The other day long-time Portland journalist Jeff Mapes tweeted out a clipping from 1966, "Automobile Explosion Must Stop."
 |
| Today |
 |
| Earlier this month |
 |
| via Twitter |
From 1966:
Add to this [inconvenience from congestion] a most serious danger: the poison which the increasing numbers of cars spew into the air that is basic to life....The fact beyond dispute is - somehow and some time we have to stop building civilization for autos and start building ones for people.
The citation is more about particulate emissions than carbon pollution, but the point is the same. Cars produce many harms in the urban environment and more widely, and we need to take more drastic steps to reconfigure our mobility in cities.
There are several other interesting points Howard K. Smith makes in passing, and you can click through the tweet to a larger image in order to read the whole.
The sentiment is not unique. Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, Ada Louis Huxtable were all making similar cases about our autoism at the later mid-century.
1 comment:
It certainly is frustrating when we see serious problems on the horizon and do nothing about them. It certainly helps to do what we can but the bigger picture should provide motivation for action. A Guardian article published today reminds us that not only have we underestimated the threats of climate change, but the tipping points that we have known about for decades are quickly approaching. We should do what we can on a local level and, on Sunday, we will have 107 good reasons to recognize and appreciate the extent of the problem.
Post a Comment