Thinking Aloud

”One of the first laws against air pollution came in 1300 when King Edward I decreed the death penalty for burning of coal.  At least one execution for that offense is recorded.  But economics triumphed over health considerations, and air pollution became an appalling problem in England.”  

~Glenn T. Seaborg, Atomic Energy Commission chairman, speech, Argonne National Laboratory, 1969

”The automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city.  Its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable; moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic.”  

~James Marston Fitch, New York Times, 1 May 1960

”Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes!”  

~Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.

”It wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill.  It was yours.”  ~Greenpeace advertisement, New York Times, 25 February 1990

"There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.”  ~Robert Orben

Driving in Cardiff is becoming difficult and slow. The number of cars on the roads like the population is increasing. We likes our convenience. I have an old car, to get back and forth to West Wales, to visit family. If I was just static anywhere, then I would get rid of it. I can cycle or walk. I find driving stressful. So many things that could go wrong. They are talking of building a 100 million pound cable car from Penarth to Cardiff which in theory sounds good but it will be more of a novelty, a fun fair attraction than a sustainable alternative transport solution. People are welded to their cars. Here in West Wales only yesterday, a large car was left idling outside whilst its owner was inside buying up nuisance items in the village shop. Nuisance because I was kept waiting. The Shark Fisherman does not possess great patience and this is another reason why driving is not a pleasure or a passion. You don't know what hassle or hold up you are going to face when venturing out. Defenders of the automotive industry and the Jeremy Clarkson's of this world would point to the economy. Many people are employed building cars! Oil and Petrol production again but what about the environment? What about the smog in Paris and Shanghai and London. At least Bozo Johnson is thinking of making idling cars come with a fine but is a £20.00 on the spot fine enough? I wonder whether the human being knowing that they have a short lifespan are designed to have long term thinking. All this crap about the world we will leave to our children. Well, leave your car behind then if you are just going a few hundred yards. It won't kill you. In fact it might extend your life. We drive as if we are at war, the driving test and lessons left long behind us. Our hands and arms will never see ten past ten on the steering wheel again. I fear that people will have to be given a financial incentive not to have a car or cars because the convenience and habit is just too great. Giving up smoking is difficult enough but giving up a smoking exhaust is nigh on impossible.