Our love of Cars.

While this post is long, it is certainly condensed and ends rather abruptly. But see it through and see what questions/thoughts it generates.

I grew up loving cars. My dad loved/loves cars and would occasionally take me to local car shows. I especially loved the American Hot-Rods and Muscle Cars. And like many young teenage boys, I also dreamed about the super-cars of Europe, but these seemed distant and unattainable to me. Of course I imagined my self rich and living in the mansion on the hill, so perhaps I would have my stable of cars after all.

This year I took my own boys to a small local car-show to see some of the same cars I loved.

I have also always loved technology and thoughts of what the future held. I searched the pages of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics incessantly. Of course I also spent a fair amount of time perusing the pages of Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, and Automobile Magazine. This love of technology and cars began to conflict with another great love, nature and the environment. I spent time lost in the pages of National Geographic magazine also. I loved being and playing outdoors, and as a young boy-scout I only deepened that love.

My other great interests included (and still do); family, friends, music, and physical activities. If I could be playing sports, rappelling, dancing, etc., and it included family and/or friends, than I was in heaven. If it could some how incorporate music, then how much the better.

It all came together in an unexpected way when I was attending high school in the early ‘90s. My environmental chemistry teacher introduced my fellow students and me to a national solar bicycle race (http://www.solarbike.org/). We formed a team, raised a little money, and entered the event. I enjoyed the experience with friends working on our bike learning more about solar power, battery storage, electric motors, and rudimentary design. That experience has always stuck with me. For me, the need for effective and efficient alternative energy sources became real.

Shortly after this experience, I can remember beginning to feel disappointment with the world’s auto-makers, but especially with the American auto makers. I grew up in a house-hold that always had and has bought American and yet the older I got, the more obvious it became that American cars were of lesser quality (a trend they seem to finally be working to reverse; is it too late?). However, to my knowledge the only “foreign” car that my parents ever briefly owned was a Volkswagen Beetle. It wasn't that my father hasn't recognized the inferiority of American cars in many areas, he was investing in a lifelong relationship, buying an ideal, and a history as much as an automobile. Of course the carmakers know this. I felt let down, even taken advantage of, by the American automakers. Still I tried to carry the flame and buy American.

Like many, I have wondered how much the government, “big oil,” and automakers had to do with it all. I wondered about the “conspiracy.” Sometimes I believe that complacent, lazy, unimaginable, and irresponsible design and business policies have plagued the American automakers more than anything. While I’m certain the government, "big oil" and auotmakers all have played a significant role in the problems at hand, I have to recognize that we the consumers also are to blame. I realize that our desire for convenience and pseudo-independence drives our destructive consumerism which in turn drives many of our other social ills. Don’t believe me? Ask and I’ll be happy to illustrate.

Since I have been married (going on 8 years now) and have become a father, my scrutiny of automobiles has continued to evolve. Now I have a more expansive view. Not only do I see the poor improvement in fuel economy, but I also see our inability to support an ever expanding infrastructure of roads and highways. I find myself thinking about mass-transit and how our current system of building communities cannot efficiently support it.

With today’s high gas prices, there appears to be some motivation to make real progress. We are beginning to hear of cars with real increases in efficiency, like Volkswagen and Aptera’s cars boasting 200+mpg.

Did you knw that there was actually an efficient electric car at the turn of the century, the 20th century? Jay Leno has his.

















But many are less exuberant. Part of this is due to the consumers demands. We want powerful/fast cars with navigation systems and other luxuries that add weight and cost and zap efficiency. And we want our 2.28 vehicles per household! Actually, due to the way we live, we practically require that 2.28. If it were not for the current price of gas (4.44/gal. here in Anchorage) we'd be all to happy to jump back in line for the SUV's and Trucks. Why not? With exception to their thirst, they are convenient.

We consume 20.7 million barrels of oil every day in the U.S., or roughly 7 billion barrels a year and that number is currently rising at about a 2% increase anually. Globally we are consuming 30billion barrels a year. China alone doubled its oil consumption from 1996 – 2006 and their consumption is currently increasing at 8% each year. By the way, check the estimates of how much oil we can gain by drilling in ANWR (one fairly unbiased site http://www.sibelle.info/oped15.htm) and you tell me if you think it would make a difference.

China’s middle class is expanding rapidly. In a country of 1.3 billion people even a relatively small middle class (currently around 300 million, the equivalent of the entire U.S. population) is beginning to flex its economic muscle. Did you know that China's economy is the fastest growing major economy in the world? As the Chinese begin to produce and consume more vehicles, the pressure on the world’s oil resources (and the environment) will increase astronomically. What about if (or when) India, population 1.1 billion, begins to take off economically. And think about all the other stuff out there we consume...think about the trash! (We'll leave that for another time.)

So far we've only spoken of Oil and automobiles. Our consumerism is much more widespread of course. One final thought to bring this all to a close. It is estimated, based on the earths natural resources, that if everyone in the world as we do in the United States, we would need multiple Earths to support us. Visit http://www.ecofoot.org/ to see how many Earths it would take if everyone lived like you. Sadly, it would require 5.2 Earths for everyone to live like me. I’ve got work to do!