SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Is This the End of the Age of the Automobile?
Mar 10, 2009
As a dominant form of transportation, the automobile is dead. So is GM, which now stands for Gone Mad.
But the larger picture says that the financial crisis now enveloping
the world is grounded in the transition from the automobile---and the
fossils that fuel it---to a brave renewable world of reborn mass
transit and green power.
If GM lives in any form, it must be owned and operated by its workers and the public.
But the larger transition is epic and global, based on a simple
structural reality: the passenger car is obsolete. Auto sales have
plummeted not merely because of a bad economy, but because the
technology no longer makes sense.
Franklin Roosevelt took GM over in 1943-5 to make the hardware
to beat the Nazis. Barack Obama should now do the same to beat climate
chaos.
Make streetcars, not passenger cars.
Hybrids are too little, too late, with problems of their own.
Solar-powered electric cars will help phase out the gas guzzlers.
But in the long run, the automobile itself needs to be dismantled and re-cycled, not retooled or rebuilt.
Cars still kill 40,000 Americans/year, and thousands more worldwide. No
matter how much less gas each may burn, they all consume unsustainable
resources to manufacture, operate and terminate.
We need to dig up roads, not build more. We need rails and coaches,
bio-diesel buses and self-propelled trolleys, Solartopian super-trains
and in-town people movers, not to mention windmills, solar panels, wave
generators and geothermal piping.
In America's corporate-conceived "love affair with the automobile," our
first spouse---mass transit---was murdered. Now the unsustainable
obsolescence of the private passenger car is collapsing a global
financial system built on the illusion of its constant growth.
Mother Earth can't sustain the old four-wheeled carry-one-person-around-the-block paradigm, be it hybrid, electric or otherwise.
If the automobile and its attendant freeways continue to metastasize in
India, China and Africa as they did in the 20th Century United States,
we are doomed.
Our true challenge is to envision, engineer and build a Solartopian
transportation system that moves people and things cleanly around a
crowded planet with diminishing resources and no margin for ecological
error.
For that we need every cent and brain cell devoted to what's new and works, not what's failed and could kill us all.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Harvey Wasserman
Harvey Wasserman is an activist and author. His first book "Harvey Wasserman's History of the United States" was published in 1972. Harvey edits www.nukefree.org.
As a dominant form of transportation, the automobile is dead. So is GM, which now stands for Gone Mad.
But the larger picture says that the financial crisis now enveloping
the world is grounded in the transition from the automobile---and the
fossils that fuel it---to a brave renewable world of reborn mass
transit and green power.
If GM lives in any form, it must be owned and operated by its workers and the public.
But the larger transition is epic and global, based on a simple
structural reality: the passenger car is obsolete. Auto sales have
plummeted not merely because of a bad economy, but because the
technology no longer makes sense.
Franklin Roosevelt took GM over in 1943-5 to make the hardware
to beat the Nazis. Barack Obama should now do the same to beat climate
chaos.
Make streetcars, not passenger cars.
Hybrids are too little, too late, with problems of their own.
Solar-powered electric cars will help phase out the gas guzzlers.
But in the long run, the automobile itself needs to be dismantled and re-cycled, not retooled or rebuilt.
Cars still kill 40,000 Americans/year, and thousands more worldwide. No
matter how much less gas each may burn, they all consume unsustainable
resources to manufacture, operate and terminate.
We need to dig up roads, not build more. We need rails and coaches,
bio-diesel buses and self-propelled trolleys, Solartopian super-trains
and in-town people movers, not to mention windmills, solar panels, wave
generators and geothermal piping.
In America's corporate-conceived "love affair with the automobile," our
first spouse---mass transit---was murdered. Now the unsustainable
obsolescence of the private passenger car is collapsing a global
financial system built on the illusion of its constant growth.
Mother Earth can't sustain the old four-wheeled carry-one-person-around-the-block paradigm, be it hybrid, electric or otherwise.
If the automobile and its attendant freeways continue to metastasize in
India, China and Africa as they did in the 20th Century United States,
we are doomed.
Our true challenge is to envision, engineer and build a Solartopian
transportation system that moves people and things cleanly around a
crowded planet with diminishing resources and no margin for ecological
error.
For that we need every cent and brain cell devoted to what's new and works, not what's failed and could kill us all.
Harvey Wasserman
Harvey Wasserman is an activist and author. His first book "Harvey Wasserman's History of the United States" was published in 1972. Harvey edits www.nukefree.org.
As a dominant form of transportation, the automobile is dead. So is GM, which now stands for Gone Mad.
But the larger picture says that the financial crisis now enveloping
the world is grounded in the transition from the automobile---and the
fossils that fuel it---to a brave renewable world of reborn mass
transit and green power.
If GM lives in any form, it must be owned and operated by its workers and the public.
But the larger transition is epic and global, based on a simple
structural reality: the passenger car is obsolete. Auto sales have
plummeted not merely because of a bad economy, but because the
technology no longer makes sense.
Franklin Roosevelt took GM over in 1943-5 to make the hardware
to beat the Nazis. Barack Obama should now do the same to beat climate
chaos.
Make streetcars, not passenger cars.
Hybrids are too little, too late, with problems of their own.
Solar-powered electric cars will help phase out the gas guzzlers.
But in the long run, the automobile itself needs to be dismantled and re-cycled, not retooled or rebuilt.
Cars still kill 40,000 Americans/year, and thousands more worldwide. No
matter how much less gas each may burn, they all consume unsustainable
resources to manufacture, operate and terminate.
We need to dig up roads, not build more. We need rails and coaches,
bio-diesel buses and self-propelled trolleys, Solartopian super-trains
and in-town people movers, not to mention windmills, solar panels, wave
generators and geothermal piping.
In America's corporate-conceived "love affair with the automobile," our
first spouse---mass transit---was murdered. Now the unsustainable
obsolescence of the private passenger car is collapsing a global
financial system built on the illusion of its constant growth.
Mother Earth can't sustain the old four-wheeled carry-one-person-around-the-block paradigm, be it hybrid, electric or otherwise.
If the automobile and its attendant freeways continue to metastasize in
India, China and Africa as they did in the 20th Century United States,
we are doomed.
Our true challenge is to envision, engineer and build a Solartopian
transportation system that moves people and things cleanly around a
crowded planet with diminishing resources and no margin for ecological
error.
For that we need every cent and brain cell devoted to what's new and works, not what's failed and could kill us all.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.