The Blurb: November 2009

Why we should all drive cars

Monday 30 November 2009  11.36 am

So according to the BBC Ethical Man, the much environmentally-scorned motor vehicle, when occupied by more than one person, actually emits less CO2 per passenger kilometre than those nearly empty buses and trains we see driving around.

It’s true, isn’t it?  Outside London, at least, many buses and trains do run with very few passengers a lot of the time. (In the capital, I've been amazed to observe an astonishing public transport system that is affordable, efficient, frequent and chock full all hours of the day and night … so let’s not talk about London.)

Right – well, it’s obvious what we all need to do.  Abandon those inefficient and polluting large vehicles and share our cars with friends and family instead.  It’s amazing that the solution to global warming could be so simple.

Not so fast.

Mr Ethical Man has missed a few wider issues here.  Let’s look at just one.

Car ownership isn't just about CO2. It's about a whole culture shift. People who travel on rural public transport often find themselves building community - as Mrs Jones waves hello to Mr Taylor on the 0921 to Littlehampton every Wednesday morning, for example, and asks how his border collies are getting on. Even in cities where you never say hi to anyone you meet on a bus, the very act of sharing the journey with others opens our eyes to the local world we live in and reminds us we are not in a cosy friends-and-family bubble, and we really do actually depend on each other.  Sitting on a bus with a crowd of school children or a ragtag collection of well dressed and dirty people of all ages may not always be as pleasant as humming along to New Wine classics in the cockpit of a BMW, but choosing the latter doesn’t make those people go away – it merely denies their existence.

As well as comfort, a car gives its driver independence.  It’s not hard to drive 20 minutes to the shops and to church and to school, so now we can live in as inaccessible a place as we like and choose wherever we want to access these “services” from.  Never mind that this destroys any sense of belonging, or any pride in or care for the area around us and its inhabitants.

Let’s take this further.  Suppose we all shared cars with friends and family, and cancelled all bus and train services.  We’d save CO2, it’s true, and maybe we’d even save money – who knows.  Most importantly, all those large, empty vehicles would be off our streets and life would be grand.  For those who can afford a car.  And those who are physically able to drive.  When we threaten the closure of public transport services by using our own car instead, we directly scorn those who truly rely on those services.  And that’s not a very Christian thing to do at all.

Update: it turns out that the people most concerned about climate change are also the richest - and the worst polluters themselves.  That's right - it's the people who drive their cars because they live in a leafy suburb with no empty, polluting buses that are creating the problem.  What an ironic surprise.
 
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