A Walk on the Wild Side(walk)

Worldwide, there were some 200 million automobiles in 1970; by 1990 the number had grown to 500 million. If current population and buying trends continue, it is estimated that by 2030 there could be more than 1 trillion cars rumbling down our highways and byways (Hypertextbook.com).

While the auto industry provides thousands of jobs for workers around the globe, at least two significant problems come to mind when considering 1,000,000,000,000 cars and trucks and minivans and SUVs and crossovers—energy needs and emissions.

First, a trillion autos require a lot of energy. Limited oil reserves and increasing demand mean that prices are bound to continue rising. Consequently, the gas or diesel powered combustion engine is not a sustainable means of powering our transport. Given the second concern—emissions—we can be glad that this is true.

Two other technologies that many of us are watching are electric- and hydrogen-powered autos. Presently, electric-cars cannot be considered the silver bullet solution since most of our electricity comes from burning coal and natural gas at the power plant. Burning fossil fuels to supply the power needed for electric cars is not a sustainable practice considering the limited resource supply and carbon emissions. Nuclear power as a replacement for current electricity production methods is a short-term option at best (A Crude Awakening). As for hydrogen fueled cars, we’re told that the technology and infrastructure are some 20 to 40 years away.

What about renewable energy sources? At this point it’s hard to imagine that solar or wind could generate enough electricity to energize those trillion cars in 2030.

Because of these issues, some of us are coming to the conclusion that we’ll need to reduce our reliance on cars. Instead of 3 cars per family, we may have to learn to live with one. Many people could live without a car, at least for significant portions of their lives. Is this possible? Would you accept this? What changes would you need to make?

For those living in cities, it is easier to live without a motorized vehicle. I really appreciated not having my own car during the three years that I lived in South Korea—no insurance payments, oil changes, new tires, registration fees or road-side breakdowns. Convenient public transportation in the form of buses, subways, trains and taxis made getting around fairly convenient. I do have to say that I liked having a friend with a car for our weekend rock climbing trips in remote areas. But one car was enough for four of us guys to share.

What about outside of major metropolitan areas? Can we function without one car per person? After returning to the U.S., my wife and I shared one car even though we each had two or three part-time jobs in two different cities. Between creative sharing, improved communication and the inter-city bus, we were able to make it work for a year and a half.

People like Tom Sobal demonstrate that this can be taken even further. He walks or rides everywhere he needs to go around town, even taking his girl to school in a bike trailer. But Tom is a world-class athlete. My friend Angela has lived without a car in both Korea and the U.S., and we can all learn from her experiences.

AEA: How long have you lived in Lincoln without a car?

Angela: I think about five years total, but only three years of conscious carlessness.

AEA: What factors led you to not buy a car?

Angela: While I was teaching in Korea the car that my sister and I shared [in Lincoln] died. While living in Kimhae I began to love walking and taking taxis or buses, but mostly I loved walking. On the weekends I would walk all over the town. I think I could cross the town in about an hour and a half. When I came back, I’m pretty sure that I had enough money saved that I could’ve bought a used car, but I had already learned the value of my feet and legs and appreciation for public transportation so I decided not to buy a car. In the beginning it was a kind of pleasure to walk and ride the bus. Now it is more of a necessity and pleasure. I couldn’t afford to buy a car and pay for insurance and gas. Whoa. I can’t even imagine.

AEA: Do you have to commute to work?

Angela: For most of my time in Lincoln I worked as a substitute teacher. It required me to be able to travel to middle schools and high schools around the city. Thankfully almost all the schools have a bus route within a few blocks of the school. Right now I work at… a coffee shop and at… the local co-op. One of the branches of [the coffee shop] is only a couple blocks from my house, so I walk there. The downtown branch is about 15 or 20 minutes away by bus, 35 minutes by bike and probably and hour and 20 minutes on foot. [The co-op] is 10 minutes away by bike, 10 minutes by bus and 45 minutes on foot. I’m a slow walker.

AEA: How do you commute and get around for non-work events?

Angela: I ride my bike weather permitting, otherwise I take the bus. If I miss the bus or have to go places when there are no buses running, I get rides from my friends who do have cars… or I walk. Sometimes it’s dependent on my pride.

AEA: Do you feel like your life is limited because you don’t have a car?

Angela: No, I don’t. I think that I’ve had to reevaluate what is possible to accomplish in a day and let go of some things, but it feels more like being set free than being limited. When I have a car I feel like there are so many things I can and should do during the day. But when I don’t have a car, I know that I can only do a certain amount of things. I can’t go all over town. I need to choose days to get certain things done and time them out, or I need to let some things go.

AEA: What do you like about using your bike and the bus?

Angela: I like being outside. I like not having to feel guilty about not having a set work out plan. I naturally can use my body anytime I go somewhere. I feel that my time is expanded since I don’t drive. I have these long beautiful moments of silence and waiting and walking. I can watch the world and think and imagine. I love it so much. My sense of time has also changed. I would cringe at having to drive an hour and a half to go to church, but I don’t think twice about getting up early to walk an hour and a half across town to church…. Sometimes I do feel lazy. It’s not always easy to go out when the weather is bad, but when the weather is nice, it’s a pleasure and I don’t feel like I’m wasting time. I feel like my time is always being used in a productive, restful, lovely way. I feel present. Driving always feels like a waste of time, like I’m just waiting to get to my next destination.

AEA: Are you trapped in Lincoln because you don’t have a car?

Angela: Of course not. I can always rent a car or take the bus or train or plane or get rides with people. There are so many options. Really, were I ever trapped in Lincoln it would be because of money, not the lack of a car.

AEA: Do you look down on those of us who do own and drive cars?

Angela: Um…I try not to. I have found that I have certain arrogance when crossing the street. I expect cars to respect my right of way. I also get frustrated when people stop in the crosswalk instead of behind the line or when cars are impatient to turn right when I have the walk sign. I think drivers are too impatient and not observant enough, myself included, on occasion. Also, I do appreciate my friends who have cars. I often get rides from them and am glad for that.

AEA: Do you plan to buy a car someday?

Angela: I would like to buy a car someday, but I don’t want to get one until I have plenty of money and can buy a good, reliable and fuel efficient one. Ideally, I’d like to have a car share system or only have a car for road trips.

AEA: You know someone else who doesn’t have a car. Could you tell us about him?

Angela: One of my coworkers hasn’t owned a car since 1977. He does it for the earth entirely. He won’t even use the buses in Lincoln. Maybe it’s more that the bus system here is so inefficient, not that they use gas. He travels a lot and rides buses in other cities. However, in Lincoln he walks or rides his bike always. He’s one of my heroes.

AEA: What other things would you like to share with AEA?

Angela: I would like to confess that for the past few weeks I’ve been driving instead of riding bike, walking or riding the bus. My friend is working out of town and is letting my use his car. There is a part of me that loves driving. It’s nice to be able to go where I want to go when I want to go there and I’ve found it’s nice to give rides to other people who don’t have cars. Still, I try to only use it to go to the places I need to go, like work or the post office or to my friend’s house. However, when the weather warms up, it’s back to biking for me.

AEA: Thanks a lot for sharing, Angela. You must be glad that spring is nearly here. I hope AEA readers will listen to your story and be motivated to reduce their driving by using public transportation or by walking and riding more. Following this interview are additional resources (updated 24 Mar ’08) for those of you who would like to learn more about some of the issues raised in this conversation.

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Blogs, Sites & Organizations:

• Carectomy
• AutoBlog Green
• ZipCar (added 25 Jan ’09)
• Greasecar (added 25 Jan ’09)
• Life after the Oil Crash
• Peak Oil (Wikipedia.org)
• ASPO International
• Fuel-efficient Cars (Automotive.com)
• Walk Score
• How to Live Without a Car (wikiHow.com)

Documentaries:

• A Crude Awakening
• A Convenient Truth (Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil)
• The End of Suburbia
• Who Killed the Electric Car?

Articles:

• Big incentive for fuel-efficient vehicle (AP, 20 Mar 2008)

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