dioxide levels in the air over the past 50 years, caused in large part by industrial and automotive emissions. (Globe
and Mail, 19 Feb 94)
IS BROKEN OCEAN PUMP A GLOBAL WARNING?
A key feature of the world's ocean circulation has "shut down" over the past decade, according to a leading polar
oceanographer. Peter Wadhams of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge warned that "the sudden
switching off" of convection processes in the Greenland Sea "is probably a function of global warming".
The convection processes send surface waters down to the ocean floor, taking dissolved carbon dioxide with them.
If they fail, it could further speed up global warming, Wadhams claims. [...]
The Odden feature is a large tongue of ice protruding from the east coast of Greenland, where historically ice
rapidly forms and then melts again, creating, in effect, a giant natural pump that forces surface ocean water to the
depths. The water carries with it carbon dioxide dissolved from the atmosphere, burying it in the ocean depths for
a thousand years.
According to Wadhams: "The Odden feature and the Greenland Sea removed perhaps a quarter of the carbon
dioxide taken to the deep ocean." But a decade of warm winters has drastically reduced ice formation in the Odden
feature. As a result, says Wadhams, convection that a decade ago took surface water down to a depth of 4 km now
reaches only 1 km. [...] (New Scientist, 19 Mar 94)
AUTO-INFLICTED ACCIDENTS?
New statistics show the accident rate on local roads has jumped more than 18% since 1990. But bad roads are not
to blame, say police and safety experts. Many Ottawa-Carleton motorists are just plain bad drivers. On average,
one person is killed in an accident on Ontario roads every eight hours and injured every six minutes. (Ottawa
Citizen, 3 Mar 94 and 7 June 94)
SMOG LINKED TO RISE IN HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
TORONTO¾Metro Toronto's smoggiest summer days result in a major jump in the number of people arriving at
hospitals with breathing problems, international studies show.
The studies released in May in the journal Environmental Research, prompted the American Lung Association to
demand stricter pollution controls south of the border.
Dr. Alfred Munzer of the Lung Association produced three studies of air pollution in southern Ontario, showing
admissions to hospitals for respiratory problems jump anywhere from 24 to 50% when smog reaches levels
considered acceptable in the United States.
Munzer said that it is hoped the studies will prompt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the legal
levels of ground-level ozone, a respiratory irritant that can cause inflammation and chest pain and aggravate
existing conditions, including asthma.
The acceptable ozone level south of the border is .12 parts per million over one hour, compared with .08 parts per
million in Canada.
Data from hospitals in the greater Metro area were used because they are easily available and compare to many
American cities, Munzer said.
"What the study basically shows is that the levels of pollution that have been considered safe by the U.S.
government really aren't."
Michael Perley, former executive coordinator of the now disbanded Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain said
although it is true that Canada receives American pollution in the form of acid rain or acidic aerosols, much of the
summertime smog is made up of local pollutants, such as car exhaust. (Toronto Star, June 94)
ENGINE FUMES, U.S. HOT AIR FUEL SMOGGY SUMMER DAYS - Wallace Immen
Smoggy days from Manitoba to the Maritimes are typical of a summer pattern that has become common in
Canada. [...]
Cars are a major factor in increasing the smog level, and improved pollution controls on cars were supposed to
reduce the problem. But while the old, polluting cars have been scrapped, there are more cars on the roads than
ever, cancelling out any pollution savings, says Fred Conway, meteorologist for Environment Canada in Toronto.
In Canada, the worst pollution occurs in the corridor from Windsor to Quebec City, where ozone levels top 80
parts per billion about 15 days per year.
Any ozone level above 80 is considered unacceptable. In June, ozone levels at most of Ontario's 45 weather-
sampling monitors were over 100.
High levels of ozone can cause inflammation of bronchial tubes, complicating asthma and chronic bronchitis,
according to a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued in March. The study also found that
asthma deaths increase as air pollution increases. (Globe and Mail, 18 June 94)
CANADIANS SNEEZING INTO 21ST CENTURY
Statistics Canada reports allergies increased by more than 40% among Canadians between 1978 and 1991.
Residents of polluted downtown areas were more likely to develop allergies than suburbanites. Researchers
predict allergies will be the disease of the 21st century. (Ottawa Citizen, 2 April 94)
SMOG CITED AS DANGER TO WORLD'S CROP YIELDS
WASHINGTON¾Photochemical smog, mostly from auto exhaust and factory smokestacks, could slowly reduce
the amount of food grown in the world over the next 30 years, says William Chameides, director of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Chameides said about
60% of the world's damaging air pollutants are produced by North America, Europe and the China-Japan region of
Asia. (Ottawa Citizen, 2 April 1994)
CARSICK? SO ARE WE! - Chris Roth
We're the Carsick Billions, with members worldwide of every species. Don't get exhausted, get carfree.
I have reaffirmed my resolution to contribute as little as I can to the cancerous growth of the car culture. Sharing
the use of a vehicle is one way to do this, but the most powerful way is simply to find alternative ways of living
that don't require a car. If no one attemps to do this, no one else will do it either, and we'll be in even worse shape
than we already are as the future unfolds. And the more of us with experience living outside the cages of
separateness erected by our civilization, the more real life will actually be lived even as the gears of unreal
distraction grind to their final excruciating disharmonious end. As a result, when natural time returns to our
experience, we as a species will be more likely to recognize it. And, if the Carsick Billions can find one another,
we'll have a better time until then too.
Join us, and change the world. Write to: Carsick Billions, POB 3678, Eugene, OR 97403. (The Trumpeter, Winter
1994)
Be A Star With Your Car!
We're a small independent film company preparing to shoot an entertaining documentary called Behind the Wheel.
We're searching for everyday drivers of all ages involved in special relationships with their wheels to appear on
camera.
We need you to talk candidly about the reasons you chose your particular vehicle, how it relates to your
personality, the care you give it, the status it provides, its idiosyncrasies, uses, nickname, memories, etc.
Whether you're a Sunday driver or a muscle car aficionado, if you relate to your car, truck or van in a special way,
or know somebody who does, please give us a call. Contact: Lesley at Wild Cycle Productions (416) 535-6223.
(Sunday Toronto Star, 19 June 1994)
WINNING BACK THE CITIES
Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy
Pluto Press, Leichhardt, Australia, 1992, 48 pages.
Reviewed by John Kaehny
Humans are social animals. We like to congregate at restaurants, bars, the theatre and on the street. As tourists,
we visit cities to get the feel of other peoples, and are drawn to areas thick with street life. However, across the
world cities are being destroyed by the automobile, fear, and an ethos that emphasizes private space over public.
Pioneering Australian urbanists Newman and Kenworthy have compiled their wisdom and learning into a
brilliant, graphic-laden tract that explains with precision and simplicity the destructive legacy of the automobile,
and exactly how we can save our cities.
The core of Winning Back the Cities is "an integrated solution to car dependency with the emphasis on "integrated",
that consists of traffic calming, light rail and urban villages.
The philosophical heart of this guide is the "Importance of the Public Realm".
"To a large extent the whole vibrancy and viability of a city is defined by its attitude to the public realm... A key
characteristic of good public space is hope. Hope is where the interaction of the community gives a subtle
reassurance of a good city life into the future." The authors continue with an acute observation that fits NIMBYs.
"Cities can lose hope, they can lose the fight for public space and encourage people to retreat to their private places.
They can lose hope because it is not fought hard enough for." Don't lose hope¾buy this book! (Auto-Free Press,
Sept/Oct 93)
RECOMMENDED READINGS by David Orton, Greenweb, Saltsprings, Nova Scotia
Clive Ponting. A Green History Of The World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations St.
Martin's Press, New York, 1991.
Chapter 15, "Creating The Affluent Society" has some interesting material:
Car production now consumes more resources than any other industry. It uses 20 per cent of the world's steel
production, 10 per cent of the aluminium, 35 per cent of the zinc, 50 per cent of the lead and 60 per cent of all
natural rubber. In addition, over a third of all the world's oil consumption is accounted for by vehicles. In parallel,
the rise of the car has also brought into being a whole range of subsidiary industries - road construction, petrol
stations and service garages.
Ponting's book has helped me a lot to look at aboriginal issues in a realistic manner. It gives a historical perspective
on environmental destruction. One comes to see that we have had a world economic system since the sixteenth
century, with the rise and dominance of Europe. But Ponting is not very ecological and somewhat conservative. He
will not come out and condemn industrial civilization and speak of the necessity for an alternative. But there is a
lot of data, and hence ammunition for us.
Wolfgang Sachs, For Love of the Automobile: Looking Back into the History of Our Desires.
Translated from the German by Don Reneau. University Of California Press.
I have not seen this book, but I am prepared to recommend because of the brilliance of the author. This book is
described as a cultural analysis of the motor car in Germany.
This quotation illustrates rather well the two basic positions in the green and environmental movements:
"For the task of global ecology can be understood in two ways: it is either a technocratic effort to keep
development afloat against the drift of plunder and pollution; or it is a cultural effort to shake off the
hegemony of ageing Western values and gradually retire from the development race."
AUTO-FREE RESOURCES
Available at Peace and Environment Centre library
174 First Avenue at Bank Street (230-4590):
• Auto-Free Ottawa binder (contains articles circulated at 1st and 2nd
Auto-Free Cities conference, and on sustainable urban design)
• Heathcote Williams' Autogeddon
• Pollution Probe's The Costs of the Car (Ontario subsidies to private cars
• Greenpeace's Transit in Canada
• World Watch papers: Rethinking the Role of the Automobile (#84) and
The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet (#90)
• Mark Roseland's Toward Sustainable Communities (Published by the
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy)
• David Engwicht's Reclaiming Our Cities and Towns: Better Living With
Less Traffic.
• Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy's Winning Back the Cities
• Traffic Calming by Citizens Advocating Responsible Transportation.
CALM THE TRAFFIC!
Traffic Calming is an invaluable resource book for
community groups and environmentalists trying to
reverse the current car-dominated trend in transportation
and land use planning.
Traffic Calming includes informaiton on implementation
of traffic calming techniques, possible future trends, and
compares the impact on cities of traditional planning
versus traffic calming.
Copies of Traffic Calming are available from Auto-Free
Ottawa for CAN$10 (postage included), or from Sensible
Transportation Options for People (STOP), 15405 S.W.
116th Avenue #202B, Tigard, OR 97224-2600 (503) 624-
6083 for US$6.
CARS ARE RUINING MY LIFE AND OUR BIOSPHERE!
Sign me up, and .......................................................................................send a complimentary copy to:
___ $20.00 individual or family ___ $10.00 unwaged
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