In perhaps one of the great ironies of human civilisation, mechanical devices to truly magnify human power came along as soon as we didn’t need them.

The average modern person, by one calculation, spends more than 1,600 hours a year to pay for their cars, their insurance, fuel and repairs. We go to jobs partly to pay for the cars, and we need the cars mostly to get to jobs. We spend four of our sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering the resources for the car.

Since the average modern American, by one estimate, travels 7,500 miles a year, and put in 1,600 hours a year to do that, they are travelling five miles per hour. Before people had cars, however, people managed to do the same – by walking.

By contrast, a person on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than a pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process.

  • @PoachEnglish
    15•8 months ago

    Electric catrs still pollute massively. Mainly tire and break dust (more than ICE cats because they are heavier). Nevermind that cars dependency is terrible and unsustainable (both economically and environmentally). Make cities for people not cars.

    Plus show me one example of where car dependency has worked. It’s always “just add more lanes”. Yeah just ask Texas how their 26 lane highway is going.

    Plus we don’t need to be paving over airable farmland for people cosplaying as rural folk. We have about 5 parking spots for every single car in the United States. Seems like a great use of land.

    • @[email protected]
      3•8 months ago

      Yeah, as I explain elsewhere, I wasn’t pushing EVs over bikes. I was just saying the framing of “pro-pedal power” in this article is the exact type of shit right wingers latch onto and never shut up about. I can hear them now: “LIBRUL ANARCHIST COMMUNISTS’ ideal world is one where you eat crickets, can never travel more than 15 minutes from your house, can’t eat hamburgers, never get a vacation, never have children, and you have to pedal-power your home appliances!”

      They will always find a way to make a stupid argument like that, of course. The 15 minute cities thing is a great example. How much did they shout about how “you’ll never get to see your sweet old grandmother! The LEFT wants your grandma to die alone!” in regards to the concept of 15 minute cities? But regardless, we as the pro-not-boiling-alive group need to be smarter about the type of solutions we pose. They will take this type of sloppy idealism and talk about how you’ll be powering your tv with pedals or whatever.

      The way we present the solution matters. It’s literally the biggest hurdle we face, because we need support. Wistfully discussing the glory of pedal power for everything just serves up the propaganda on a silver platter.

      That was my point. Not that everyone should drive.