“…the essential blueprint for modern motor cars was inherent in Ford’s prototype. Despite being constructed from different materials and equipped with new gadgets and engines that in some cases consume different fuels most modern motor cars do not deviate from the basic design established by Ford in his prototype. The logic is intact. Four wheels two or four doors an engine steering wheel boot fuel tank seats windscreen wipersmirrors horn driver and passenger seats.
If we were to take time we could unpack the set of assumptions that define the notion of what a motor car actually is.”
[i]Adrian Woolfson. Life without genes.[/i]
Set me thinking what is a car to me:
[ul]independence
a way to get to the shop or markets to buy essential food items
something that can carry or transport items that are too heavy for me to easily carry along under my own power
something that opens the door to the possibility of going very far almost effortlessly
not linked to a limited set of routes (ex. train tracks bus route)
a problem to park in the city and at Ferny Grove station
secure to protect me from thugs outside or robbers wanting to rob stored property while I am away from it
a protection from the weather the sun hail thunderstorms rain heat cold wind
a place to have a snooze with the seat back
when young a place to indulge in romance away from parents
my own space a sense of extended personal identity
a status symbol (in my case inverted – the less embedded carbon the higher the status; the more embedded carbon the lower the status)
a store of value once bought
a liability if crashed needing to be insured
costly to buy
desirable as a symbol of adulthood
one of the last things clung to desperately as we age and lose capability
mobility for disabled and frail
a way to get to help such as hospital in emergency
something that has to have keys that need their own place and are carried in handbags and can get lost
something that needs washing – what to do when there are water restrictions
something that is hugely advertised on TV – just about the biggest consumer item of all time
consumer of petrol (or diesel) and vulnerable to oil price rises
fantastically efficient arguably more so than public transport
the reason the population is able to move about so much and ignore distance as a restricting factor
potentially lethal
needing somewhere to ‘live’ like a carport or garage
need maintaining new tyres servicing
why we belong to RACQ but very reliable nowadays
for my grandfather to drive to bowls the pub and to the petrol station to get petrol (all within a kilometre)
family identities – can list each car ever owned most by name with stories about them and adventures in them
get bogged
drive to Arana Leagues in on Sunday evening for roast night
drive to places late at night or early mornings when other transport not available
carry babies and children in but a lot of rules now about car carriers and seats mean that the number carried is quite limited – don’t have big families – a big expense and hard to transfer seats to grandparent’s cars
a danger to bicycles
small cars (low embedded carbon) vulnerable to trucks and huge cars with big bull bars
tools of aggression (along with dangerous species of dogs)
esoteric additions the main status symbol displays while basic car performs key function of getting from a to b
powerful sexual/ mating selection symbol – peacock with longest tail/ male with most expensive car gets the bird
toy for drag racing rallies car clubs (social life around car-based activities)
topic for magazines and interest groups
basis of whole industries of fuel it fix it sell hubcaps and seat covers and stereo gear for it
fantastic sound box for listening to music radio in own private world
place to pick nose while waiting for lights to change
place to sit and wait while kids come out of school
place for the police and private investigators to observe from
home on wheels
a way to transport vast quantities of stuff so it is easy to move around or do things that would be very hard otherwise like camping in lonely outback places
something that gets washed off roads in floods and becomes a tomb
easy to measure how fast it is going using radar cameras
the only way to go and buy an international stamp to post a present to an overseas relative if not up to walking 3 kilometres and back
by far the easiest way to get to the library
short of a long walk and careful scheduling with Translink the only way to get to a bank to deposit a cheque
about the only way to get to the movies on Saturday night or a cultural activity in the city especially if you live in Upper Kedron
somewhere that a lot of junk ends up
things innocent victims get dragged into and absconded with
can be bought and sold on the web
ownership can be compromised if there are hire purchase liabilities
Police need to be notified of transfers of ownership
must come with a warranty if purchased from car dealers
to sit in traffic jams in
to drive to and from work in[/ul]
What are the paradigm shifts?
[ul]purchasing on-line rather than going to the shop
emailing rather than going to the post-office to buy a stamp
purchasing presents on-line and having them delivered directly to family overseas
learning to live locally and systematically replacing activities elsewhere with local activities and friends
finding work locally or in the opposite direction to traffic jams
working on the web
calculating the cost of the car to include all costs and then how much work and time it takes to earn that
moving away from using libraries that are hard to access
downloading movies and videos directly rather than driving to them or trying to use public transport
to bulk-buy to cut down the frequency of trips to the shop
to provide people with BSB and account numbers to get them to pay directly into accounts rather than by cheque or to use PayPal
to prefer mate choices who are intelligent enough to see that carbon embedded in expensive or large cars is not the way of the future
to be informed of health options locally and web-based information tools on health self-help; accept mortality is a real aspect of being human – getting bitten by a brown snake when there is not car is deadly
to car-pool to distant locations
to reflect on the huge value cars have for transporting heavy materials and understand what an absolute luxury it is – buildings used to be built from very local materials because transporting materials was close to impossible
to use an umbrella
for bicyclists – be patient – there will be fewer cars in future when petrol prices become far too expensive for most people and the huge road network will be largely available to bikes
pray meditate think and ponder on all the possible ways to have a food supply without using a car to drive to the local shops and to carry stuff home
ban car ads on TV
start PR campaign for family and community life not built on more consumption
tax the embedded carbon in earning money to buy cars or to drive to work
tax the embedded carbon in a new car
tax the carbon emission in exhaust fumes
tax the embedded carbon in roads and road tunnels and road bridges
return transport-related carbon taxes to very local areas to build up local resources accessible on foot[/ul]