I have always organized my life around a pre-fossil fuel human scale. I live in cities whenever possible as all other environs in most of America are geared to auto ownership. To me, the advantages of a carless life greatly outweigh the transient inconveniences. For example, there are a suite of expenses from insurance, car loan payments, fuel and repair costs and depreciation that do not impact me at all.
Then I also lose stress from attempting to drive around the area's horribly congested roadways. It might surprise you to know how many friends I have who also opt for no car or minimal use of the things. And yet they all live fairly productive lives and will be well equipped to handle any challenges ahead as the oil era winds down.
I am also reminded of McLuhan's admonitions in "Understanding Media" on how the introduction of an invention alters how we use our bodies and minds. "The wheel is an extension of the foot and yet the pace of the thing undermines a sense of space and distance. Seeing the world whir by at 60mph is a real affront to primeval perception and attention must focus on exquisitely narrow things to avoid a collision.
And what's to like about rush hour and road rage?
There are a growing number of game plans to shift away from oil but none offer the elegance of simply abandoning personal motor vehicles until some significant oil less mode takes hold. The biodeisel option may not work to produce the real quantities of fuel needed to run the planetary vehicle fleet without causing even more catastrophic problems.
The utter configuration of land use patterns, such as vast car dependent suburbs may well be one of the biggest dislocation hazards staring at us if the Oil era tanks. More efficient public transit infrastructure will eventually salvage environs like the droll little suburb that once housed me but the real remote places will be left in the lurch.
