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Re: Why we don't want freeway expansion
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Lorien Davy
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Aug 05, 2005 14:07 PDT
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Randall --
Read the book. It will answer your questions.
Sincerely,
Lorien
--- randall ehren <rand-@redigital.org> wrote:
| | this has been posted to the list before.
electric or hybrid vehicles will still require the use of
freeways no?
electric vehicles offer the ability to rely upon a
different means of
energy production which may or may not be fossil fuel
based. and our
entire trucking & transportation industry? they should go
where?
your last paragraph makes you sound like a conspiracy
theorist,
speculating on the 'end of the world' - i mean are you
really serious
about buying spare innertubes now for fear that you won't
be able to
find them in 20 years?
-randall
Lorien Davy wrote:
| | I have just finished reading a book that anyone
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favoring
| | freeway expansion, and anyone concerned with
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transportation
| | issues or sustainable future planning MUST read. (I
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think
| | everybody in the country should be reading it.) It's
entitled "The Long Emergency," by James Howard
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Kunstler.
| | Mr. Kunstler explains clearly why we don't want any
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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
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have
| | expended colossal sums of money building a useless
monolith.
"The Long Emergency" deals with the issue of "peak oil"
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--
| | when the world production of petroleum will have
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reached
| | its peak, and begun its inevitable decline. In fact,
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that
| | time will arrive in the very near future -- possibly
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this
| | year, most certainly within the next five years. After
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the
| | point of peak oil production, the price of oil will
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begin
| | rising quickly and steeply, because the remaining oil
reserves will require greater and greater expenditures
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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
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the
| | world oil reserves -- confirm Kunstler's predictions:
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"The
| | End of Oil," by Paul Roberts; "Out of Gas," by David
Goodstein; "Twilight in the Desert," by Matthew R.
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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,
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because
| | it pulls no punches. It does not make for pleasant
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escape
| | reading, but I guarantee it will keep you fascinated
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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
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Emergency"
| | to read. In the mean time, to prepare for our
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fossil-free
| | future: buy a sturdy, well-made, no-nonsense bicycle,
along with plenty of spare parts, tubes, and tires
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(most
| | bicycle components nowadays require fossil fuels to
produce!) and a trailer (preferably with two wheels,
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not
| | one) you can hook up to your bike for hauling stuff.
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If
| | you own an S.U.V. -- sell it quick, while you can still
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get
| | some money for it!
Lorien
____________________________________________________
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|
____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
|
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