Chuck H. scribed, in part:
That's it. Once we as a society and as individuals recognize the true cost
of our transportation system (the gas tax, for example, would be at
$10/gallon or beyond, and would increase over time), our whole system would
turn around. We would live more compactly, produce more locally, waste
less, save hundreds of billions a year in "national security" expenditures
that could be used to actually improve quality of life, and, yes, reduce
congestion. There'd be a period of great dislocation, but much less than
we'll see if we continue our willful blindness until Minnesota is a desert
and we're fighting eight "water wars" around the globe.
<<<<
The Pulse of the Twin cities has done a good job of addressing this again in
the May 25-31 issue.
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1852&mode=&order=0 "Sleepwalking
Into the Future" and
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1853&mode=&order=0 "Is There Life
After Oil?" -- Brian Kaller's Interview with Kunstler
The cartoon by Andy singer on page 5 entitled "No Exit" sums it up pretty
well: "Transportation Policy begets Energy Policy begets Foreign Policy."
Kunstler also sums it up well:
"There's a lady who lives near me with a sign in her yard that says "War Is
Not the answer" and two SUVs parked in the driveway. What sanctimonious
crap. I want to grab her by the collar and yell, 'Guess what, war is the
answer as long as you want to live this way. Get used to it.'"
We have brought brutal death to tens of thousands of people in Iraq alone
through our refusal to take responsibility for the way we use petroleum. We
have brought unjust imprisonment, and torture to tens of thousands of people
in Iraq alone. Read about Columbia and Nigeria, Bolivia and Nicaragua --
then "connect the dots."
Americans do denial real well. For all the blow-hard talk of "personal
responsibility" and "politics of responsibility" and "paying as you go" and
"paying fees and taxes for the services we use" we are actually shoving
unrepayable debt off onto our children, following policies which will
endlessly enrage the rest of the world, and begging for environmental and
economic devastation. All of this is cloaked in the saccharine propaganda
of National anthems sung at big crowd events, prayers of blessing invoked on
our orgy of consumption, and the thin veil of democracy.
Whether we are talking about debt for a new stadium or debt for new
pavement, we are talking about the same thing: urban infrastructure that
demands war, increases our children's debt, and poisons our environment.
The alternative is to plan and build sustainable infrastructure. Our
leaders need to lead, but we as citizens need to act as citizens rather than
as consumers of political propaganda.
-- pedaling off to work with a couple of hundred pounds of equipment on my
trike...
-- trying to live peacefully and sustainably in Minneapolis...
-- currently from Lynnhurst -- Gary Hoover
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