Car parks are a blight on our world.
Micro.blog
@pimoore @martinfeld Agreed. I want a world of walking, cycling, and electric rail. No cars and no planes either. A smaller, quieter, friendlier world where we can feel real soil beneath our feet and shade above our heads.
@martinfeld @denny @mcg In my case I live in a small town with no access to public/mass transit elsewhere when needed. It’s virtually impossible to go car-less.
@Denny would your reframed world have a place for slow boats? I want to figure out a way to visit some of the equatorial islands where I once worked but without burning holes in the sky.
@topgold I once read a book (still not finished), called “Slow Boats to China” after the song, but I’m afraid those were not CO₂ neutral. If you do make a trip like that, on non-toxic boats, please consider taking notes, and writing about it, (maybe even a book). 📚
@Denny Sounds great to me! I think it’s a hard sell, but at things deteriorate, it might become easier. 🤑🔫
@pimoore Same here: small town, limited bus service, couldn't live here if we didn't use a car. But less than 100 years ago there were train lines running through all the villages around here! And it it happened then it can happen again.
@topgold I've dreamed of going to Europe again (from US), and won't take a plane (I justify my anxiety issues by saying I'm being ecologically conscious). I learned that you can get passage on freighters, and that it's pretty affordable; there are even travel agents who specialize in it. That's what I'd probably look into.
@JMaxB @pimoore Yep. We'll need to redesign much of our infrastructure! But seeing what they've done in the Netherlands over the past 35 or so years, well, any state/city/county can do it that wants to. And now with electric bikes and new small electric vehicles coming in different forms. Horace Dediu refers to it as micromobility. But small, size appropriate electrical vehicles that are slower, more efficient for in-city travel or shorter routes. Then electrical rail for longer routes.
@pimoore It's a shame that you don't have access to such transport—makes things difficult! I live in a regional city that has a railway line to other metropolitan areas and we do have bus services, but there isn't anything like light rail and there could be more cycling lanes away from cars.
@JMaxB @pimoore Yes, this. My grandfather worked on an electric railway, in the 1920s and 30s, that connected towns along Puget Sound. This is now being slowly recreated as light rail…..but slowly….and with the suburban sprawl it won’t work quite as well. Also, there were electric streetcars in the three larger cities back then.