Book Excerpt
BREAKING GRIDLOCK
We Can't Go On Like This
by Jim Motavalli
Mass transit is making modest overall gains, though it can be hard to
get excited about increases that give cities bus and rail systems
comparable to those they had in 1910.
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/11/06/index.html
Jim Motavalli is editor of E: The Environmental Magazine, and author
of Forward Drive: The Race to Build "Clean" Cars for the Future, and
the forthcoming Breaking Gridlock.
Editor's Note: This is part I in a IV part series of excerpts from
Motavalli's upcoming book Breaking Gridlock. Here, Motavalli examines
our relationship with automobiles and their impact on our lives.
In the new millennium, when the futurists said we'd all be wafting to
work in sky cars, we're decidedly earthbound. According to Katie
Alvord's book, Divorce Your Car!, a third of the average city's land
is devoted to serving the car, including roads, service stations, and
parking lots. In 1970, Americans drove a trillion miles per year;
it's been more than two trillion since the mid-1990s. There are well
over 210 million registered automobiles in the United States alone,
and their numbers will soon overtake the human population. There are
already more cars than there are American adults to drive them.
Automotive fuel economy doubled in the 1980s, but fuel use continued
to climb because of the increasing number of cars on the road.
As cities sprawl farther into distant suburbs, daily commutes also
spiral upward. An hour a day in the car has become the national norm.
The average family takes ten car trips a day, mostly for shopping,
socializing, or recreation. For every ten travel miles, nine are
taken in a car. Every year, we use up 100 billion gallons of oil,
more than half of it (56 percent) imported. If present trends
continue, we'll be importing two-thirds of our oil in twenty years.
As Alvord puts it, this isn't love; it's addiction.
[more]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Universal Inkjet Refill Kit $29.95
Refill any ink cartridge for less!
Includes black and color ink.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/bAmslD/MkNDAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address.
To unsubscribe, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
