Diamond-Cut Life

I have another thought or two on the proposed bailout of the American auto industry. Then later this week I’ll be reporting on desalination, the increasingly popular, carbon-intensive transformation of ocean water into drinking water.

While acknowledging that job loss in the auto industry (or anywhere) is extremely painful, let’s take a step back and ask the hard question: does our nation really need a steady stream of new cars? Does our world need that? Is there a better place to put those resources and invest in jobs? Might the world currently have as many cars as it needs, given how rapidly they guzzle gasoline and emit greenhouse gases?

Given that most cars sit unused 22-23 hours a day, carshares like Zipcar could potentially meet the driving needs of millions of car owners while reducing the total number of cars in cities by 60-75%. Zipcar members are generally strong walkers and users of transit, and many use bicycles for a number of errands. They use cars selectively, only when truly needed. You don’t have to privately own a car to use a car.

Our culture’s obsession with privately owned vehicles is inversely related to our physicality and our physical health. The less we walk, bike and do physical work, the more we outsource our movement and physicality to oversized vehicles and motor-driven gizmos like leaf blowers. (Use your body and a rake, for heaven’s sake.) The more we drive around in our cars, the more we weaken our bodies. That is poisonous to public health. Our nation keeps becoming fatter, weaker and more disease-prone in this process, while more and more carbon emissions get created as we sit walled up in our oversized, overused vehicles.

Meanwhile, Grist reports that the European Union has struck a deal with its automakers for 18 percent fleet emission reduction by 2015. But the degree of change we need to navigate in the developed world is much greater than 18 percent fleet emission reduction by 2015. Everyone who has a car of any type has the option of reducing their own emissions by 18% right now (don’t wait!) by driving less via trip-chaining, carpooling, walking, biking, working from home, etc. A top-notch resource for driving less is Drive Less Save More.

The true bottom line, little discussed or understood because it does not necessarily produce large or quick profits, is that what’s good for our personal health is typically also good for the planet’s health. See The Very Best Diet.

Related Posts:

• Fate of the Automakers: The Lady Or The Tiger?
• Bike. Walk. Joy.
• Electric Vehicles: Truly Green, Or No?