Every day, we move around our cities inside expensive and dangerous boxes of metal glass and plastic that cost a lot of money, harm the environment in a myriad ways, isolate us, and make us angry at each other.
Each is a living room on wheels. Climate controlled inside, climate wrecking outside. We get our own music and environment, but pay a high price for them: in money, health, and other social costs.
We are alone inside a private vehicle. Our experience of others is not of bodies and faces but other metallic boxes that block us, get in the way or are actively dangerous and aggressive. Each is competition for space, be it for parking or for movement.
Cars are also quite expensive. They keep us paying off debt and (while most are still running on petrol) buying fossil fuels regularly. A crash or damage is, for most people, an important expense. And there is also the whole Status Symbol, aspect of cars which further divides our experiences of who we are and each other.
In contrast, walking, cycling, riding a scooter, taking a train or a bus is a collective experience. We see each other in them. We see the world around us and share it.
They are greener ways of moving around, they keep us healthy. They are cheaper, and they are pro-social.
In a climate and economic crises there is absolutely no excuse to continue to live trapped in a paradigm invented to profit car makers, oil companies and financial institutions (often all working together).
If you can, try using public transport more often. Try walking or riding a bicycle if you are only traveling a couple of kilometres.
I promise you will be happier. And the more of us do it, the better it gets.
Unlike driving.
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