DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
SAM PATTERSON’S opinion piece last week perfectly epitomised our cultural intransigence around the issue of climate change. He acknowledges the problem, yet is less keen to be part of the solution if it means changing his lifestyle.
Sam says, "Every being on this planet should be able to take advantage of it [the car]." But not every single person in the world can take advantage - if everyone drove to uni it would take three hours. And a world where four billion people (roughly the number old enough to drive) each have their own car is fundamentally unsustainable. It is our (Western, middle class) lifestyles that is the problem - similarly only five percent of the world's population every use aeroplanes.
With their high budget marketing campaigns, the motor industry sells us a myth of autonomy - the liberation of the open road; the adventure on desolate mountain passes.
The contrasting reality for students pondering the car is thick traffic jams down the Curry Mile, rising CO2 levels, higher asthma rates and an urban environment made dangerous by the falsehood that we all have a right to drive, regardless of the consequences.
Sam is right to point out that there are other polluting sectors besides motoring. But you can't just pass the buck; our addiction to car culture is elitist and unsustainable. Get with the times bro, get on your bike.
Robbie Gillett
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