On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, Daron Barndon wrote:
I tried not to be baited, but ...
> But your whole argument is that we shouldnt drive cars at all - you said
> yourself you'd be happy if the price of petrol went up!
I would be happy. It would be strong encouragement for people to start
using alternatives. Car pooling?
> You're ignoring the fact (as most greenies/bleeding hearts/commies etc seem
> to do) that most of your ideas are completely impractical in the real world.
Greenies and commies?! Next thing you'll be telling me about the yellow
peril and how we have to protect ourselves against Chinese people. Jesus.
> People need cars. People need to drive to work. People need to get around.
> Just because there is no "green" alternative does not mean that those of us
> for whom public transport is unavailable or impractical should be made to
> suffer.
Here's a quote from me:
> But it's important to take advantage of alternatives if they are
> available.
So due to undernourishment of your brain sells or genetic deficiencies
you've lept to the conclusion that I claim everyone should stop using
cars. You also equate people stopping the use of cars with people not
being able to 'get around'. I think a closer read of what I've said will
make the penny drop here, so I won't waste bandwidth talking about that.
What I will say is this. Car owners have choices. Nobdoy *forced* you to
buy a car and live in / commute to a location that is not accessible
through public transport. Car owners simply assumed that they'd be able to
sustain their lifestyles indefinitely, they were wrong. We live in a world
with limits. This fact will catch up to everyone very soon.
If you have a problem with high petrol prices, the solution is not to
wonder how to make them low again, but rather you must seek
alternatives. Get an LPG conversion for your car. Buy a motorbike (more
fuel efficient, less fuel required). Car pool. Use trains. Commuters
who "suffer" because of high petrol prices needn't do so.
It all boils down to hard reality here. You *covet* your right to own and
operate a car more strongly even than a gun enthusiast covets his
firearms. It's not a right that's written into the constitution, it's
written into your psyche, by the environment in which you grew up,
advertising, and peer pressure. The hard reality is that you and hundreds
of millions of other people feel like this, and as a direct result we run
the risk of making our planet uninhabitable in the long term. But people
from the strong economic countries don't think long term - they think Sony
and Coke and Oprah Winfrey, and I everyone else can get out of my way
while I carve out the lifestyle that *I* want.
The hard reality is that we need to learn to think beyond our immediate
needs, and think of the needs of others, and even our
great-grandchildren. That's not environmentalism, this is *basic* *common*
*sense*.
L8r
Luke Burton.
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