Carless but not Reckless

(photo by author: “Route 15 without Cigarettes, Food or Boom Boxes”)

In 2014, IHS Automotive reported that the number of vehicles on the road in the United States had reached a record level of almost 253 million. At that time, the U.S. population was 318 million, which means 65 million people, or roughly 20% of the population does not own a car (probably a higher percentage given that many people own multiple cars).

I am about to join those 65 million carless citizens, walking away from a 2005 VW Turbo sedan that no longer runs.

My decision has been made for me by economic necessity, but I have also added a spiritual element to it. My social life has not suffered, as yet.

How can I live without a car?

Human beings lived and evolved for 200,000 years without cars. I’m only breaking a century-old habit.

My mother has never owned or driven a car due to medical reasons (black-outs). My sister has not owned a car in years due to a current disability and economic reasons. I’m in good company.

The average age of a car in the U.S. is 11.4 years. My most recent car, the infamous cherry red VW “Turbo-Lemon,” is 14 years old. My daughter Liz drove my 1996 Toyota Avalon well over 250,000 miles, until it succumbed at age 20.

We all love “new car smell,” and if you watch any television any more, new car commercials remain the mainstay of any broadcaster’s ad revenue, based on air time.

Huge “auto malls” and elegant automobile showrooms permeate major suburban boulevards, while affordable “pre-owned” lots for the poor dot the urban streets.

Neither are visually appealing, or sustainable, especially when you consider the amount of impervious surface devoted to each enterprise. With no vegetation or moisture to absorb heat and cool the landscape; asphalt, concrete and rooftops absorb the sun’s energy during the day and re-release it at night. According to The New York Times, this Urban Heat Island Effect has the equivalent of doubling the CO2.

Karl Benz invented the first automobile in Mannheim in 1885, 135 years ago. The idea of owning your own car has been around for more than a century. Maybe it’s time to let that one go. Technologic, Economic, Ecologic and Societal forces, and to that I would add Spiritual forces, are making car ownership less appealing and less necessary.

It is my hope that this small refusal leads to a greater awakening.