Conference on World Affairs

Overall Impression: In a town with bumper stickers that read, "What Would Jesus Drive?" Will Toor, Our Mayor the Moderator, told the story of a guy who rode up on a bike and handed him a button that read "Would Jesus Drive?

Harvey Wasserman

Harvey started off with the observation that we used to have a great public transit system. He said there was a time when you could get from Maine to St. Louis on intra-city transit. When the interstate highway system was introduced in the 1950s that helped destroy public transit. We do like our cars. He mentioned something to the effect that the automakers willfully destroyed our public transit systems. In a capitalist system I still wonder how much power the corporations really have. (Good panel title for next year.)

I think also dropped a comment about our troops fighting for gas for our SUVs. Whether he stated that directly I thought about some people's inclination to reach absolute conclusions when talking about amazingly complex systems.

Achim Ködderman

Achim goes so fast when he talks he deserves a bulleted list. He also mentioned a lot of philosophers whose names I did not catch.

• What are we driving versus where are we driving it to. Is it bad when we drive our Suburban to suburbia?
• Keeping up with the Jones's is a problem America is a global fashion leader. SUV ownership is 7% nationally, and 14% in Colorado. Although no one who has ever seen a parking lot in Boulder believes the numbers are that low. What message are we sending to the rest of the world? [Ed. Now they need to buy Nikes and an SUV.]
• Reason dictates ethical choice when it is not imposed.
• Excessive idealism marginalizes itself. Or, don't preach to the choir.
• We do not pay the full cost of gas in this country. More taxes might help. Germany supposedly has gas at $6.00 a gallon. Perhaps a car tax based on weight or emissions. Some pricing structure that helps people make more accurate driving decisions.
• High tech instruments, such as the SUV, are alienating us from the environment. [Air conditioning and shock absorbers take all the mystique out of a bumpy, dusty road.]

Roger Ebert

And Roger gets a list too.

• Smug politically correct road rage? People who hate SUVs think they are morally superior.
• Roger told a safety story about getting stuck in the snow on the way to Michigan. After that he swore he was going to get four wheel drive. [Some people do have legitimate reasons to drive SUVs. Well, all probably do, but some that the PC folks can understand.]
• SUVs do have good road vision and easy access getting in and out. [Road vision will diminish if everyone got one.]
• Cars today are still smaller and get better mileage than they did 30 years ago.
• Is it a lifestyle issue? (Where and how we live.) Has the SUV become a poster child for a larger problem.
• Most car ads tell you you are going to get laid. SUVs ads tell you you are going to run over a fish.

QUESTION PERIOD IDEAS

• In Switzerland they can deliver the mail via mass transit. Of course they have laid out their cities in a way that allows that. Highly dense living areas are connected by public transit with other highly dense living areas.
• How about a tax on miles per passenger? This would encourage more passengers per car. This might work on tollways.
• Somebody started out saying that "The SUV was the biggest contributor..." I think it was in the context of pollution or greenhouse gasses. Roger nailed him on his use of vocabulary there and he revised his point to "SUVs are a contributor." This lead me to wonder how much of our debates and confusion is related to what language we chose. How we word things and how we listen can have an enormous impact on the course of any debate or dialogue.
• What about the size of the engine? Do we hate all SUVs? What about 4 cylinder SUVs? They get better mileage than some cars.
• There is a BUFF bus that runs on bio-diesel fuel. They thought it was called the Fried Ride.
• Sometimes our SUVs are pickups. In Thailand they actually pick up people. Lots of them riding to work in the bad. There are tradeoffs of safety and mileage.
• Chicago has lots of people living in the downtown loop so they can avoid the commute. (Of course, then you can't have a yard.)
• In the future we could plan our housing developments closer to bus stops. By knitting a closer fabric of community we can improve transportation efficiencies.
• Suburban sprawl is a trade-off of zoning versus height limits. Limit building heights and you get sprawl. Of course here in Boulder we have a green belt of open space around the community. This prevents sprawl. We also have a height limit on buildings. That guarantees that the only thing that goes up are the prices.
• There was also mention of regional zoning versus city zoning. If you design a community well, the neighbors invade you to enjoy the space you kept open. Regional zoning and planning can help people enjoy their own communities.