Car Culture: Optional resources

"Driving as Addiction: Hooked on Cars," Sina Arnold and Domenica Settle, Car Busters Magazine, no. 7 -- "...the automobile is as dangerous as a drug. Humans experience a rush of power and lust flowing through them every time they drive, every time they are in control of a large technical machine like a car. The car thus takes on a different meaning, no longer just a means of travel, but a surrogate satisfaction."

"Capitalism, Fascism, Car Culture," Car Busters Magazine, no. 3 -- "Is it mere coincidence that motorisation takes away our freedom and makes us captives of the car, in a friendly version of how fascism took over much of Europe?"

"The Social Ideology of the Motorcar," André Gorz, 1973 -- "Unlike the vacuum cleaner, the radio, or the bicycle, which retain their use value when everyone has one, the car, like a villa by the sea, is only desirable and useful insofar as the masses don't have one. That is how in both conception and original purpose the car is a luxury good. And the essence of luxury is that it cannot be democratised. If everyone can have luxury, no one gets any advantages from it." (.rtf file format)

"Time to Ban Auto Ads; Selling the Global Destruction Machines," Greg Jalbert, July 2000

"Riding The Bill: For The Last Four Years, Congress Has Prevented The DOT From Raising Fuel Economy Standards," Ralph Nader, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 29 May 2000, posted online by Common Dreams News Center

"Congress Aids Auto Industry in Attack on the Environment; Appropriations Rider Freezes Fuel Efficiency Standards," Sierra Club, news release, 8 May 2000, posted online by Common Dreams News Center -- Currently, CAFE standards save more than three million barrels of oil a day, and save the owner of an average new car $3,000 at the gas pump each year. Since 1995, a rider on the Transportation funding bill has blocked the agency from studying new standards.

"Ford's Earth Day Greenwash," Joshua Karliner and Kenny Bruno, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 April 2000, posted online by Common Dreams News Center

"The Social Ideology of the Motorcar," André Gorz, Le Sauvage, September-October 1973 -- Sometimes older is much better, as is the case with this profound essay. A sample (borrowed from Ivan Illich): "The typical American devotes more than 1,500 hours a year to his [or her] car. This includes the time spent behind the wheel, both in motion and stopped, the hours of work to pay for it and to pay for gas, tires, tolls, insurance, tickets, and taxes. Thus it takes this American 1,500 hours to go 6,000 miles (in the course of a year). Three and a half miles take him (or her) one hour. In countries that do not have a transportation industry, people travel at exactly this speed on foot, with the added advantage that they can go wherever they want and aren't restricted to asphalt roads. Thus a person on foot covers as many miles in an hour devoted to travel as a person in a car, but devotes 5 to 10 times less time in travel."

"So You Think Transit Is Expensive, And Roads Aren't?," Deb Alper, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 23 March 2000, posted online by Common Dreams News Center

"Unequal Partners: Government Spends the Money to Develop an Ecologically Friendly Car, Then Gives the Results Away to Industry," Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, 9 March 2000, posted online bt Common Dreams News Center

"Ford Admits SUVs Hurt People and Planet," Kenny Brunno, Corporate Watch, May 2000

"Mean Streets: Heavy Traffic, Leukemia Linked," Lucy Chubb, Environmental News Network, 4 March 2000 -- Children living near transportation corridors carrying 20,000 or more vehicles per day are about six times as likely to contract cancer, including leukemia. The children are exposed to emissions through breathing and exposure to soil containing emissions.

"Institutionalizing Overconsumption: The Oil Industry and Destruction of Public Transport," Don Mayer, Oakland University (Previously published by Rowman and Littlefield in The Business of Consumption, edited by Westra and Werhane).

"Highway Lobby Presses Congress to Bulldoze Clean Air Act," Clean Air Trust, news release, 28 February 2000, posted online by Common Dreams News Center -- "The road-building lobby, assisted by aides to Texas Gov. George Bush, is promoting legislation that would allow polluting highway projects to be funded even if those projects would clash with state clean-air improvement plans."

"Taken For A Ride," Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, Common Dreams News Center, 25 July 2000 -- How the Big Three stiffled air pollution controls

"Ford and the Führer; New Documents Reveal the Close Ties Between Dearborn and the Nazis," Ken Silverstein, The Nation, 24 January 2000.

"Licence to Kill," Anil Agarwal, Centre for Science and Environment, Down to Earth, 15 July 1999 (v. 8, n. 4)-- "One person dies every hour in Delhi [India] due to ambient air choked with particles. Diesel exhaust is a major source of fine particles that are the most lethal. Environmental regulators in California and elsewhere are putting the brakes on diesel cars. But transnational carmakers-- from Toyota and Ford to Mercedes-- are bringing diesel cars into India. While this is not against the law, it will certainly add to the body count in Indian cities."

"Cars Kicking Up Allergens, Study Finds," Lucy Chubb, Environmental News Network, 6 December 1999 -- "Cars whizzing along Los Angeles' paved roads are swirling allergens into the air, according to scientists at the California Institute of Technology. The study shows that re-suspended paved road dust contributes 5-12 percent of the airborne allergenic activity in two residential areas."

"Off-road Vehicles Ruining National Parks -- Report," Reuters News Service, 8 December 1999 -- "Over 100 environmental groups petitioned U.S. federal agencies to drastically reduce the number of off-road vehicles (ORVs) in national parks and forests, complaining that 'motorized cowboys' are polluting and destroying the environment."

"Road to Nowhere: The Automobile, Sprawl, and the Illusory Suburban Dream," Hank Dittmar, Center for a New American Dream (CNAD) newsletter, Enough!, Number 7, Spring 1999 -- Examines auto-oriented sprawl "development" and its human, environmental, and economic costs.

Transportation Crisis -- Facts on Automobile Safety and Transportation on the Web -- "The fact that almost 42,000 people were killed last year, innocent victims, in violent deaths and millions more are injured, often severely crippled, simply going about their daily business in or near automobiles should, and will, create a groundswell of rage to force solutions to be enacted by those who sit passively and watch the horror, and in some cases profit from it. We need efficient and affordable public transportation nationwide, safe (truly safe) automobiles, and laws that give law enforcement agencies the ability to protect and control drivers and passengers on roads and highways."

"The Roads Aren't Free," Clifford W. Cobb, Redefining Progress, March 1999 -- "There are essentially two types of subsidies to driving: (1) private services that are paid for with public funds, and (2) social costs that do not involve and exchange of money. A private cost is one that involves only those directly involved in a transaction, such as the costs of operating a vehicle or access to roads, while social costs include the costs of pollution and congestion. This paper estimates that the unrecognized private costs of driving amount to $59 billion annually (top cost: $40 billion for the costs of streets and highways not covered by fees and tolls) while social costs total $125 billion (top cost: $56 for health damage due to air pollution)."

"Mixed Response to Car Ban in France, Italy, Geneva," Lee Yanowitch, Reuters News Service, 23 September 1999 -- "French ministers cycled to work, Paris shopkeepers were furious, Rome's roads remained typically snarled and Geneva traffic shrank yesterday as a one-day ban on cars in European city centres won a mixed response."

"Americans Love Trucks, Study Finds," Environmental News Network, Saturday, September 25, 1999 -- "...More than half of the vehicles sold by Ford and General Motors in 1998 were light trucks. ...Baby boomers are the trendsetters for the popularity of trucks, especially the sport utility vehicles that have eclipsed the station wagon as the family car of choice."

SUV Online -- Yeaaah! What to worry?!

"1999 East Coast Isuzu Fun Run! --a celebration of like vehicle owners getting together in the real world of trail riding. It's an exciting trend that is happening for many like vehicle groups." ^REF

The Sport Utility Vehicle Anti-Fan Club -- Especially see "Sport Utility Vehicles and the Environment," including: I. Fuel Efficiency & Climate Change; II. Emissions & Air Pollution; III. Oil & Other Resources; IV. Off Road Driving. "Careful, you may run out of planet." -- December 1997 magazine advertisement for Infinity's QX4 SUV

SUVs roll twice as often as cars do according to NHSTA (National Highway Safety and Traffic Association) statistics. ^REF

The Ultimate Poseur Sport Utility Page -- "We want you to consider your true needs and options before purchasing or driving a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV). The page is aimed at pretender SUVs and the 90% of SUV owners who never drive them off-road. These lemmings buy millions of SUVs for no reason other than to fit a trendy image and 'look tough'. The goal of this page is to increase awareness of this ridiculous trend to help stop it, and have some laughs while we're at it!"

"...Excess Global Warming Pollution From SUVs and Other Light Trucks," US Public Interest Research Group, 16 June 1999

"Priorities: Fuel Deficiency," Vince Bielski, Sierra magazine, November 1996 -- "Sport-utility vehicles are marketed to appeal to that peculiarly American fantasy of rugged individualism. Some owners actually do drive their 4x4s off-road across streams and up rocky mountains, but, as the sales guy pointed out, most never leave the pavement. Their owners just revel in the feeling of power as they navigate their luxury tanks through the metropolitan jungle."

"Trains Back on the Fast Track," Linda Baker, E/The Environmental Magazine, Wednesday, 14 July 1999 -- "Light rail lines are under construction in Dallas, Denver, New York, St. Louis, Salt Lake City and San Jose, Calif. An extension of the light rail system in San Francisco is scheduled to open this year, and more than 20 light rail projects are currently in the planning or design phase."

"A Review of the Literature on the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Use in the United States," James J. Murphy and Mark A. DeLucchi, January 1998, Journal of Transportation and Statistics, v. 1, n. 1. -- useful comparision and critique of most of the recent major studies that have attempted to estimate the social cost, or externalities, inherent in motor vehicle use. (.PDF file, 2.3 Mb)

"Something Smells: Big Three Automakers Skirt their Agreement to Reduce Air Pollution," Ralph Nader, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 9 June 1999

"The Real Price Of Gas," International Center for Technology Assessment, November 1998 -- "external costs... when added to the retail price of gasoline, result in a per gallon price of $5.60 to $15.14"

"The More Roads We Build, the More Traffic We Create," Neal R. Peirce, Seattle Times, 24 January 1999

The Public Purpose; Wendell Cox Consultancy -- a rabidly pro-auto, pro-roadway site with heaps of writings to support its positions

"Automobile Emissions: An Overview," U.S. EPA fact sheet, updated July 1998. Concise, substantive information.

The Full Costs of the Car; A collection of excerpts and articles compiled by Auto-Free Ottawa, March 1996

"Trails of Destruction," Friends of the Earth, 1998 -- Detailed analysis of environmental impacts by off-road vehicles (ORVs).

"Peugeot to Plant Trees to Fight Global Warming," The Ottawa Citizen, 9 October 1998 -- Europe's third-largest carmaker said it will plant 10 million trees over the next three years in Brazil's rain forest and help reduce greenhouse gases.

Alliance for a Paving Moratorium -- "Launched in 1990, the nonprofit Alliance for a Paving Moratorium is a diverse and rapidly growing movement of grassroots community groups, individuals and businesses. Our common goal: to halt the tremendous environmental, social and economic damage caused by endless road building."

Carfree Cities Past, Present, and Future -- Solutions to the problem of the urban automobile.

"Why You Drive Where You Live; From Streetcar Suburb to Subsidized Sprawl," by Tom Vanderbilt -- a nifty online photoessay with audio clips of car ads and other auto-culture promotions.

Brief reviews and availability of a book, Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took over America and How We Can Take It Back, 1997, by Jane Holtz Kay.

"Highways to Hell; Bikes and Buses Battle the Road, Tire and Asphalt Lobby," by Linda Baker, E/The Environmental Magazine, September-October 1997.

"The Real Chicken Littles" -- The auto industry is crying "fowl" against a global warming treaty. A timeline shows the pattern of doomsday rhetoric used by automakers while opposing important environmental health and safety standards. With good reason he Big Three auto companies attack a significant treaty to limit greenhouse gases: the average car in the U.S. emits over 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly -- see the section Chicken Little Lives in Detroit.

"Blind Spot The Big Three's Attack on the Global Warming Treaty," a report by Environmental Working Group.

"Paving, Asphalt, Tires and Latex Allergies: What is the Relationship?" by Donald F. Groce, Latex Allergy News, August 1996. Links to allergies to tire dust.

"Your Car Wants to Kill You," by Scott Rose. Material drawn from The Bristol Cyclist (England) describes some impacts of automotive pollutants.

"Grid Shock," by Michael Mechanic, MetroActive, March 1996. "We tolerate the hazards [automobiles] pose to human and animal life, health and quality of living. In fact, we handsomely subsidize a system that makes us auto-dependent. We do so at the expense of other modes of transportation and, to some degree, at the expense of our humanity."

"Needleman Campaigns for More Studies of Gasoline Additive MMT," University of Pittsburgh, University Times, vol. 28, no. 15, 28 MARCH 1996.

"Fuel Economy," Talk of the Nation, 20 May 1998 -- "The demand for minivans and sport utilities vehicles is on the rise in America. These large vehicles, considered to be safer than smaller cars, are also notorious gas guzzlers. Which may be why U.S. import of oil is at an all time high. As demand for big cars grows, will the market set fuel economy standards, or should the government step in and regulate?"

Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution, Jack Doyle, 2000, Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 560 pp. (about)

Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took over America, and How We Can Take It Back, Jane Holtz Kay, 1998, University of California Press, 440 pp. (about)

The Elephant in the Bedroom -- Automobile Dependence & Denial: Impacts on the Economy and Environment, by Stanley I. Hart & Alvin L. Spivak, 1993, Hope Publishing House -- How to "unravel the complicated grasp on our lives held by the internal combustion engine." (about)

Thomas Detwyler maintains this page (tdetwyle@uwsp.edu)
Last updated 14 February 2001