|
May 23, 2008
Paul Krugman has an interesting column in The New York Times on ways to deal with rising petrol prices. He notes that we live in a world where high petrol prices and peak oil are increasingly a part of everyday life. From this perspective we can see that the outer suburban fringe of our capital cities have been built on the assumption of cheap realities and car transport. That assumption is increasingly unrealistic. Hence the title of his column--'stranded in suburbia.'
He says that:
Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices — gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon — have a lot to teach us about how to deal with that world. If Europe’s example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don’t drive them too much.Notice that I said that cars should be fuel-efficient — not that people should do without cars altogether.
That means more fuel efficient cars and driving less. The latter requires us to rethink the way that we live in our cities.
What is needed, Krugman says, are more:
pleasant, middle-class neighborhoods consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping. It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.
Or Australia for that matter. Our cities are dominated, and choked, by cars with inadequate and run down public transport. All the car lobby wants is cheaper petrol and more freeways. State governments across the nation continue with outer suburban expansion, more free ways and minimal investment in public transport.
Last night on the ABC's Question and Answer programme Kevin Rudd, the Prime MInister, said his infrastructure fund would fix all this as he has a plan to invest in big infrastructure projects. There was little about the content--infrastructure appears to mean roads and ports to keep goods moving to sell to yet more minerals to China and India. Rudd was very flowery on making cities more sustainable as modes of life.
|
A combination of our lazy ways and willingness to elect lackwits to 'lead' us are now catching up with us.