this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
1026 points (88.5% liked)
Fuck Cars
9887 readers
2 users here now
This community exists as a sister community/copycat community to the r/fuckcars subreddit.
This community exists for the following reasons:
- to raise awareness around the dangers, inefficiencies and injustice that can come from car dependence.
- to allow a place to discuss and promote more healthy transport methods and ways of living.
You can find the Matrix chat room for this community here.
Rules
-
Be nice to each other. Being aggressive or inflammatory towards other users will get you banned. Name calling or obvious trolling falls under that. Hate cars, hate the system, but not people. While some drivers definitely deserve some hate, most of them didn't choose car-centric life out of free will.
-
No bigotry or hate. Racism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, chauvinism, fat-shaming, body-shaming, stigmatization of people experiencing homeless or substance users, etc. are not tolerated. Don't use slurs. You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body. The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.
-
Stay on-topic. Submissions should be on-topic to the externalities of car culture in urban development and communities globally. Posting about alternatives to cars and car culture is fine. Don't post literal car fucking.
-
No traffic violence. Do not post depictions of traffic violence. NSFW or NSFL posts are not allowed. Gawking at crashes is not allowed. Be respectful to people who are a victim of traffic violence or otherwise traumatized by it. News articles about crashes and statistics about traffic violence are allowed. Glorifying traffic violence will get you banned.
-
No reposts. Before sharing, check if your post isn't a repost. Reposts that add something new are fine. Reposts that are sharing content from somewhere else are fine too.
-
No misinformation. Masks and vaccines save lives during a pandemic, climate change is real and anthropogenic - and denial of these and other established facts will get you banned. False or highly speculative titles will get your post deleted.
-
No harassment. Posts that (may) cause harassment, dogpiling or brigading, intentionally or not, will be removed. Please do not post screenshots containing uncensored usernames. Actual harassment, dogpiling or brigading is a bannable offence.
Please report posts and comments that violate our rules.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I love the childish smug energy of this comic which simultaneously suggests merely mitigating a serious problem is inadequate and also provides no proposed solution whatsoever. If solutions which have compromise because they are rooted in reality are a problem, I suggest finding a way to live in a world of fantasy.
Your right it is a childish problem because a child could think of the solutions you seem to be unable to, instead of cars we could use trains or bicycles, or just walk. Solutions from that fantastical world you lived in before you could drive.
It is straight up delusional to believe we could just flip a switch and not have cars anymore. And I also notice you still haven't provided an actual solution outside of "just use trains, bicycles, or walk."
Whenever I see takes like this, I just assume they aren't from, or maybe have never visited, America. The majority of the country was built on the assumption of travel via automobile from public transportation (or the lack thereof) to urban planning to housing. For the country to function without cars, it would require massive renovations to rebuild cities vertically, install a vast and complex rail system, and completely alter the culture of work and trade. And we can totally do this, but it will be very expensive and take a very long time, and to suggest investing in EVs in the meantime is somehow foolish because it doesn't fully solve the problem is a bit dense. You can do both at once, not that we are, to be fair.
Fully investing in sustainable public transportation and infrastructure is something that would have to take at least a decade, even with absolute maximum commitment. So, yes, anyone who thinks that you can "just switch to trains, bicycles, or walking" is incredibly naive and absolutely fantasizing. Not suggesting it can't be done but we have to live in reality where cost, labor, time, and public interest are factors and those make "just" doing it a bit more complex.
@Tarcion @Not_mikey
Hello Tarcion
Happy to have you here joining this conversation. I completely agree that the USA will not stop driving cars overnight.
This is mostly because USA hasn't even cottoned on the fact that cars are really bad for cities, the environment and humanity. (That's not to say all cars and vehicles are bad, there are shades of grey, but those single occupancy short trips are really bad)
There is an amazing amount of information out there on how we get rid of cars. There are literally hundreds of YouTube channels, Podcasts and Blogs. It's really good thought-provoking and inspiring stuff. None of them have a magic fix for Traffication (that is the name of a great book you should read), but together, they show an America, that is less car dependent is very much possible.
The very first part of this journey is to educate ourselves on this subject and share our knowledge with others. Which I hope you will do. If you want help finding information on a particular aspect of ending, Car Depdency ask me and I'll point you in the right direction.
Cheers
Lee
Yhe first part of the journey is getting you to not sound like your from the 1800s.
I think everyone here, even the ones 'fighting' to save cars, can all agree cars are not good for the environment. It's just some of us live in areas where the nearest store is 20 minutes away, never mind work or friends. The public transportation when running here barely gets used because the stops are still far away from where you need to go since everything is in BFE. So either you need to get sweaty walking where you need to go, or get an Uber and use a car anyway.
So, what's your solution to that Mr. Lee?
@UrPartnerInCrime
Cool. So you do see there is a problem. That's the important bit, and after that it's about working for change.
The Fossil Fuels Industry has done a great job of making people feel guilty about their "CO2 Footprint" but I don't think we should. The reason why you don't have options is because the system the Fossil Fuels Companies have supported and encouraged for 100 Years have taken those choices away and created a situation when many lifestyles are only possible with cars.
So my advice to you is don't worry about it, it's not your fault you don't have choices. Carry on as you are. If you can get a more efficient vehicle, that would be nice, but if you can't afford one, no problem.
What you can do is support all those people, organisations, and politicians who live in cities where we can have transport choices. Vote for politicians who want transport choices. Support organisations that are fighting parking minimums, working for mass transit and bike lanes, in urban areas, where changes can be made.
We need to pick the low hanging fruit. Who knows, one day you might move to one of these places!
Man, you talk in a way that makes people in your side not want to be on your side
@UrPartnerInCrime
Didn't you like my solution?
I have a fuel efficient truck that I use all the time. I only drive if I need be. I try to educate people on helping the planet as much as I can. I bought my reusable bags and use the faithfully. I vut down on my meat consumption.
So don't tell me to just sit down and continue doing nothing. I immediately agreed there was a problem but your acting like I'm on the other side.
So no, Lee, I didn't like your solution because it comes off like a pretentious douche said it.
Do you think the world can handle billions of fuel efficient trucks? Or even electric trucks?
So you're just gunna move the goalposts so I always look like an asshole?
I'm a different person.
This subreddit is for hating cars. I'm just telling you, your fuel efficient truck can get fucked too lol
I didn't say we could just flip a switch, like you said it will be a long and difficult process, but it will take even longer if we continue to focus on evs as the solution. We could do both at once with unlimited funds and will but we don't have that, there's opportunity cost, each dollar we spend on ev subsidies is one not going to projects that can reduce emissions by a lot more like high speed rail and electric bus infrastructure, and currently were spending hundreds of billions of public and private money on evs while almost completely ignoring the other more sustainable solutions. The sustainability movement in the u.s. has very limited funds and public will, and to spend most of that on halfway solutions is short sighted. We need to focus all the resources we can into this because like you said, even with that it would take decades and were running out of time.
I do live in America and have for almost all my life. I have traveled all around this country and know that most of it is extremely car dependent. But my reaction to that is not the problem is so big, we should just do small incremental changes, it's the problem is so big and were running out of time, we need to do a full 180 right now if I want future generations to not live in a hellscape.
All of this is also just about sustainability, cars are bad for a myriad of other reasons, like the comic says, along with discouraging exercise and exasperating income inequality, and anything that helps people realize how bad they are and denormalizes them is a good thing.