Electric Cars? Pfft. We Need Electric TRAINS
I see the Prius’ whiz by me on the highway routinely (ever noticed how Prius drivers drive like speed freaks? It’s as if they’re trying to prove that their car is ‘manly’ or ’sporty’ somehow. Regardless of performance, the Prius rivals only the Pontiac Aztek as the ugliest car ever made. Not that it matters how your vehicle looks, mind you, not if you’re smugly trying to save the world via a $30,000 consumer purchase. I imagine the joy of 10 million U.S. drivers switching from gas vehicles to electric. I can hear the shouts of victory from short-sighted self-professed eco-warriors. And I want to cry when I imagine the environmental catastrophe as we annually dump into the ground (and water) the billions of pounds of toxic chemicals contained in the short-lived batteries of those electric cars.
No matter how one looks at it, driving cars of any type is not going to make a difference. We’ll simply trade one problem (ethanol, batteries, continued sprawl, et cetera) for our existing one (oil). In addition, we’ll still be reliant upon petroleum to produce the vehicles in the first place. No, the only solution is an overwhelming shift to mass transit and a complete restructuring of our suicidal suburbs. Cars must go. Read THIS ESSAY to understand what I’m talking about as I’m currently battling wicked, nasty allergies as a result of rolling down a grassy hill with my son a few hours ago and I’m fairly certain that clarity is beyond me at present. Most laugh when they hear suggestions that autos of any type are evil, shrugging the suggestion off as too radical, too unlikely to take hold to even consider. What’s worse, even the ‘greenest’ think to themselves, “I will never give up my individual, personal transport system.” Not even to save the planet? Nope, not even to save the planet.I had a point. What was it. Oh, the Red Car line of Los Angeles. See that picture above? Taken in 1959, it shows dozens of junked electric train cars - all headed to Japan where they were used as scrap steel, melted down, and reformed into Datsuns and Toyotas which were then shipped back for sales in the United States. Nice sustainable loop, no? Once upon a time, Los Angeles had a robust mass transit system. Even a subway. Over 1000 miles of track. Over 100 MILLION annual riders at its peak.
What happened? Why did the Red Car line die? There are many reasons, some even suspect a conspiracy (which isn’t that farfetched when one considers that GM bought up and shut down 100+ electric lines in 45 U.S. cities), but the primary culprit, of course, is the U.S. citizen’s overwhelming preference for the automobile. Not that the car was or is capable of delivering passengers to their destinations faster (even the 1930 Red Line maintained a pace that exceeds current LA averages), but the individual expression afforded to us via color combinations and sport packages (notice that the Prius now has a ’sport’ edition?) plays into the great American mythos that trumpets individualism as a key to success.
Well, some things are simply ahead of their time. So it was with our great electric trains. Yes, their energy source is also rife with systemic problems, but given that they are mass transit systems, the per-capita energy expenditures are whittled to incredibly small amounts. The time to scream and shout for mass transit in all world metros is right now. Take those tens of thousands you were planning to spend on a statement vehicle and invest them instead in your local citizens-for-clean rail movement (odds are, there is such a group in your area).
About the image: I stole it, without permission, from the terrific book ‘Imagining Los Angeles’ published by the L.A. Times. Click here to pick up a copy. If enough of you do this, perhaps they won’t sue me.
Song o’ the Day is another by Nick Cave (get used to it, I suppose). Rock out to the Train Song, if you so desire: [audio:cavetrain.mp3]
Tags: automotive, environment, Ruminations
This place looks cars grave…
it should make to recycle…