Why Own a Car? January 23, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment, Green in the City , trackbackMy post the other day about James Lovelock’s ‘Revenge of Gaia’ attracted a few comments, and I’m increasingly aware that those of us who do believe there is a problem have to find a way to motivate everyone else to recognise that we are facing a disaster and to make the serious personal changes which are essential if we are to have any hope of avoiding devastation.
It’s not enough to just give lists of ‘energy saving tips’, although those can be useful. The question is why should people bother, especially if they either don’t really believe it will happen, or do believe it but feel powerless to act. Individuals - you reading this, my neighbour, the bloke walking past the window on his way to the pub - need to have a strong reason to act. I’m going to try to explain why I do some of the ‘Green’ things I do, and hope that they may motivate others.
Here are some reasons why I don’t own a car:
- It’s too expensive. I once figured out that I could have a zone 1 London travelcard and spend up to £3000 a year on cabs, and still save money
- When I really want one, I can hire it from the bloke down the road. I’ve only once felt the need to hire a car in England, but if I wanted to, I could.
- Parking is horrendous around here
- I like drinking
- I hate having to find my way back to the car late at night, especially if I’ve left it in a multi-storey
- I like to read my paper in the train in the morning
- I use my evening commute to catch up on phone calls, work reading etc, and so can leave a bit earlier
- Walking is about the only exercise I get, and if I had a car, I’d be tempted to do less
- London buses are great fun for watching people and seeing the world go by
- I like knowing my neighbourhood. When I did have a car, I often lived in places that I’d scarcely know beyond my own front gate.
- They are incredibly dangerous. 3,221 people were killed in road accidents in 2004. That’s more than all the terrorist attacks in the UK, ever. The tube bombings last year were just an ordinary weekend on Britain’s roads. I really don’t want to be responsible for another number in that statistic.
- They pollute the atmosphere with some real nasties (go google Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons for a grim read)
- They require vast amounts of land to be paved over, leading to hydrological problems, localised warming, lack of open spaces
- They belch out greenhouse gases
For about 15 years, I owned cars and drove daily, but when I moved to London, I stopped all that, and I’ve never looked back. It was partly because I wanted to adopt a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, but it had so many other benefits I don’t think I’d go back to car ownership even if they ran on water.
And I love driving. While I was in Malta last weekend, I had a car for the day, and it was great fun pootling around, going down small country roads to see where they went, and backtracking when they led nowhere much. It was my Annual Driving Experience, and I loved it. But I really wouldn’t want to do it very often.
You don’t need to be worried about global warming to reconsider having and using cars.
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