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Re: Why we don't want freeway expansion
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arob-@classics.ucsb.edu
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Aug 05, 2005 08:44 PDT
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To add to Lorien's list of books, I strongly recommend people see the DVD
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream.
It's available at Amazon for $24.
Anna
--On Thursday, August 04, 2005 11:01 PM -0700 Lorien Davy
<lorie-@yahoo.com> wrote:
| | I have just finished reading a book that anyone favoring
freeway expansion, and anyone concerned with transportation
issues or sustainable future planning MUST read. (I think
everybody in the country should be reading it.) It's
entitled "The Long Emergency," by James Howard Kunstler.
Mr. Kunstler explains clearly why we don't want any more
freeway building. By the time our stretch of 101 gets
finished -- how long will it take? ten years? fifteen
years? -- few of us will be driving any more. We will have
expended colossal sums of money building a useless
monolith.
"The Long Emergency" deals with the issue of "peak oil" --
when the world production of petroleum will have reached
its peak, and begun its inevitable decline. In fact, that
time will arrive in the very near future -- possibly this
year, most certainly within the next five years. After the
point of peak oil production, the price of oil will begin
rising quickly and steeply, because the remaining oil
reserves will require greater and greater expenditures of
energy to extract. By 2020, few people will have the
wealth to afford driving private passenger vehicles any
more, and our lives will have changed in profound ways.
Kunstler is not prophesying alone. Many other books --
written not by kooks, but by experts who have studied the
world oil reserves -- confirm Kunstler's predictions: "The
End of Oil," by Paul Roberts; "Out of Gas," by David
Goodstein; "Twilight in the Desert," by Matthew R. Simmons;
and many others. (If you've been wondering what we are
doing in Iraq -- now you know.) I have read several of
these books, and am continuing to read more on the same
subject. But I like "The Long Emergency" the best, because
it pulls no punches. It does not make for pleasant escape
reading, but I guarantee it will keep you fascinated from
cover to cover, and will open your eyes.
Should you end up in a debate with a person who favors
freeway expansion, please explain the facts of life to
them. If you can, give them a copy of "The Long Emergency"
to read. In the mean time, to prepare for our fossil-free
future: buy a sturdy, well-made, no-nonsense bicycle,
along with plenty of spare parts, tubes, and tires (most
bicycle components nowadays require fossil fuels to
produce!) and a trailer (preferably with two wheels, not
one) you can hook up to your bike for hauling stuff. If
you own an S.U.V. -- sell it quick, while you can still get
some money for it!
Lorien
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