The following is an essay that appeared in Permaculture Design Magazine
A Permaculture Look at Transportation, Cars, Suburbia and Paradigm Shift
This is an article I wrote for Permaculture Digest Magazine. It explains that cars and suburbia are simply examples of how capitalism prefers complex, expensive and damaging approaches for taking care of reasonable needs. People have need to move from place to place, sometimes short distances, sometimes greater distances. Capitalism has essentially, forced this society to need a car when smart urban design and effective transit could do the same job at far less cost to people and planet.
Suburbia is another example explained in the article. People need comfortable and secure shelter. Capitalism inflates shelter into the suburban realm, to sell more products and services. Cars and suburbia are close allies. The economic system externalizes the cost of all its products, essentially, a dishonest and multi trillion dollar subsidy paid for by damage to the environment and public health so Americans can afford to buy the oversized products. That System creates many social, economic, political, environmental and spiritual problems. Capitalism isn't broken, degrading people and planet is simply what it does.
The article explains suburbia and cars from this perspective. A good book on suburbia, Crabgrass Frontier by Ken Jackson.
By Jan Spencer
Transportation is an essential part of the human experience. Modern homo sapiens migrated out of Africa to all over the world tens of thousands of years ago. People have forsaken the security of home for trade, glory, adventure and conquest. The Roman road network was a wonder of the ancient world.
A climate controlled car, loaded with electronics and gadgets, can easily cover the Oregon Trail in three days that took months of danger and discomfort in a covered wagon only 150 years ago. At this point, there are more cars and trucks in the US than adults. Half of all Americans live in suburbia and cars have made suburbia possible with enormous consequences.
This article is the first in a series with the heading “A Primer For Paradigm Shift.” Permaculture Design will feature additional articles in the Paradigm Shift Series in future issues including a deconstruction of capitalism, aspects of paradigm shift, taking paradigm shift to a wider audience, real life examples of paradigm shift and more.
This article will include
1] The rise of cars
2] The relationship between cars, capitalism and suburbia
3] Permaculture meets the automobile
Key words – footprints, external costs, prioritize time and money, edges, allies and assets, common cause
Transportation, Cars, Suburbia, Capitalism, Paradigm Shift
Cars dominate not only our transportation system but our very lives and economy. We can think of cars as a proxy for the behavior of capitalism and its consumer culture. We are beholden to cars and their demands. That relationship is not a healthy one and its not an accident. To understand our transportation system and the rise of the car and to push back, we need to understand capitalism.
Cars are only one example of how capitalism and the consumer culture degrade the well being of people and planet. We know what eco footprints are. That's the damage human activity causes on the natural world. We can add the term social footprint. Our positive human potential, progress and uplift as individuals and a society is also diminished by capitalism, the consumer culture. Many familiar products and services including cars, suburbia, pop culture distractions, junk food and a lot more disempower or social capacities.
Virtually all the well know problems and downward trends of our time have a common denominator and that common denominator is this growth based, cost externalizing, profits above all economic system. Cars are a huge chunk of that economic system. When we thoughtfully push back on cars, we push back on many of the damaging aspects of capitalism and the consumer culture as diverse as climate change, affordable housing, species extinction, economic dis-equity and the celebration of vanity and excess.
I use the term paradigm shift. In the sense applied here, paradigm shift refers to a deep and fundamental change in our values, goals and how we interact with the social and physical world around us.
Humans have enormous positive potentials as individuals, as friends, neighbors, communities and society to live healthy, uplifted and productive lives within the boundaries of the natural world. If we don't have a conception of human destiny, we can make one up. These ideals are good ones. There are more.
We can enjoy many of the benefits of these modern times even as we move forward with paradigm shift. An important term to understand is “prioritize time and money.” That means we are purposeful with how we manage our own personal resources. Importantly, people can coordinate their own time and money with others for mutual benefit. Common cause is an essential part of paradigm shift.
Moving towards a sustainable society, we patronize the products and services that serve a sustainable future and we leave the rest behind. We make time for building civic culture, to play an active part in making our communities better places to live. Reducing the need and use of cars fits in.
Many products, services and jobs we are familiar with at this time in history will not make the cut to a sustainable future. The car culture as we know it, does not make the cut.
Our focus in this article is transportation and transportation means cars and cars and its close companion suburbia are two of the most iconic and damaging products of capitalism and its consumer culture.
Permaculture is about living in balance, respect and well being with the natural world and with our fellow humans. The auto centric society, the consumer culture and capitalism do not share those ideals and values.
Should those who advocate and teach permaculture actively call for a future beyond cars, capitalism and the consumer culture? A short review of how cars came to dominate our way of life and world view and then a thoughtful critique of capitalism through the lens of permaculture's 12 principles can be helpful for answering some questions.
Transportation And Cars
Cars did not just appear. They are the most recent in a long line of transportation innovations.
This is an article I wrote for Permaculture Digest Magazine. It explains that cars and suburbia are simply examples of how capitalism prefers complex, expensive and damaging approaches for taking care of reasonable needs. People have need to move from place to place, sometimes short distances, sometimes greater distances. Capitalism has essentially, forced this society to need a car when smart urban design and effective transit could do the same job at far less cost to people and planet.
Suburbia is another example explained in the article. People need comfortable and secure shelter. Capitalism inflates shelter into the suburban realm, to sell more products and services. Cars and suburbia are close allies. The economic system externalizes the cost of all its products, essentially, a dishonest and multi trillion dollar subsidy paid for by damage to the environment and public health so Americans can afford to buy the oversized products. That System creates many social, economic, political, environmental and spiritual problems. Capitalism isn't broken, degrading people and planet is simply what it does.
The article explains suburbia and cars from this perspective. A good book on suburbia, Crabgrass Frontier by Ken Jackson.
By Jan Spencer
Transportation is an essential part of the human experience. Modern homo sapiens migrated out of Africa to all over the world tens of thousands of years ago. People have forsaken the security of home for trade, glory, adventure and conquest. The Roman road network was a wonder of the ancient world.
A climate controlled car, loaded with electronics and gadgets, can easily cover the Oregon Trail in three days that took months of danger and discomfort in a covered wagon only 150 years ago. At this point, there are more cars and trucks in the US than adults. Half of all Americans live in suburbia and cars have made suburbia possible with enormous consequences.
This article is the first in a series with the heading “A Primer For Paradigm Shift.” Permaculture Design will feature additional articles in the Paradigm Shift Series in future issues including a deconstruction of capitalism, aspects of paradigm shift, taking paradigm shift to a wider audience, real life examples of paradigm shift and more.
This article will include
1] The rise of cars
2] The relationship between cars, capitalism and suburbia
3] Permaculture meets the automobile
Key words – footprints, external costs, prioritize time and money, edges, allies and assets, common cause
Transportation, Cars, Suburbia, Capitalism, Paradigm Shift
Cars dominate not only our transportation system but our very lives and economy. We can think of cars as a proxy for the behavior of capitalism and its consumer culture. We are beholden to cars and their demands. That relationship is not a healthy one and its not an accident. To understand our transportation system and the rise of the car and to push back, we need to understand capitalism.
Cars are only one example of how capitalism and the consumer culture degrade the well being of people and planet. We know what eco footprints are. That's the damage human activity causes on the natural world. We can add the term social footprint. Our positive human potential, progress and uplift as individuals and a society is also diminished by capitalism, the consumer culture. Many familiar products and services including cars, suburbia, pop culture distractions, junk food and a lot more disempower or social capacities.
Virtually all the well know problems and downward trends of our time have a common denominator and that common denominator is this growth based, cost externalizing, profits above all economic system. Cars are a huge chunk of that economic system. When we thoughtfully push back on cars, we push back on many of the damaging aspects of capitalism and the consumer culture as diverse as climate change, affordable housing, species extinction, economic dis-equity and the celebration of vanity and excess.
I use the term paradigm shift. In the sense applied here, paradigm shift refers to a deep and fundamental change in our values, goals and how we interact with the social and physical world around us.
Humans have enormous positive potentials as individuals, as friends, neighbors, communities and society to live healthy, uplifted and productive lives within the boundaries of the natural world. If we don't have a conception of human destiny, we can make one up. These ideals are good ones. There are more.
We can enjoy many of the benefits of these modern times even as we move forward with paradigm shift. An important term to understand is “prioritize time and money.” That means we are purposeful with how we manage our own personal resources. Importantly, people can coordinate their own time and money with others for mutual benefit. Common cause is an essential part of paradigm shift.
Moving towards a sustainable society, we patronize the products and services that serve a sustainable future and we leave the rest behind. We make time for building civic culture, to play an active part in making our communities better places to live. Reducing the need and use of cars fits in.
Many products, services and jobs we are familiar with at this time in history will not make the cut to a sustainable future. The car culture as we know it, does not make the cut.
Our focus in this article is transportation and transportation means cars and cars and its close companion suburbia are two of the most iconic and damaging products of capitalism and its consumer culture.
Permaculture is about living in balance, respect and well being with the natural world and with our fellow humans. The auto centric society, the consumer culture and capitalism do not share those ideals and values.
Should those who advocate and teach permaculture actively call for a future beyond cars, capitalism and the consumer culture? A short review of how cars came to dominate our way of life and world view and then a thoughtful critique of capitalism through the lens of permaculture's 12 principles can be helpful for answering some questions.
Transportation And Cars
Cars did not just appear. They are the most recent in a long line of transportation innovations.
The image above. Not sure but I think its El Paso, Texas. Absolutely one of the most horrific examples of transportation/commercial land use I have ever seen.
In modern transportation history, the omnibus was a sort of urban stage coach in the mid 19th century. There was the horse railway a few decades later, a horse or mule pulling a trolley on tracks through town with a schedule. There was the cable car. A huge innovation was the electric trolley towards the end of the 19th century. An important advance for the trolley was to lower the top of the track flush to street surface level.
With each transportation innovation, people came to live further and further from where they worked, did their shopping and took care of other needs. Many trolley companies were actually owned by land development companies. The trolley lines opened up relatively cheap distant parcels of land to suburban residential development.
Trollies and interurban rail were common throughout the US during the first half of the 20th century. There was an interurban here in the Willamette Valley connecting Eugene with Portland with links to Corvallis, Albany, Salem and many places in between. In the mid 1920's there there were a dozen trains between Eugene and Portland every day. Now there are two even though our regional population is many times larger.
Eugene had its own public but privately owned trolley system. It featured a special Saturday night run for Eugene patrons returning late from Springfield. At the time, Springfield was wet and Eugene was dry. You can still see the tracks here and there around town. Many other trolley systems, came to an end, more or less mid last century with the rise of the car and a bit of big business skulduggery.
In modern transportation history, the omnibus was a sort of urban stage coach in the mid 19th century. There was the horse railway a few decades later, a horse or mule pulling a trolley on tracks through town with a schedule. There was the cable car. A huge innovation was the electric trolley towards the end of the 19th century. An important advance for the trolley was to lower the top of the track flush to street surface level.
With each transportation innovation, people came to live further and further from where they worked, did their shopping and took care of other needs. Many trolley companies were actually owned by land development companies. The trolley lines opened up relatively cheap distant parcels of land to suburban residential development.
Trollies and interurban rail were common throughout the US during the first half of the 20th century. There was an interurban here in the Willamette Valley connecting Eugene with Portland with links to Corvallis, Albany, Salem and many places in between. In the mid 1920's there there were a dozen trains between Eugene and Portland every day. Now there are two even though our regional population is many times larger.
Eugene had its own public but privately owned trolley system. It featured a special Saturday night run for Eugene patrons returning late from Springfield. At the time, Springfield was wet and Eugene was dry. You can still see the tracks here and there around town. Many other trolley systems, came to an end, more or less mid last century with the rise of the car and a bit of big business skulduggery.
The Los Angeles area had an extensive interurban. The Pacific Electric, almost 100 years ago, could boast of serving distant locations with lines radiating out from downtown to San Bernardino, San Fernando, Balboa, Santa Monica and Long Beach.
I used to live in Dallas, Texas. Not long before my time, there was an interurban connecting Dallas to seventy mile distant Denison, also Corsicana, Denton, Waco, Ft. Worth to the west and Terrell to the east.
Typically, a trolley stop was a commercial area with residential development easing out some distance. One could make their stop, do some shopping and walk home. This is the ideal for urban design, the proverbial transit oriented development or TOD.
All the interurban locations described above and many other have modern fragments of those former expansive networks. Many cities and town are trying to rebuild light rail and trolley along with transit oriented development but the cost is immense and cars still rule.
I used to live in Dallas, Texas. Not long before my time, there was an interurban connecting Dallas to seventy mile distant Denison, also Corsicana, Denton, Waco, Ft. Worth to the west and Terrell to the east.
Typically, a trolley stop was a commercial area with residential development easing out some distance. One could make their stop, do some shopping and walk home. This is the ideal for urban design, the proverbial transit oriented development or TOD.
All the interurban locations described above and many other have modern fragments of those former expansive networks. Many cities and town are trying to rebuild light rail and trolley along with transit oriented development but the cost is immense and cars still rule.
Cars and trucks came to dominate our nation's transportation for a number of reasons. 1] Historical timing 2] Car related business interests influenced government policy 3] The devotion of capitalism to oversize products 4] Cars appeal to human's love of gadgets 5] Advertising amplified that human appeal
I recommend a book with the title “Crabgrass Frontier” by Ken Jackson. Its a history of suburbia and that includes transportation. Suburbia and cars are inseparable. The book is easy reading and very informative. Ken teaches history at Columbia University. I have talked with him.
Cars ascended partly because of the assembly line production in the 19 teens. Mass production lowered the cost. US government housing and transportation policy for the past 100 years has favored cars and suburbia at the expense of rail and urban residential density. Roads have been a public expense via taxes while rail has been, for the most part, a private expense, on its own.
Federal housing policy during the Great Depression favored suburban residential development to create jobs for un employed construction workers. Government backed mortgage insurance was made available to facilitate the purchase of those suburban homes. There was a severe housing shortage following WW II and suburban development again was favored, a well deserved reward for returning Gis assisted in purchase by the GI Bill.
After WW II, war time industries were re tooled to produce civilian products. Those suburban houses were the perfect place to be the destination for a flood of cars, refrigerators, furniture, TVs and the rest. Many suburban developments, such as Levittown included racist property ownership restrictions. The term red lining comes to us from this post war era.
New uses of social theory made their way into the realm of modern advertising. Purchases with credit became common. The foundations were set for the rise of the middle class. Cars and home ownership took their places as the apex products of the accelerating consumer culture. They were the core products and wants of the mythical American Dream.
And very important to emphasize, suburbia would not exist without cars. The two are economic Siamese Twins.
In Ken's book, he describes how economic interests with much to gain from home and highway construction, have deeply and successfully influenced government housing and transportation policy.
Many with an interest in transportation are acquainted with how General Motors, Standard Oil of California, Firestone Tire and others with name recognition covertly took over dozens of private city transportation companies with the intent to replace the street cars with buses. The business were found guilty of conspiracy to manipulate commerce. Their punishment was minimal. We are all suffering the results. We have cars, sprawl and busses instead of rail and walkable neighborhoods.
The term “jay walking” comes to us from the 1920's and 30's. Before cars, streets were for people. This is not to over romanticize urban living. Many high density residential locations included terrible living conditions. Cars do not share streets with people so there was a transition period from streets for people to streets for cars.
Jay walking is a derogatory term invented by car enthusiasts at that time to shame people who had the nerve to use public streets as places to walk. As cars became more common, their advocates in car clubs and car retailers helped push people onto sidewalks so the cars could have the streets to themselves. Many cities took up the jaywalking cause by outlawing people to walk in the streets. Pavement for cars can take up to a third and even more of an urban area.
I recommend a book with the title “Crabgrass Frontier” by Ken Jackson. Its a history of suburbia and that includes transportation. Suburbia and cars are inseparable. The book is easy reading and very informative. Ken teaches history at Columbia University. I have talked with him.
Cars ascended partly because of the assembly line production in the 19 teens. Mass production lowered the cost. US government housing and transportation policy for the past 100 years has favored cars and suburbia at the expense of rail and urban residential density. Roads have been a public expense via taxes while rail has been, for the most part, a private expense, on its own.
Federal housing policy during the Great Depression favored suburban residential development to create jobs for un employed construction workers. Government backed mortgage insurance was made available to facilitate the purchase of those suburban homes. There was a severe housing shortage following WW II and suburban development again was favored, a well deserved reward for returning Gis assisted in purchase by the GI Bill.
After WW II, war time industries were re tooled to produce civilian products. Those suburban houses were the perfect place to be the destination for a flood of cars, refrigerators, furniture, TVs and the rest. Many suburban developments, such as Levittown included racist property ownership restrictions. The term red lining comes to us from this post war era.
New uses of social theory made their way into the realm of modern advertising. Purchases with credit became common. The foundations were set for the rise of the middle class. Cars and home ownership took their places as the apex products of the accelerating consumer culture. They were the core products and wants of the mythical American Dream.
And very important to emphasize, suburbia would not exist without cars. The two are economic Siamese Twins.
In Ken's book, he describes how economic interests with much to gain from home and highway construction, have deeply and successfully influenced government housing and transportation policy.
Many with an interest in transportation are acquainted with how General Motors, Standard Oil of California, Firestone Tire and others with name recognition covertly took over dozens of private city transportation companies with the intent to replace the street cars with buses. The business were found guilty of conspiracy to manipulate commerce. Their punishment was minimal. We are all suffering the results. We have cars, sprawl and busses instead of rail and walkable neighborhoods.
The term “jay walking” comes to us from the 1920's and 30's. Before cars, streets were for people. This is not to over romanticize urban living. Many high density residential locations included terrible living conditions. Cars do not share streets with people so there was a transition period from streets for people to streets for cars.
Jay walking is a derogatory term invented by car enthusiasts at that time to shame people who had the nerve to use public streets as places to walk. As cars became more common, their advocates in car clubs and car retailers helped push people onto sidewalks so the cars could have the streets to themselves. Many cities took up the jaywalking cause by outlawing people to walk in the streets. Pavement for cars can take up to a third and even more of an urban area.
In the mid 1950's, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed a commission to study the idea of a limited access, uniformly designed, free from stop lights coast to coast highway system, ostensibly for military purposes. The chair of the committee appointed by Eisenhower was a retired general with ties to General Motors.
Of course, the commission advised in favor of what became the nation's interstate highway system. The interstate highways pumped up the car culture while opening vast areas on the periphery of cities to suburban residential development during the late 50's into the 60's and up to the present. Again, cars and suburbia go together
In the late 1950's, our family moved from a rural subdivision near Fishkill, New York to a suburban, four bedroom, brick ranch style home in a subdivision with many dozens of other such homes, in north Dallas, Texas. The property had an air conditioned dog house. We lived in the last built out suburban neighborhood before some countryside opened up to the north. My dad commuted to 5 mile distant Texas Instruments.
Now, the edge of urban development in that area extends north past the 10 lane LBJ Freeway [I 610], car dealerships, shopping malls, strip malls, new residential developments and stoplights 15 miles solid to Frisco. The one time lonely Frisco flashing yellow traffic light surrounded by sorghum and cotton fields is now a city of 200,000 and the home of the Dallas Cowboys and the National Soccer Museum. Cars rule.
I have traveled a good deal in Europe. Far denser European cities take up a fraction of the land area compared to their similar population sized American counterparts. Barcelona has a high level of urban density. Atlanta, Georgia, compared to Barcelona takes up about 25 times more land area even though their regional populations are comparable. Spread out suburbia is the reason why. People live up, not out in Barcelona. We will have a look at Barcelona's exciting “super blocks” in a future article.
The Interstates were also known for bulldozing minority neighborhoods in many cities so mostly white commuters could access their downtown jobs from their mostly white suburban homes. The Interstate system totals almost 49,000 miles, the nation's largest ever public works project. In today's dollars, the cost would be about half a trillion dollars. The interstates stimulated economic development, reduced use of rail transportation in favor of trucks and greatly increased the use and dependence on cars. Earlier years construction of the interstate system is reaching the end of its intended lifespan.
Of course, the commission advised in favor of what became the nation's interstate highway system. The interstate highways pumped up the car culture while opening vast areas on the periphery of cities to suburban residential development during the late 50's into the 60's and up to the present. Again, cars and suburbia go together
In the late 1950's, our family moved from a rural subdivision near Fishkill, New York to a suburban, four bedroom, brick ranch style home in a subdivision with many dozens of other such homes, in north Dallas, Texas. The property had an air conditioned dog house. We lived in the last built out suburban neighborhood before some countryside opened up to the north. My dad commuted to 5 mile distant Texas Instruments.
Now, the edge of urban development in that area extends north past the 10 lane LBJ Freeway [I 610], car dealerships, shopping malls, strip malls, new residential developments and stoplights 15 miles solid to Frisco. The one time lonely Frisco flashing yellow traffic light surrounded by sorghum and cotton fields is now a city of 200,000 and the home of the Dallas Cowboys and the National Soccer Museum. Cars rule.
I have traveled a good deal in Europe. Far denser European cities take up a fraction of the land area compared to their similar population sized American counterparts. Barcelona has a high level of urban density. Atlanta, Georgia, compared to Barcelona takes up about 25 times more land area even though their regional populations are comparable. Spread out suburbia is the reason why. People live up, not out in Barcelona. We will have a look at Barcelona's exciting “super blocks” in a future article.
The Interstates were also known for bulldozing minority neighborhoods in many cities so mostly white commuters could access their downtown jobs from their mostly white suburban homes. The Interstate system totals almost 49,000 miles, the nation's largest ever public works project. In today's dollars, the cost would be about half a trillion dollars. The interstates stimulated economic development, reduced use of rail transportation in favor of trucks and greatly increased the use and dependence on cars. Earlier years construction of the interstate system is reaching the end of its intended lifespan.
Along with the aging interstates highways there is an increasing sense, even among the Mainstream, that highways and cars as we know them are not such a good idea. We need to be making transportation and urban design plans that are more friendly to people and planet. Do we have the time and money to repair and retrofit our towns and cities to become sustainable? As a level headed person with great interest in the issue, I would say no way. We simply don't have the money and probably not the time to fully repair American cities and towns.
The time? Yes the time. There is a price to pay for what capitalism has done to our cities and towns. Some kind of poly crisis, already incubating; part resource, part eco logical, part economic, part social, a lot of karma, will make an un ambiguous statement about cars and the consumer culture in its own good time.
Retrofitting Dallas, Las Vegas and dozens of other car dependent cities to make them people and planet friendly, given the eco logical and economic trends is simply unlikely. The issue is not just transportation. Those cities need water, food, energy and other inputs often delivered from hundreds if not thousands of miles away. There is no easy exit from the car culture. Still, the more people who do create alternatives, the better. Collaborations between friends and neighbors may be the best option given the inability and disinterest, of the economic system and its keepers to appreciably change course, much less embrace paradigm shift.
I asked Ken Jackson, the author of Crabgrass Frontier, if he thought self serving economic interests, the businesses that profited by cars, highway construction and suburbia had had a profound affect on bringing about this auto dependent way of life and its many problems. He said yes, of course.
A term used in economics is “external cost.” The term refers to the condition where the price paid for a product or service does not address the damage that service or product imposes on public well being and the environment.
Various efforts have guesstimated that the cost of a gallon of gasoline, if all the external costs were included, would range upwards from 20 to 30 dollars or more per gallon. Some of those external costs include accidents to people and property, air pollution, oil spills, time lost in traffic jams, the military to protect the global oil supply, the dispiriting car centric urban landscape, costly highway infrastructure and repair, low income people skimping on family needs to pay for the car and its various other expenses.
At the same time, cars facilitate an enormous amount of economic activity such as people driving to their jobs that provide products and services, driving to the store to buy stuff. Spending thousands of dollars each year on car expenses. Trucks deliver products to countless stores and shopping centers all over the country. I ride my bike to a nearby truck dependent big box for my soy milk. Cars and trucks produce an enormous amount of economic activity.
So we have cars and trucks that are responsible for many billions in damage to people and planet yet we are dependent on them for many necessary and healthy products and services.
The time? Yes the time. There is a price to pay for what capitalism has done to our cities and towns. Some kind of poly crisis, already incubating; part resource, part eco logical, part economic, part social, a lot of karma, will make an un ambiguous statement about cars and the consumer culture in its own good time.
Retrofitting Dallas, Las Vegas and dozens of other car dependent cities to make them people and planet friendly, given the eco logical and economic trends is simply unlikely. The issue is not just transportation. Those cities need water, food, energy and other inputs often delivered from hundreds if not thousands of miles away. There is no easy exit from the car culture. Still, the more people who do create alternatives, the better. Collaborations between friends and neighbors may be the best option given the inability and disinterest, of the economic system and its keepers to appreciably change course, much less embrace paradigm shift.
I asked Ken Jackson, the author of Crabgrass Frontier, if he thought self serving economic interests, the businesses that profited by cars, highway construction and suburbia had had a profound affect on bringing about this auto dependent way of life and its many problems. He said yes, of course.
A term used in economics is “external cost.” The term refers to the condition where the price paid for a product or service does not address the damage that service or product imposes on public well being and the environment.
Various efforts have guesstimated that the cost of a gallon of gasoline, if all the external costs were included, would range upwards from 20 to 30 dollars or more per gallon. Some of those external costs include accidents to people and property, air pollution, oil spills, time lost in traffic jams, the military to protect the global oil supply, the dispiriting car centric urban landscape, costly highway infrastructure and repair, low income people skimping on family needs to pay for the car and its various other expenses.
At the same time, cars facilitate an enormous amount of economic activity such as people driving to their jobs that provide products and services, driving to the store to buy stuff. Spending thousands of dollars each year on car expenses. Trucks deliver products to countless stores and shopping centers all over the country. I ride my bike to a nearby truck dependent big box for my soy milk. Cars and trucks produce an enormous amount of economic activity.
So we have cars and trucks that are responsible for many billions in damage to people and planet yet we are dependent on them for many necessary and healthy products and services.
Cars are do not need to be a necessity of life. But many millions of people have become hostage to a lifestyle where cars are a near necessity because there are limited options for taking care of their needs without a car. In the Middle Ages, peasants were exploited and tied to someone else's land with little option. We have an automobile peasantry at the present time.
Millions of people are automobile peasants, beholden to the automobile, highway and oil industrial complex. Instead of being tied to the land, these modern peasants are tied to their cars. We are on the receiving end of one of history's most remarkable examples of social engineering. Imagine, paying for our own suffering.
Given the immense problems at this point in history directly related to over consumption, in particular cars and suburbia, we should be pioneering ways to reduce our need and use of cars while keeping the good stuff the current economic system produces. An increasing number of people are already engaged in paradigm shift. We do have allies and assets for this task. Permaculture being one of the best.
Do I have a car? No I don't. Like many people, I had a car or truck since high school. Even as a big critic of cars, I had my Ranger until last summer when I gave it away after 33 years, to a local charity. It had 85,000 miles. It served me well and I have no regrets not having it. I ride a self powered, non electric recumbent bike year round. I go for weeks without riding in a car at all.
That said, I am not totally anti car. I am critical of cars used as is the norm at this time in history. I would be better with one car shared by, say 20 people. That condition of course would require far improved public transportation and reworking our urban land use towards the proverbial 15 minute neighborhood. And also simply not engaging in so many behaviors that require cars in the first place.
A month ago, I discovered there is a small size public bus that connects Eugene with Florence on the coast. There's another even smaller bus that connects Florence to several towns up the coast. So I put my bike on the bus in Eugene, took the two busses to Yachats, north of Florence. I rode my bike the 25 miles south to Florence along the awesome Oregon coast on a primo December day. I caught the afternoon bus back to Eugene and rode home from the Eugene bus stop at the train station. I spent 15 dollars on bus fair, had a pik nik lunch watching the larger than usual waves exploding on the rocks by a light house and had a wonderful car free day.
The lesson. When we look for alternatives to the usual, we might find there is more available then we realize. We just might need to take the time to make use of unexpected opportunities.
Of course, the services and options for reducing use of cars is not the reality for most people at this time. But we can still move towards a more conscious way of living. Not owning a car is easier for me than for most people but I have made thoughtful choices over the years that make not having a car a lot easier. This option is available for many people.
I see electric cars as a distraction. Another green wash. Electric cars are, basically, just another example of marketing a slight variation of a damaging but very profitable product, with little if any interest in seriously addressing the source of the automobile problem.
But, history is on the side of diminishing car ownership, by choice or by default. We are already in the early going. I am certain, we will either make the changes required by the laws of Physics, History and Karma or we will wish we had. As they say, Nature bats last. Reducing use of cars and reducing our eco footprints overall is in our best interests, not only for the natural world but also for our own humanity. People and planet deserve better than the consumer culture.
Millions of people are automobile peasants, beholden to the automobile, highway and oil industrial complex. Instead of being tied to the land, these modern peasants are tied to their cars. We are on the receiving end of one of history's most remarkable examples of social engineering. Imagine, paying for our own suffering.
Given the immense problems at this point in history directly related to over consumption, in particular cars and suburbia, we should be pioneering ways to reduce our need and use of cars while keeping the good stuff the current economic system produces. An increasing number of people are already engaged in paradigm shift. We do have allies and assets for this task. Permaculture being one of the best.
Do I have a car? No I don't. Like many people, I had a car or truck since high school. Even as a big critic of cars, I had my Ranger until last summer when I gave it away after 33 years, to a local charity. It had 85,000 miles. It served me well and I have no regrets not having it. I ride a self powered, non electric recumbent bike year round. I go for weeks without riding in a car at all.
That said, I am not totally anti car. I am critical of cars used as is the norm at this time in history. I would be better with one car shared by, say 20 people. That condition of course would require far improved public transportation and reworking our urban land use towards the proverbial 15 minute neighborhood. And also simply not engaging in so many behaviors that require cars in the first place.
A month ago, I discovered there is a small size public bus that connects Eugene with Florence on the coast. There's another even smaller bus that connects Florence to several towns up the coast. So I put my bike on the bus in Eugene, took the two busses to Yachats, north of Florence. I rode my bike the 25 miles south to Florence along the awesome Oregon coast on a primo December day. I caught the afternoon bus back to Eugene and rode home from the Eugene bus stop at the train station. I spent 15 dollars on bus fair, had a pik nik lunch watching the larger than usual waves exploding on the rocks by a light house and had a wonderful car free day.
The lesson. When we look for alternatives to the usual, we might find there is more available then we realize. We just might need to take the time to make use of unexpected opportunities.
Of course, the services and options for reducing use of cars is not the reality for most people at this time. But we can still move towards a more conscious way of living. Not owning a car is easier for me than for most people but I have made thoughtful choices over the years that make not having a car a lot easier. This option is available for many people.
I see electric cars as a distraction. Another green wash. Electric cars are, basically, just another example of marketing a slight variation of a damaging but very profitable product, with little if any interest in seriously addressing the source of the automobile problem.
But, history is on the side of diminishing car ownership, by choice or by default. We are already in the early going. I am certain, we will either make the changes required by the laws of Physics, History and Karma or we will wish we had. As they say, Nature bats last. Reducing use of cars and reducing our eco footprints overall is in our best interests, not only for the natural world but also for our own humanity. People and planet deserve better than the consumer culture.
6 PC Principles
Permaculture meets the automobile.
Here is a critique of cars based on this writer's take on permaculture ethics – earth care, people care, fair share and the 12 recognized permaculture principles.
There is a lot of overlap between the different permaculture principles. Comments I make for one principle can be applied to others so there is a modest degree of repetition. How would you assess cars with permaculture principles?
Observe and interact.
We can easily observe the car culture. It is hard to miss. Cars take up an enormous amount of urban space and most would say it is a dispiriting landscape with freeways, noise, air pollution, strip malls, franchise fast food, bill boards and all the rest. Interacting with the the car centric landscape cannot be healthy. I ride a bike, I know. We grew up with cars, we are used to them we are numb to them. We are forced to interact with them.
The consumer culture numbs us down to imagine and create a society that humans deserve and are capable of. We should be active and thoughtful in our short, medium and longterm personal goals to reduce use of cars and other unhealthy products of the consumer culture. The money and time we don't spend on unhealthy products can be redirected instead towards positive outcomes.
Best to interact with others who also have ideals to reduce eco footprints and encourage each other. And share these ideas with people who may be new to thinking this was about cars. If we observe the tragedy of cars, we need to interact with our own conscious and others to push back.
Catch And Store Energy
Cars are dependent on constant energy and money inputs. Cars absolutely perform essential services but only because there are few options for most people to take care of their needs in healthy ways. Oil is amazingly energy dense. It takes eons to turn plants into oil and then little time to turn oil into gasoline and then to burn it up. For cars, it is perfect and it is killing us. Money is energy, too. Less money spent on cars, more money for productive use.
For many who would love to live near work, school, shopping or be able to avoid big auto expenses, living without a car might be impossible. Downsizing our eco footprints can save money and that could mean less need to work for money which can lead to less need for cars or more time to ride share. Diminishing the use of cars means we can catch and store more of our own energy, time and money for positive outcomes.
Obtain A Yield
Efficiency is a core myth of capitalism. The capitalist myth of efficiency claims to allocate resources in the most productive way possible. One would have a hard time imagining a form of transportation less efficient than a car other than even larger cars and monster trucks. By far, the great majority of a car's energy use is simply to move its own steel and plastic carcass. Most of the time, the useful load, a single person, is negligible. In terms of thermo dynamics, cars are a disaster. The benefits they do provide, under the car centric circumstances could be replaced in a far less energy intensive way with simple smart land use.
Of course, sensible and modest lifestyles would be a disaster for this economic system.
Our own personal yields are compromised by having to buy into a remarkably inefficient System. Spending less time in the consumer culture opens up time to produce more desirable social and well being yields in our own lives.
Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback
Our economic system does not welcome feedback unless its profitable. We know cars kill 40 K people in the US every year and cause literally hundred of billions in property damage. Recall from above, the comments about external costs of cars. All those damages and many more are disregarded by the Mainstream economic system. We have more and larger cars than ever. Damage and mayhem is often “good” for this economy.
Self regulation and feedback to climate change and many other problems would lead to far far fewer cars. Homes would be smaller, more densely developed and lived in . People would have to learn how to be better behaved. There would be no junk food, the end of confined feeding of animals, limited violent entertainment, fewer vanity based products. For starters.
The goal for capitalism is not to self regulate and eliminate problem, its to make more money from technical innovation to do “something” about the problem but not about the real cause of the problem. Imagine, millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. Some call this disaster capitalism. Can you think of anything more corrupt than making money from products we know damage the environment and even kill people. And then, to even advertise to encourage the use of those unhealthy products.
If the economic system and those who serve it really cared about public health and the well being of the natural world, our lifestyles, transportation, urban design and all the rest would be immensely different from what we have. The need for the economic system to grow is the System's primary goal. Capitalism is simply not able to self regulate. The economic system is not broken, damage to people and planet in countless ways is just what it does. It is unable and not interested to self regulate.
Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services
Our transportation system and society overwhelmingly depends on non renewable energy. This system is immensely wasteful and that waste is very profitable. Big cars loaded with tech and big homes loaded with far more stuff than needed make more profit. There are untold books and articles that go into more detail. Try “Small is Beautiful” and “Your Money Or Your Life.” The occasional news item about some breakthrough in fusion power serves to reduce guilt for those who do not want to downsize. A good excuse to keep consuming is the belief that some breakthrough like fusion will made eternal growth and prosperity possible.
Permaculture meets the automobile.
Here is a critique of cars based on this writer's take on permaculture ethics – earth care, people care, fair share and the 12 recognized permaculture principles.
There is a lot of overlap between the different permaculture principles. Comments I make for one principle can be applied to others so there is a modest degree of repetition. How would you assess cars with permaculture principles?
Observe and interact.
We can easily observe the car culture. It is hard to miss. Cars take up an enormous amount of urban space and most would say it is a dispiriting landscape with freeways, noise, air pollution, strip malls, franchise fast food, bill boards and all the rest. Interacting with the the car centric landscape cannot be healthy. I ride a bike, I know. We grew up with cars, we are used to them we are numb to them. We are forced to interact with them.
The consumer culture numbs us down to imagine and create a society that humans deserve and are capable of. We should be active and thoughtful in our short, medium and longterm personal goals to reduce use of cars and other unhealthy products of the consumer culture. The money and time we don't spend on unhealthy products can be redirected instead towards positive outcomes.
Best to interact with others who also have ideals to reduce eco footprints and encourage each other. And share these ideas with people who may be new to thinking this was about cars. If we observe the tragedy of cars, we need to interact with our own conscious and others to push back.
Catch And Store Energy
Cars are dependent on constant energy and money inputs. Cars absolutely perform essential services but only because there are few options for most people to take care of their needs in healthy ways. Oil is amazingly energy dense. It takes eons to turn plants into oil and then little time to turn oil into gasoline and then to burn it up. For cars, it is perfect and it is killing us. Money is energy, too. Less money spent on cars, more money for productive use.
For many who would love to live near work, school, shopping or be able to avoid big auto expenses, living without a car might be impossible. Downsizing our eco footprints can save money and that could mean less need to work for money which can lead to less need for cars or more time to ride share. Diminishing the use of cars means we can catch and store more of our own energy, time and money for positive outcomes.
Obtain A Yield
Efficiency is a core myth of capitalism. The capitalist myth of efficiency claims to allocate resources in the most productive way possible. One would have a hard time imagining a form of transportation less efficient than a car other than even larger cars and monster trucks. By far, the great majority of a car's energy use is simply to move its own steel and plastic carcass. Most of the time, the useful load, a single person, is negligible. In terms of thermo dynamics, cars are a disaster. The benefits they do provide, under the car centric circumstances could be replaced in a far less energy intensive way with simple smart land use.
Of course, sensible and modest lifestyles would be a disaster for this economic system.
Our own personal yields are compromised by having to buy into a remarkably inefficient System. Spending less time in the consumer culture opens up time to produce more desirable social and well being yields in our own lives.
Apply Self Regulation and Accept Feedback
Our economic system does not welcome feedback unless its profitable. We know cars kill 40 K people in the US every year and cause literally hundred of billions in property damage. Recall from above, the comments about external costs of cars. All those damages and many more are disregarded by the Mainstream economic system. We have more and larger cars than ever. Damage and mayhem is often “good” for this economy.
Self regulation and feedback to climate change and many other problems would lead to far far fewer cars. Homes would be smaller, more densely developed and lived in . People would have to learn how to be better behaved. There would be no junk food, the end of confined feeding of animals, limited violent entertainment, fewer vanity based products. For starters.
The goal for capitalism is not to self regulate and eliminate problem, its to make more money from technical innovation to do “something” about the problem but not about the real cause of the problem. Imagine, millions of jobs exist to repair the damage caused by millions of other jobs. Some call this disaster capitalism. Can you think of anything more corrupt than making money from products we know damage the environment and even kill people. And then, to even advertise to encourage the use of those unhealthy products.
If the economic system and those who serve it really cared about public health and the well being of the natural world, our lifestyles, transportation, urban design and all the rest would be immensely different from what we have. The need for the economic system to grow is the System's primary goal. Capitalism is simply not able to self regulate. The economic system is not broken, damage to people and planet in countless ways is just what it does. It is unable and not interested to self regulate.
Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services
Our transportation system and society overwhelmingly depends on non renewable energy. This system is immensely wasteful and that waste is very profitable. Big cars loaded with tech and big homes loaded with far more stuff than needed make more profit. There are untold books and articles that go into more detail. Try “Small is Beautiful” and “Your Money Or Your Life.” The occasional news item about some breakthrough in fusion power serves to reduce guilt for those who do not want to downsize. A good excuse to keep consuming is the belief that some breakthrough like fusion will made eternal growth and prosperity possible.
Humans have had a very cheap run with fossil fuels. The track record should concern us. The stats are something like in the early days of oil production and use, one unit of energy invested delivered something like 100 units of energy out. Picture an oil gusher. Look at what has been done with that abundance! The economic system does not have the ethics or interest to moderate itself for the good of people and planet. Cheap energy and resources enable wasteful living.
Even many electric bikes look more like two wheeled sport utility vehicles. Make a bike that doesn't need much human power where pedaling is a mere formality and load it up with so many features one would have a hard time using it if the battery ran out.. Cheap energy distorts reality. We don't need cheap energy, we need to live within the boundaries of the natural world and learn how to value and pay an honest price what we use.
Produce No Waste
Lots of overlap from previous principles. Cars, freeways and suburbia as we know them do address basic needs. People need to move from one place to another for work, play, school, shopping, social needs and what people simply do in their lives. People need and deserve a home for comfort and security.
Cars and suburbia are supersized because they create more economic activity and profits than slow and simple solutions. Even average lifestyles produce an enormous amount of waste. I have answered the questions of a well known footprint calculator. It asks questions about where and how you live, how you travel, what kind of food do you eat? What do you buy? On and on. My score was one earth meaning everyone on planet earth could live like me and we would be sustainable.
That assessment seems forgiving because I still depend on products and services that are not sustainable. My still very comfortable lifestyle is, without question, not the aspiration of even a lower income person let along middle class or affluent. I don't have a car, share my modest home with 3 other people, vegetarian, don't have a mobile phone, listen to cassette tapes. [Check my footprint article in Post Carbon's Resilience Magazine] Capitalism cannot exist without producing enormous waste.
Even many electric bikes look more like two wheeled sport utility vehicles. Make a bike that doesn't need much human power where pedaling is a mere formality and load it up with so many features one would have a hard time using it if the battery ran out.. Cheap energy distorts reality. We don't need cheap energy, we need to live within the boundaries of the natural world and learn how to value and pay an honest price what we use.
Produce No Waste
Lots of overlap from previous principles. Cars, freeways and suburbia as we know them do address basic needs. People need to move from one place to another for work, play, school, shopping, social needs and what people simply do in their lives. People need and deserve a home for comfort and security.
Cars and suburbia are supersized because they create more economic activity and profits than slow and simple solutions. Even average lifestyles produce an enormous amount of waste. I have answered the questions of a well known footprint calculator. It asks questions about where and how you live, how you travel, what kind of food do you eat? What do you buy? On and on. My score was one earth meaning everyone on planet earth could live like me and we would be sustainable.
That assessment seems forgiving because I still depend on products and services that are not sustainable. My still very comfortable lifestyle is, without question, not the aspiration of even a lower income person let along middle class or affluent. I don't have a car, share my modest home with 3 other people, vegetarian, don't have a mobile phone, listen to cassette tapes. [Check my footprint article in Post Carbon's Resilience Magazine] Capitalism cannot exist without producing enormous waste.
An important footprint exception. Two summers in Europe [extreme low budget]. I rented an apartment in the small city of Alghero, Sardegna, Italy for 3 weeks in the summer of 2022. The location was on the main street, my rental from a friend, on the 4th floor of a nice but nothing special apartment building. The place had a tile terrace and movable awning. The view down was to trees, the sidewalk and traffic. Straight across across the street at the same level as me were other apartments and their terraces. I could see the Med down the street. There was an outdoor cafe within feet of the entry gate to the sidewalk. An awesome pizza place next to that. A hair salon going the other way.
Within a five minute walk was a veggie market, bike shop, banks and ATMs, home appliance store, more places to eat, a florist, bakery, several clothing stores, grocery store, pharmacy, veterinarian, computer services, office supplies and more. People would meet and greet going about their errands. And there were a lot of parked cars, too. I was sorry to see so many cars. And always some kind of street or sidewalk repair. This was a walkable place to live. Even the lungo mare and centro vecchio were minutes by bike. Many people did not need a car for everyday errands. I had a bike.
Cars and suburbia fit within a larger economic and cultural context that we accept without question because thats what we have been taught and its what we grew up with and expect. The so called American Dream is all about working hard to afford excess. A common attitude - people who miss out on affluence and over-consumption, have only themselves to blame, as if over consumption is an desirable part of life. Excess above what is comfortably needed is waste. A society that uses a lot of resources, like our average five earth footprints, just because of the abundance of Nature, is unethical and tragic.
I read about apartment buildings in New York City that contained relatively affordable places to live. The story described how the older buildings were gutted so they could be remodeled into fewer but more profitable larger units. Renters who had been there for years had to leave because they couldn't afford the new rent. Affordable housing is a crisis in this country. There is no shortage of space and building materials. Affordable housing is in short supply because its not as profitable as oversize.
Here in Eugene and even across the street from me, the city has spent millions creating rain gardens along streets. Rain runoff from the street is directed from gutters to open cement lined channels with various kinds of plants in them. The idea is to clean the water on site and avoid street runoff from overloading the sewage treatment plant or prevent storm water running off the street straight into the river.
Of course, we want to avoid pollution. The reason for all these expensive rain gardens is because there is so much impermeable surface on behalf of cars. Add rain gardens to the many other interventions to mitigate the damage caused by cars such as flashing lights for cross walks, air bags and now all kinds of on board high tech warning systems. There is minimal discussion that maybe we should just move away from oil and cars.
Produce no waste is a wonderful idea. A society that produced no waste would not look like what we have now. This country's consumer affluence and millions of jobs are made possible by wasting energy, resources and time.
Design From Patterns To Details
We are familiar with the patterns of damage caused by cars and overconsumption of energy and resources in general. They are totally predictable. Extinct species, huge issues of drug abuse, homelessness, climate change, celebrities, sports, gambling and a raft of other distractions are all avoidable costs to people and planet. Damaging patterns and products are profitable and are promoted and even celebrated.
We can be designing our lives for uplifting alternatives. We can do that at home, ideally with neighbors and friends. We can create examples of what is sensible and healthy. Permaculture is the best set of principles and ideals I know of for paradigm shift. Imagine a city or town based on permaculture principles and how it could lift the spirit and reduce impact on the environment.
Thats a lot to ask for but bits and pieces of paradigm shift are already happening. We can do what's right and we can benefit from healthy choices in our own lives as soon as we choose to. The ideals and principles that we put into action in our own homes and neighborhoods -– food choices, transportation, home, how we contribute to the community, this is how we can share a healthy vision with others. The most powerful motivation for paradigm shift is showing what it looks like in real life.
Within a five minute walk was a veggie market, bike shop, banks and ATMs, home appliance store, more places to eat, a florist, bakery, several clothing stores, grocery store, pharmacy, veterinarian, computer services, office supplies and more. People would meet and greet going about their errands. And there were a lot of parked cars, too. I was sorry to see so many cars. And always some kind of street or sidewalk repair. This was a walkable place to live. Even the lungo mare and centro vecchio were minutes by bike. Many people did not need a car for everyday errands. I had a bike.
Cars and suburbia fit within a larger economic and cultural context that we accept without question because thats what we have been taught and its what we grew up with and expect. The so called American Dream is all about working hard to afford excess. A common attitude - people who miss out on affluence and over-consumption, have only themselves to blame, as if over consumption is an desirable part of life. Excess above what is comfortably needed is waste. A society that uses a lot of resources, like our average five earth footprints, just because of the abundance of Nature, is unethical and tragic.
I read about apartment buildings in New York City that contained relatively affordable places to live. The story described how the older buildings were gutted so they could be remodeled into fewer but more profitable larger units. Renters who had been there for years had to leave because they couldn't afford the new rent. Affordable housing is a crisis in this country. There is no shortage of space and building materials. Affordable housing is in short supply because its not as profitable as oversize.
Here in Eugene and even across the street from me, the city has spent millions creating rain gardens along streets. Rain runoff from the street is directed from gutters to open cement lined channels with various kinds of plants in them. The idea is to clean the water on site and avoid street runoff from overloading the sewage treatment plant or prevent storm water running off the street straight into the river.
Of course, we want to avoid pollution. The reason for all these expensive rain gardens is because there is so much impermeable surface on behalf of cars. Add rain gardens to the many other interventions to mitigate the damage caused by cars such as flashing lights for cross walks, air bags and now all kinds of on board high tech warning systems. There is minimal discussion that maybe we should just move away from oil and cars.
Produce no waste is a wonderful idea. A society that produced no waste would not look like what we have now. This country's consumer affluence and millions of jobs are made possible by wasting energy, resources and time.
Design From Patterns To Details
We are familiar with the patterns of damage caused by cars and overconsumption of energy and resources in general. They are totally predictable. Extinct species, huge issues of drug abuse, homelessness, climate change, celebrities, sports, gambling and a raft of other distractions are all avoidable costs to people and planet. Damaging patterns and products are profitable and are promoted and even celebrated.
We can be designing our lives for uplifting alternatives. We can do that at home, ideally with neighbors and friends. We can create examples of what is sensible and healthy. Permaculture is the best set of principles and ideals I know of for paradigm shift. Imagine a city or town based on permaculture principles and how it could lift the spirit and reduce impact on the environment.
Thats a lot to ask for but bits and pieces of paradigm shift are already happening. We can do what's right and we can benefit from healthy choices in our own lives as soon as we choose to. The ideals and principles that we put into action in our own homes and neighborhoods -– food choices, transportation, home, how we contribute to the community, this is how we can share a healthy vision with others. The most powerful motivation for paradigm shift is showing what it looks like in real life.
Integrate Rather Than Segregate
Our consumer culture and economic system is a social version of a mono culture. Its very narrow, very dependent on a limited set of conditions and resources, like oil, externalizing the cost and distractions. Our own positive potential have been segregated from our awareness. The consumer culture does not value common sense.
Several well known politicians are on record declaring the stratospherically arrogant statement “The American Way Of Life Is Non Negotiable.” That declaration tells people there are no alternatives to over consumption and they are hostage to the needs of the System that is the cause of the many social and eco logical problems we are familiar with.
The task we have is to declare, as much as we can, our own independence from that System. Not to drop out but to drop in and help create a society and economy we can be proud of that is healthy for people and planet. Paradigm shift is all about reclaiming our self worth and showing what humans are capable of.
There are many allies and assets to work with for a preferred future in any community. Our “team” is much greater than we realize. There is untold opportunity to integrate with others on behalf of paradigm shift.
Use Small And Slow Solutions
The American Dream is just about 180 degrees in the other direction of slow and small solutions. Cars and suburbia are not small and slow solutions to transportation and shelter
The consumer culture and its many billions in advertising promote the opposite of small and slow solutions. But here and there among all the nonsense, the System does produce notable products and services that can benefit sustainability. We do not have to accept what we buy as a package deal. A big part of paradigm shift is making good use of what is healthy and leave the rest behind. Product trends over the years do show large numbers of people can make healthy changes that benefit us all.
The turn against tobacco, the rise of organics and healthy food, vegetarian ideals and lifestyles show many millions have a care. Even green wash shows the public is interested in important issues. A primary task of permaculture is to bring more people further along towards sustainability. There are countless examples of people and groups purposefully creating alternatives to the System and sharing what they know with the wider world. These are small and slow solutions for our own lives, homes, neighborhoods, communities and planet.
Use and Value Diversity
Social, environmental and economic dis equity is one of the most telling problems of capitalism. We have seen the statistics. Remarkably small numbers of people own remarkably large slices of the financial and economic pie. This also creates political dis equity. The wealthy can buy political influence Money is free speech.
All manner of people suffer at the hands of dis equity but non white people are on the receiving end more so than white. Non white people are more likely to be affected by polluting industry or intrusive development projects. More poor people struggle with in adequate public transportation. For some people, paying for a car is a priority at the expense of other important needs. We know the term food desert. Poor neighborhoods often have less access to healthy food, assuming people can afford it.
Permaculture and paradigm shift would do well to reach out to those most affected by social and economic dis equity. The goal of paradigm shift is not to create a society where everything is the same. People who take risks that benefit people and planet should be encouraged and rewarded but we need to redefine what those rewards are. And people deserve some kind of guaranteed security of well being. That's only civilized.
Picture two circle “pie” graphics, one five times larger than the other. Imagine both pies with slices that represent five different groupings of people according to their wealth. The large pie is current. The wealthiest 20% have slice that takes up over 80% of the pie. The Poorest 20%, their slice is a sliver.
Our consumer culture and economic system is a social version of a mono culture. Its very narrow, very dependent on a limited set of conditions and resources, like oil, externalizing the cost and distractions. Our own positive potential have been segregated from our awareness. The consumer culture does not value common sense.
Several well known politicians are on record declaring the stratospherically arrogant statement “The American Way Of Life Is Non Negotiable.” That declaration tells people there are no alternatives to over consumption and they are hostage to the needs of the System that is the cause of the many social and eco logical problems we are familiar with.
The task we have is to declare, as much as we can, our own independence from that System. Not to drop out but to drop in and help create a society and economy we can be proud of that is healthy for people and planet. Paradigm shift is all about reclaiming our self worth and showing what humans are capable of.
There are many allies and assets to work with for a preferred future in any community. Our “team” is much greater than we realize. There is untold opportunity to integrate with others on behalf of paradigm shift.
Use Small And Slow Solutions
The American Dream is just about 180 degrees in the other direction of slow and small solutions. Cars and suburbia are not small and slow solutions to transportation and shelter
The consumer culture and its many billions in advertising promote the opposite of small and slow solutions. But here and there among all the nonsense, the System does produce notable products and services that can benefit sustainability. We do not have to accept what we buy as a package deal. A big part of paradigm shift is making good use of what is healthy and leave the rest behind. Product trends over the years do show large numbers of people can make healthy changes that benefit us all.
The turn against tobacco, the rise of organics and healthy food, vegetarian ideals and lifestyles show many millions have a care. Even green wash shows the public is interested in important issues. A primary task of permaculture is to bring more people further along towards sustainability. There are countless examples of people and groups purposefully creating alternatives to the System and sharing what they know with the wider world. These are small and slow solutions for our own lives, homes, neighborhoods, communities and planet.
Use and Value Diversity
Social, environmental and economic dis equity is one of the most telling problems of capitalism. We have seen the statistics. Remarkably small numbers of people own remarkably large slices of the financial and economic pie. This also creates political dis equity. The wealthy can buy political influence Money is free speech.
All manner of people suffer at the hands of dis equity but non white people are on the receiving end more so than white. Non white people are more likely to be affected by polluting industry or intrusive development projects. More poor people struggle with in adequate public transportation. For some people, paying for a car is a priority at the expense of other important needs. We know the term food desert. Poor neighborhoods often have less access to healthy food, assuming people can afford it.
Permaculture and paradigm shift would do well to reach out to those most affected by social and economic dis equity. The goal of paradigm shift is not to create a society where everything is the same. People who take risks that benefit people and planet should be encouraged and rewarded but we need to redefine what those rewards are. And people deserve some kind of guaranteed security of well being. That's only civilized.
Picture two circle “pie” graphics, one five times larger than the other. Imagine both pies with slices that represent five different groupings of people according to their wealth. The large pie is current. The wealthiest 20% have slice that takes up over 80% of the pie. The Poorest 20%, their slice is a sliver.
The smaller pie represents a sustainable pie. Something like one fifth the size of the oversized current pie which is in severe overshoot. The new slides are not all the same but they is need for more human distribution. But compare the actual surface area of the two pies for most wealthy 20%. Could this ever happen? The wealthy would need to have lifestyle resource use similar to “lower middle class” in the large pie.
This illustration cannot claim scientific accuracy but the point is, a sustainable future will need to be very different from the present and those using the most resources and owning the most money now will need to downsize the most for both eco logical and equity reasons.
People who think this way are also a minority. Myself, I feel oppressed by the consumer culture. I have to ride my bike through car infested intersections and more than a few times, if I had not been careful, I would have been run over. When I see large houses, I think, these people are big investors in climate change.
Those who thoughtfully call for paradigm shift are a minority, too. At present, our rights and the quality of life we want are trashed every day by the non negotiable consumer culture.
A sustainable society will call for justice and respect for all its diverse members. And those diverse members will need to participate and be productive for society as well. Paradigm shift means everyone will need to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities. The benefits from the changes will be worth it.
Use Edges and Value the Marginal
In a social, cultural and political sense, advocates of permaculture and related ideals are on the edge of our society. Some how, we have gained a kind of immunity to the consumer message. We even use Mainstream products in new and healthy ways.
A big part of our historical task is share what we know with the wider world about making this world a better place. We are a bit evangelical. Sharing our ideals and stories should be done in a way that is sensitive to others. After all, advocating permaculture, sustainability and paradigm shift is, essentially saying, we have a way of life that is better than yours.
Many people have invested their life's energy into being a success as defined by Mainstream standards. Many peoples' identities are what they own. Much of what they own does not make the cut to sustainability. Cars and suburbia as we know them are at the top of the list.
We are saying that a society based on overconsumption and vanity is not sustainable nor desirable in the first place. We need to share a compassionate message. What seems so obvious to many alternatively minded people is not what the Mainstream is thinking. We need to offer something better and that means we need to share our marginal ideals both effectively and with respect..
We are all on an edge of history. We have access [at least for now] to a great deal from the Mainstream that is totally useful for paradigm shift. We also have the historic and un precedented privilege and opportunity to integrate what is good from the down sloping Mainstream with the principles that can help us bring about a society and economic system that can exist within the boundaries of the natural world and bring out the best in positive human potential.
At this point of history, we have the edge of the old and the edge of the new. We can help bring these two edges together for the good of people and planet.
Creatively Use and Respond to Change
Many of the familiar downward social, environmental and public well being trends should motivate us to create alternatives to the Mainstream System. Paradigm shift, a thoughtful and compassionate push back on cars, suburbia, capitalism and the consumer culture; is the most sensible action we can take in our lives for the present and the future.
Capitalism does not effectively respond to a changing worlds. It depends on and promotes the products and behaviors that are the cause of the many problems we are talking about. Capitalism is creative in trying to repackage the same products so they address important issues. That's was green wash is all about. The consumer culture cannot be made planet and people friendly.
One of our most important tasks for moving towards sustainability and a healthy society is to recognize, reach out to and make common cause with allies and assets. Allies and assets are social entities. They could be formal organizations or ad hoc. Many are totally Mainstream and may have no awareness of permaculture and paradigm shift yet there can be much common ground.
As mentioned earlier, almost every social and civic organization exists to help make the community a better place to live. And almost all those entities have a particular focus of action. And almost every focus of action is some kind of effort to repair some external cost caused by capitalism and the consumer culture. Those efforts for repair can be social, public health, environmental and more. All these allies and assets are on the same team. Working together can multiply the effectiveness of all these groups.
These groups can include the school PTA, Scouts, Red Cross, Kiwanis Club and thousands more. One or our tasks is to call attention to our common cause. These groups can all be invited to participate in a wider movement for the good of people and planet.
Another valuable asset that deserves a lot of attention is the “wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions.” This wisdom is one of the most powerful sets of ideals we have to work with as a tool for positive change. The wisdom of the world great spiritual traditions is a perfect companion to permaculture and paradigm shift. These are social ideals, not religion. This wisdom tells me, faith communities should be helping to lead the charge towards a sustainable future.
Here is that wisdom -
1] Care for the natural world.
2] Modesty of lifestyles
3] Service to the community
4] Uplift of the spirit
5] Being accountable for our actions
These ideals also tell me, faith organizations have a great deal of common ground with each other that can bring those organizations together to play a greater role in moving their members and the communities they are part of, towards a more uplifted and sustainable human society. This wisdom is perfect at the individual level to inform our individual lifestyles perfect for society as a whole. Perfect to help bring about a healthy and honest economic system. Perfect for moving towards sensible urban land use, transportation and sustainability.
There is plenty of reason to motivate for paradigm shift and we have untold allies and assets to work with. There is a place for everyone.
Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share
Earth care, people care, fair share. The critique just completed is no where near comprehensive. One could easily write a book the previous page or two. Suffice to say, the needs of the growth based economic system and its consumer culture are not compatible with a sustainable society and the well being of people and planet. Permaculture has much to offer a transition to a sustainable future and we do have many allies and assets to work with.
This concludes this writer's permaculture critique of the Mainstream System. I hope it leads to useful discussion. Next, let's have a look at several more aspects of transportation and then a look some positive initiatives and potentials in suburbia.
Congestion, Rail and Bikes
Certainly many cities in the US are making efforts to push back on cars. New York City is set to become the first city in the US to impose congestion pricing, a car push back scheme where certain cars and trucks will need to pay up to $20, essentially a toll, to access certain parts of lower Manhattan. NYC also has a Public Plaza Program to empower citizens to turn public places that qualify, streets, parking lots, odd places, into pedestrian friendly community use. The results can be dramatic. Prohibiting cars from much of Times Square is the most well know Public Plaza in New York City.
Los Angeles Eco Village is working with the city to convert a minor city street next to the eco village, into a pedestrian plaza. Another project related to the street conversion is turning the long closed auto repair shop on the corner of the small street and a larger street into a community center. That has already happened. The city street to plaza is a city program. Other streets in LA that fit the criteria could also shift from cars and concrete to people and plants.
Over the years, there have been many freeway fights in the US with significant victories. San Francisco would look far different from today if multiple freeway plans back in the 60's and 70's had been realized. The Panhandle was supposed to be a freeway. The Embarcadero Freeway was torn down. Part of Market Street is now only for taxis, buses and bikes.
Boston's SW Corridor is a 6 mile long public park with playgrounds, bike paths, community gardens and both commuter and Amtrak rail lines sunken below ground level and off to the side. The land area for this wonderful community asset was intended to be a ten lane urban freeway. Local people stopped it.
Even in Eugene, if divided highway plans from 50 years ago were all built, the city would be far far different from now. More recently, we also stopped the West Eugene Parkway. Eugene does have a notable presence of Bus Rapid Transit and is known for being comparatively bike friendly.
Light rail and trolleys are making a hopeful comeback in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Seattle and dozens of other cities. Most of those cities have a long way to go to match the rail transit networks many had 75 years ago.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems
Periodically, the Congress of New Urbanism makes public a listing of aging and particularly poorly designed [they all are] urban freeways it considers good candidates for removal, usually to be replaced by some approximation of the streets and boulevards that existed before the freeway.
See https://www.cnu.org/our-projects/highways-boulevards/freeways-without-futures
Many cities boast new and expanding bike ways, some, importantly, protected from cars. Here in Eugene, the city is taking a lane from cars on several important streets and building curb and bollard separated two direction bike ways with their own traffic signals. Other cities are dong likewise.
For me, from where I live, I can bike 30 minutes to the University of Oregon with only a few blocks shared with cars. I can do a quick 5 mile bike loop on both sides of the River and there are no cars at all.
A comparison of modes of traffic – walk, bike, transit, car, between cities in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe shows the best bike cities in the US are 4th tier in Europe in terms of percentage of trips residents make by bike.
Another valuable asset that deserves a lot of attention is the “wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions.” This wisdom is one of the most powerful sets of ideals we have to work with as a tool for positive change. The wisdom of the world great spiritual traditions is a perfect companion to permaculture and paradigm shift. These are social ideals, not religion. This wisdom tells me, faith communities should be helping to lead the charge towards a sustainable future.
Here is that wisdom -
1] Care for the natural world.
2] Modesty of lifestyles
3] Service to the community
4] Uplift of the spirit
5] Being accountable for our actions
These ideals also tell me, faith organizations have a great deal of common ground with each other that can bring those organizations together to play a greater role in moving their members and the communities they are part of, towards a more uplifted and sustainable human society. This wisdom is perfect at the individual level to inform our individual lifestyles perfect for society as a whole. Perfect to help bring about a healthy and honest economic system. Perfect for moving towards sensible urban land use, transportation and sustainability.
There is plenty of reason to motivate for paradigm shift and we have untold allies and assets to work with. There is a place for everyone.
Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share
Earth care, people care, fair share. The critique just completed is no where near comprehensive. One could easily write a book the previous page or two. Suffice to say, the needs of the growth based economic system and its consumer culture are not compatible with a sustainable society and the well being of people and planet. Permaculture has much to offer a transition to a sustainable future and we do have many allies and assets to work with.
This concludes this writer's permaculture critique of the Mainstream System. I hope it leads to useful discussion. Next, let's have a look at several more aspects of transportation and then a look some positive initiatives and potentials in suburbia.
Congestion, Rail and Bikes
Certainly many cities in the US are making efforts to push back on cars. New York City is set to become the first city in the US to impose congestion pricing, a car push back scheme where certain cars and trucks will need to pay up to $20, essentially a toll, to access certain parts of lower Manhattan. NYC also has a Public Plaza Program to empower citizens to turn public places that qualify, streets, parking lots, odd places, into pedestrian friendly community use. The results can be dramatic. Prohibiting cars from much of Times Square is the most well know Public Plaza in New York City.
Los Angeles Eco Village is working with the city to convert a minor city street next to the eco village, into a pedestrian plaza. Another project related to the street conversion is turning the long closed auto repair shop on the corner of the small street and a larger street into a community center. That has already happened. The city street to plaza is a city program. Other streets in LA that fit the criteria could also shift from cars and concrete to people and plants.
Over the years, there have been many freeway fights in the US with significant victories. San Francisco would look far different from today if multiple freeway plans back in the 60's and 70's had been realized. The Panhandle was supposed to be a freeway. The Embarcadero Freeway was torn down. Part of Market Street is now only for taxis, buses and bikes.
Boston's SW Corridor is a 6 mile long public park with playgrounds, bike paths, community gardens and both commuter and Amtrak rail lines sunken below ground level and off to the side. The land area for this wonderful community asset was intended to be a ten lane urban freeway. Local people stopped it.
Even in Eugene, if divided highway plans from 50 years ago were all built, the city would be far far different from now. More recently, we also stopped the West Eugene Parkway. Eugene does have a notable presence of Bus Rapid Transit and is known for being comparatively bike friendly.
Light rail and trolleys are making a hopeful comeback in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Seattle and dozens of other cities. Most of those cities have a long way to go to match the rail transit networks many had 75 years ago.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems
Periodically, the Congress of New Urbanism makes public a listing of aging and particularly poorly designed [they all are] urban freeways it considers good candidates for removal, usually to be replaced by some approximation of the streets and boulevards that existed before the freeway.
See https://www.cnu.org/our-projects/highways-boulevards/freeways-without-futures
Many cities boast new and expanding bike ways, some, importantly, protected from cars. Here in Eugene, the city is taking a lane from cars on several important streets and building curb and bollard separated two direction bike ways with their own traffic signals. Other cities are dong likewise.
For me, from where I live, I can bike 30 minutes to the University of Oregon with only a few blocks shared with cars. I can do a quick 5 mile bike loop on both sides of the River and there are no cars at all.
A comparison of modes of traffic – walk, bike, transit, car, between cities in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe shows the best bike cities in the US are 4th tier in Europe in terms of percentage of trips residents make by bike.
Recall the concern over “peak oil.” Peak oil of conventional oil has already passed. The current expanded production in the US, of both oil and natural gas, is thanks to fracking.
Of course, fracking includes new risks and damage to geology, water supplies and in likelihood, only delays the inevitable decline in oil and natural gas production.
With its steep rate of depletion, its a good question, how much longer can fracking prolong the consumer culture. We would be smart to make use of this period to transition for moving towards an economy and society that can last without causing immense damage to people and planet. Paradigm shift both encourages and shows how people can make this transition sooner than later.
Bike ways safe for riders, new light rail and trolleys, deconstructing some freeways are welcome, of course, but in the US, they do not add up to a serious challenge to the car dominated status quo. This nation has built itself into a near impossible corner. It has squandered immense financial and material resources on cars, suburbs and their expensive and damaging infrastructure. There is no easy exit.
Several cities in Europe, especially Paris and Barcelona, have actions, plans and intentions to push back on cars in ways far beyond any in the US. I have visited many cities in Europe including Houten, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Freiberg/Vauban, Strasbourg, Nice, Toulon, Barcelona, Alghero, Utrecht, Milano, Roma, Paris, Budapest, Warsaw, Ventspiel and many more. I had my own bike in all those places and I love urban bike riding. The popular destinations people love to visit in these places are almost all car free. Few tourists are attracted to parking lots and freeways.
You can find foto galleries public places and pushing back on cars in Europe HERE.
To be honest, most of these often celebrated European cities are also overwhelmed with cars. Even Groningen, Holland, famous for its award winning bike culture, has big box stores with acres of parking lots a kilometer from their historic center where I was totally awestruck by how many bikes and people walking enjoyed the car free down town and all its popular side walk cafes.
Fotos from 50 years ago in China show rivers of bikes in the big cities. Chinese capitalism is just as seduced by cars as anywhere else. Updated fotos show massive freeways, traffic jams and suburbia. To their credit, China's fast train system is totally impressive. Still, its a shame they fell into the same automobile swamp common in other parts of the world.
There are cities in South American such as Curitiba, Bogot'a, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Sao Paulo that are all known for becoming more bike and transit friendly. Still, cars rule.
Contact me Donate to the Primer
Of course, fracking includes new risks and damage to geology, water supplies and in likelihood, only delays the inevitable decline in oil and natural gas production.
With its steep rate of depletion, its a good question, how much longer can fracking prolong the consumer culture. We would be smart to make use of this period to transition for moving towards an economy and society that can last without causing immense damage to people and planet. Paradigm shift both encourages and shows how people can make this transition sooner than later.
Bike ways safe for riders, new light rail and trolleys, deconstructing some freeways are welcome, of course, but in the US, they do not add up to a serious challenge to the car dominated status quo. This nation has built itself into a near impossible corner. It has squandered immense financial and material resources on cars, suburbs and their expensive and damaging infrastructure. There is no easy exit.
Several cities in Europe, especially Paris and Barcelona, have actions, plans and intentions to push back on cars in ways far beyond any in the US. I have visited many cities in Europe including Houten, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Freiberg/Vauban, Strasbourg, Nice, Toulon, Barcelona, Alghero, Utrecht, Milano, Roma, Paris, Budapest, Warsaw, Ventspiel and many more. I had my own bike in all those places and I love urban bike riding. The popular destinations people love to visit in these places are almost all car free. Few tourists are attracted to parking lots and freeways.
You can find foto galleries public places and pushing back on cars in Europe HERE.
To be honest, most of these often celebrated European cities are also overwhelmed with cars. Even Groningen, Holland, famous for its award winning bike culture, has big box stores with acres of parking lots a kilometer from their historic center where I was totally awestruck by how many bikes and people walking enjoyed the car free down town and all its popular side walk cafes.
Fotos from 50 years ago in China show rivers of bikes in the big cities. Chinese capitalism is just as seduced by cars as anywhere else. Updated fotos show massive freeways, traffic jams and suburbia. To their credit, China's fast train system is totally impressive. Still, its a shame they fell into the same automobile swamp common in other parts of the world.
There are cities in South American such as Curitiba, Bogot'a, Buenos Aires, Santiago and Sao Paulo that are all known for becoming more bike and transit friendly. Still, cars rule.
Contact me Donate to the Primer