THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS ARE FUN...
HERE'S ONE:
IMAGINE THAT 50% OF THE US POPULATION SUDDENLY "COULD NOT AFFORD A CAR."
WHAT WOULD OUR CITIES LOOK LIKE...
IF BUILT FROM SCRATCH...?
OR RETRO-FITTED TO THE "NEW REALITY....?"
BECAUSE THIS MAY NOT BE JUST A "THOUGHT EXPERIMENT" FOR TOO MUCH LONGER!
IF GAS GOES TO $8 TO $10 PER GALLON...MAJOR CHANGES ARE IN STORE FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN...
MY ANSWER TO THE QUESTION IS:
THE AMERICAN CITY WOULD LOOK MORE LIKE SAINT PETERSBURG RUSSIA...THAN SAINT PETERSBURG, FLORIDA!!
HIGH DENSITY HOUSING....THAT IS CLOSE TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION WILL BE NEEDED...
AND SMALLER LOCAL SHOPPING WILL NEED TO SPRING UP...SO PEOPLE CAN CARRY ONLY WHAT THEY NEED BACK TO THEIR APARTMENTS...
NOW, US SHOPPING MALLS COULD BE SAVED IF WE HAD A VERY VERY SMALL..."RUN-ABOUT" CAR....PERHAPS ELECTRIC...OR ONE THAT GOT SAY 60MILES PER GALLON...
THESE NEW CARS WOULD HAVE LARGE TRUNK SPACES FOR CARRYING GROCERIES BACK FROM THE MARKETS...
WHO WANTS TO TAKE SIX BAGS OF GROCERIES ON THE SUBWAY!! OR ON THE BUS!!
WELL, NO ONE!!
IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FUTURE...GO TO EUROLAND OR RUSSIA...AND LOOK AROUND YOU...AT THEIR CITIES...AND THEIR PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORKS...
RUSSIA WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO START.
BECAUSE IT'S A LARGE "CONTINENTAL" NATION JUST LIKE THE US...
THEIR DISTANCES ARE HUGE LIKE IN THE US....UNLIKE SOME PARTS OF EUROPE WHERE CITIES ARE CLOSER TOGETHER... AND "NATIONS" ARE THE SIZE OF LARGE US STATES...!
IN EUROPE THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD VERY EXPENSIVE GAS...
A EUROLAND LIFESTYLE WILL LIKELY BE THE "NEXT BIG THING" IN AMERICA...
THE DAZE OF AMERICAN "EXCEPTIONALISM" ARE OVER...!!
BUT HOW WOULD WE HANDLE FOLKS OUT IN THE BOONDOCKS...? THESE PEOPLE WILL WANT TO MOVE AROUND WITHOUT CARS...NOT STAY "TRAPPED" IN THEIR SMALL TOWNS...
PERHAPS TRAINS? BUSES?
THE MUCH ADMIRED EUROLAND TRAIN SYSTEM COULD ALSO BE IN OUR FUTURE...!
FRANKLY I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE COULD JUSTIFY A LONG CAR TRIP THIS SUMMER....EVEN AT CURRENT GAS PRICES?
THE HAPPY ERA OF AMERICANS JUST "HITTING THE ROAD" FOR THE SUMMER...MAY HAVE ENDED...
AND UNBEKNOWN TO MANY AMERICANS...
ON THIS 4TH OF JULY 2008!!
THINK ABOUT IT...
