In a course I taught on sustainability, I had a unit on emergy, Howard Odum's word for a combination of embodied energy and energy use in ecosystems. We applied it to stuff, whether it was a pencil, a car, solar panels, or a house. The car, or personal vehicle, was the most problematic for students because it is symbolic of personal autonomy, independence and freedom. In the end, a conclusion many students reluctantly accepted, was that the problem was not the fuel a car used, the problem was the car (including all pickups, SUVs, etc.). Cars and all the attached infrastructure, including parkig lots, the driveway and the garage, are not ecologically sustainable. They are a death trap. Just ride a bike along any road for a while and you will see death related to cars; racoons, skunks, squirrels, possums, deer, dogs, cats, birds, and more, to say nothing of automobile accident deaths and death from the pollution from their manufacture and emissions. Redesigning society around ecosystems - life - is essential if there is to be any regeneration, and the car, which we are all dependent on in "developed" nations, will not be a part of that new picture.
A former pickup driver myself, I have concluded that pickups are totally useless in modern society. The open box on the back has no functional purpose that isn’t better served in another way. Someday I need to write about it. Suffice to say here that your article only supports my theory in that in every picture the open bed has fancy cover on it. This means what they actually need is a trunk or minivan. It’s actually comical once you see this fact. There are entire industries making gizmos to try and render the completely dysfunctional pickup bed into something semi-useful for workman, when a van is obviously a better option.
The tonneau cover is used to keep items in the back dry and contained, and also to reduce wind resistance from turbulence caused by an open bed. It was a standard fitment to Holden and Ford utes here when they made them. There were also van versions of these utes, but a van is no good when you are moving things like wardrobes or anything too large to fit in the van, a ute is a much more universal vehicle. Also much easier to clean out when you've had messy materials in the back.
We so need a manufacturer of these smaller utes again, am hoping one of the Chinese manufacturers will release something here in Oz like that soon. The US won't get it, of course, your Chinese car tariffs have seen to that.
Your comment, "The car isn’t just a big part of the economy, but it often seems that it is the economy." prompted a "Yikes!" We gave up on a vehicle years ago and now walk, take the TTC or rent a car only if there is no other option. We comment on homes with three cars in the driveway as we walk by. Is vehicle ownership considered as necessary to our society as our more basic needs of accommodation and food? Hmm...
But didn't you see the comment by city councillor Lily Cheng yesterday? "we have to acknowledge there are people in our city who do not have the luxury of taking transit." Have a thought for those poor people who have to drive those three cars!
Ive asked the Stop the 413 people if they have figured it out. It would be a good thing to know to help people understand how ridiculous a project it is.
In a course I taught on sustainability, I had a unit on emergy, Howard Odum's word for a combination of embodied energy and energy use in ecosystems. We applied it to stuff, whether it was a pencil, a car, solar panels, or a house. The car, or personal vehicle, was the most problematic for students because it is symbolic of personal autonomy, independence and freedom. In the end, a conclusion many students reluctantly accepted, was that the problem was not the fuel a car used, the problem was the car (including all pickups, SUVs, etc.). Cars and all the attached infrastructure, including parkig lots, the driveway and the garage, are not ecologically sustainable. They are a death trap. Just ride a bike along any road for a while and you will see death related to cars; racoons, skunks, squirrels, possums, deer, dogs, cats, birds, and more, to say nothing of automobile accident deaths and death from the pollution from their manufacture and emissions. Redesigning society around ecosystems - life - is essential if there is to be any regeneration, and the car, which we are all dependent on in "developed" nations, will not be a part of that new picture.
A former pickup driver myself, I have concluded that pickups are totally useless in modern society. The open box on the back has no functional purpose that isn’t better served in another way. Someday I need to write about it. Suffice to say here that your article only supports my theory in that in every picture the open bed has fancy cover on it. This means what they actually need is a trunk or minivan. It’s actually comical once you see this fact. There are entire industries making gizmos to try and render the completely dysfunctional pickup bed into something semi-useful for workman, when a van is obviously a better option.
The tonneau cover is used to keep items in the back dry and contained, and also to reduce wind resistance from turbulence caused by an open bed. It was a standard fitment to Holden and Ford utes here when they made them. There were also van versions of these utes, but a van is no good when you are moving things like wardrobes or anything too large to fit in the van, a ute is a much more universal vehicle. Also much easier to clean out when you've had messy materials in the back.
We so need a manufacturer of these smaller utes again, am hoping one of the Chinese manufacturers will release something here in Oz like that soon. The US won't get it, of course, your Chinese car tariffs have seen to that.
Your comment, "The car isn’t just a big part of the economy, but it often seems that it is the economy." prompted a "Yikes!" We gave up on a vehicle years ago and now walk, take the TTC or rent a car only if there is no other option. We comment on homes with three cars in the driveway as we walk by. Is vehicle ownership considered as necessary to our society as our more basic needs of accommodation and food? Hmm...
But didn't you see the comment by city councillor Lily Cheng yesterday? "we have to acknowledge there are people in our city who do not have the luxury of taking transit." Have a thought for those poor people who have to drive those three cars!
Thanks! Do you happen to know what the estimated carbon emissions would be from Ontario’s 413 construction project are?
I tried to figure it out for the Therme spa at Ontario Place but have no Idea about 413.
Ive asked the Stop the 413 people if they have figured it out. It would be a good thing to know to help people understand how ridiculous a project it is.
I guess they can say, "the other shoe dropped".
Thanks, Lloyd. A hugely important topic, one that needs more discussion.