Stefanie wrote:

flynn23 wrote:
Believe me, this has been bittersweet for me. Being a product of Detroit, and a die-hard gear head, I've been wondering how this is going to look in 10, 20, or 50 years. I'm a big greenie, and I've reveled at the awakening of people to sustainability in their lives. But I enjoy car culture. I ride. I race. I break and fix things. It's fun. And there are times when I feel like I might really miss the smell of gasoline. Or the noise of exhaust. You can feel the era passing. Sometimes, it hurts.

Unlike you and several of my friends, I'm not as much into the car culture per se (nor am I much of a greenie), but I understand the pro-car part of your bittersweet situation. I'm a driver. All my life, I've been 25-75 miles from most places I need to go on a daily basis. My home, job, family, friends, and hangouts are spread out all over Middle TN. Even my local trips to grocery stores, restaurants, and theaters are well beyond walking distance.

The concept of going somewhere without my vehicle is foreign to me, because that's all I've ever known. The thing is, though, I like it that way, despite certain inconveniences. While the thought of being able to walk to work and save about three hours each day has its appeal, the place in which I prefer to live happens to be 35 miles away from my job, so I choose to commute. I also prefer driving alone and having that time to myself, as opposed to sharing a ride, be it in a train, trolley, bus, or my own vehicle. I can drive at my own speed, play my own music, listen to subversive talk radio, or make an unplanned stop for some impulsive shopping.

I love being able to drive anywhere, anytime. There's a lot to be said for the practical freedom that we achieved in the 1950s with affordable automobiles and the Interstate Highway System. Not everyone likes the idea of living downtown in a large city, and we should be celebrating, not resenting, the fact that we have the ability to choose the lifestyles that appeal to us.

Nate Silver:
For people like me who live in big cities where one does not need a vehicle to get by, there is a certain romantic attraction to this story. Why, if only all those Bubbas could ditch their SUVs, take the monorail to work, and buy their families a bunch of Schwinns, life would be just grand!

That's a very negative, but sadly typical, perspective from the left. Anyone who doesn't aspire to Mr. Silver's chosen lifestyle is automatically a "Bubba," in his eyes. He also suggests that we might be seeing "some sort of paradigm shift in Americans' attitudes toward their cars," but I think he's dreaming. High gasoline prices and bad economic times are causing Americans to drive less, and when the economy improves (assuming fuel prices are reasonable), driving will pick up.

Nate Silver:
And the denigration of the brand of the Big Three automakers in light of their financial difficulties — about one third of Americans have generally told pollsters they will buy only an American-made car — might reduce some of the patriotic associations with the activity of driving. Building a light-rail system might not persuade Bubba to get rid of his vehicle — but forcing him to buy foreign might.

While I appreciate his attempt at humor, I think Silver has misread the driving public. Given the option, there will always be those who would prefer riding a train, and those who would prefer driving. He has a point regarding "the denigration of the brand of the Big Three automakers" of late, but if buyers are driven away from the Big Three, I think they're more likely to switch to foreign cars than to alternate forms of transportation. Besides, all of the vehicles I've owned have been made by either GM or Ford, but that's not because I'm being patriotic. I simply can't afford a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, or Maybach. ;)

Don't expect to see automobiles disappear in the near future.

I think you have many valid and balanced points. I too have to suffer from friends who think that if Nashville were just like Portland, OR with it's deep and vast bicycle support, then we'd be a "real city". Totally missing the fact that neither are "real cities" and that there's plenty to like about Nashville that Portland will never have (like, um, weather).

This is our seemingly instinctual response to think that there's a silver bullet solution for everything. It's not clean coal, solar, hydro, wind, biofuel, or nuclear that is THE solution to the energy crisis. It's ALL of these things in a market that competes for the best value to various consumer stakeholders. The same can be said for health, education, security, etc.

The point should be about the immense value of choice for the individual. So Bubba can live his lifestyle as he chooses, and so can Ed Begley, Jr. That's the beauty. City living is a choice, but it's an arbitrary one. We have technology and ability to support much more distributed living, but culturally, we're not there.

I'm a little sad that there is real change being affected in car culture. But where is that not the case? As a society - globally - we have to adjust and get used to the fact that we've lived off the fat of the land and created too much abundance for the last 100 years or so. That is neither in harmony or respect of the delicate balance we must achieve with the rest of the universe. That sounds really hippy spliffy, but there's tons of science to support it.

RE: The End of Car Culture