(no subject)
http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050928/arctic_sea_ice_050928
I feel like grabbing every SUV owner, every three-car or even two-car family, everyone who drives to the gym, everyone who drives along a bike or bus route, by the scruff of the neck and screaming "How dare you!"
I want George W. Bush to be submitted to this by a long line of people affected by climate change, one after the other, for at least twenty-four hours.
*sigh* It's not like I never get into cars, though. Something big needs to change, now, and it won't. It's easy to blame the U.S. Clearly that's the biggest piece of the puzzle. But we're all contributing. The "traffic monster" in Istanbul is a case in point.
My grandmother wants to buy a Smart Car, but until all single drivers own one, it's not enough. The Kyoto Treaty exists, but until all the countries in the world sign on (and it's toughened a lot) it's not enough. I take the bus a lot, and walk, but until I stop using taxis completely, stop accepting rides, it's not enough. Some cities in some countries are making tentative exhaust reduction initiatives like congestion taxes, gas taxes, or the boldest moving of banning cars from city centres entirely, but until they all do it, it's not enough. One or two car companies are putting out hybrid vehicles, but until they all do it, until everyone buys them, until they replace the standard type completely, it's not enough.
Meanwhile one air journey is equivalent to driving a car for a year. How often do I fly? That's right. Too often. Until planes are reserved solely for transcontinental journeys -- maybe not even for all of those, what happened to the steamship? -- it's not enough.
It simply can't change fast enough.
And that is so, so depressing.
I feel like grabbing every SUV owner, every three-car or even two-car family, everyone who drives to the gym, everyone who drives along a bike or bus route, by the scruff of the neck and screaming "How dare you!"
I want George W. Bush to be submitted to this by a long line of people affected by climate change, one after the other, for at least twenty-four hours.
*sigh* It's not like I never get into cars, though. Something big needs to change, now, and it won't. It's easy to blame the U.S. Clearly that's the biggest piece of the puzzle. But we're all contributing. The "traffic monster" in Istanbul is a case in point.
My grandmother wants to buy a Smart Car, but until all single drivers own one, it's not enough. The Kyoto Treaty exists, but until all the countries in the world sign on (and it's toughened a lot) it's not enough. I take the bus a lot, and walk, but until I stop using taxis completely, stop accepting rides, it's not enough. Some cities in some countries are making tentative exhaust reduction initiatives like congestion taxes, gas taxes, or the boldest moving of banning cars from city centres entirely, but until they all do it, it's not enough. One or two car companies are putting out hybrid vehicles, but until they all do it, until everyone buys them, until they replace the standard type completely, it's not enough.
Meanwhile one air journey is equivalent to driving a car for a year. How often do I fly? That's right. Too often. Until planes are reserved solely for transcontinental journeys -- maybe not even for all of those, what happened to the steamship? -- it's not enough.
It simply can't change fast enough.
And that is so, so depressing.