Cars Are Like Cigarettes; The New Pariah
I am often asked, "Why do you love bicycles?" For a few reasons, but mostly because I am in love with self-propulsion and self-motivation. I love finding solutions to problems and I want to leave the world in better condition than when I arrived. For too long we've behaved as if the resources of our world are infinite. They are not. They are finite. The disappearing species around the globe should be a canary in the coal mine for all of us.
Have you ever been witness to a baby's first steps? The open mouth smile and the parents, with arms outstretched, as the child wobbles into their waiting arms. With each step the child builds confidence and ventures further out into the world. I don't remember my first steps, but I remember the first time I found my balance and pedaled away from my father as he let go of the seat of my first bike. I remember. My heart seemed to stop and I gasped for breath. Balance. More than just a word, a metaphor.
The bicycle provides a greater sense of self-propulsion because it can carry us further and faster than our feet. At some point during the mid 19th century, during the height of the industrial revolution, the love of two-wheeled transportation began to catch hold in different corners of the world. Since that time there have been countless shapes and forms. But each design provides the rider with the same freedom that the first model gave its operator, the ability to get from one place to another quickly and in style.
Sometimes I feel like I am flying when I ride my bike. It's exciting to turn a corner and suddenly find myself in a sea of other bicyclists. They seem to share this feeling of self-empowerment. In love with the knowledge that, as they pass through the air that surrounds them, they are not polluting what we all share and breathe. Bicyclists are free from the petroleum products that have compromised our global environment. They don't have to worry about paying for parking, tipping valets, car insurance, car inspections or car maintenance. And this makes them smile. And, as an added bonus, bicyclists are less tense than the people belted into their metal, four-wheeled boxes.
The statistical truth is that 90% of trips made in cars are less than five miles from our homes. A very comfortable journey made on a bicycle. In addition to saving the aforementioned automobile expenses, riding a bike--just a couple hours a week--will reduce a person's risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, not to mention reduce the risks of obesity and diabetes, two of the biggest killers in the United States. The more people that ride bikes, the safer it gets to share the road with pedestrians and cars.
Perhaps the best part of choosing a bike instead of a car is what you are saying by pedaling. You are saying to yourself, your friends, your family, and the cars that clog our roads and highways, that you care about the air we breathe and that you care about the environment. You're saying you want to do something to reduce carbon emissions and that you want to improve your health. This personal and environmental awareness is the legacy that you want to share with your friends and family. You are a person that wants to pose beside your new bicycle instead of a new car. Not to mention how much fun it is to ride. The Zen of bicycling is way cooler than the art of motorcycle maintenance.
Our country has had a long love affair with the automobile. Since its invention, the automobile has provided us with the freedom and liberty we yearned for since we took those first baby steps. The automobile took us further and faster than we could have ever done by self-propulsion. But that speed and distance has brought the world to the edge of extinction. We must now look at the automobile with an understanding of what it really is. We must look at the movies and songs that celebrated the automobile with a new consciousness and awareness. We must look at the automobile as a cigarette--a cancer stick--a nail in our collective coffin. The sexy lifestyle that the tobacco industry sold to us contains the same advertising lies and poison which the automobile industry sold and continues to sell to the world. Look at the ads for automobiles and you'll begin to recognize the lies. You'll see open roads with happy smiling drivers. Ask yourself, When was the last time I was NOT stuck in traffic? When was the last time I was not pissed off and stressed out after just a few hours spent driving behind the wheel of a car? The automobile ads always present cars in a setting that is free of traffic and the drivers appear powerful, happy and liberated behind the wheel. Yeah, like that ever happens in the modern world.
Just as tobacco has killed millions with different forms of cancer, the automobile industry and the pollution that has spewed from exhaust pipes ever since Henry Ford's Model 'A' rolled off the assembly line, must be looked upon as a carton of cigarettes and a cancer to civilization. The automobile industry should not be bailed out so it can continue to manufacture the same product. The automobile industry should be transformed into an industry that builds non-combustion engines. They should be given contracts to build new light rail trains that can carry passengers comfortably and safely. And the light rail cars should have bike racks so passengers can get home from commutes too long to be made by bicycle. Imagine how many jobs could be created if the US supported light and heavy rail systems. The car is a mode of transportation that cannot propel itself or our country into the future. The burning of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine is dead. Raise your glass to self-propulsion! Long live the bicycle.
Matthew Modine is a Causecast leader, a dedicated and passionate individual who is an enigmatic voice for change. Causecast leaders are a prestigious collection of athletes, artists, students, actors, musicians, politicians, teachers and more. These individuals have set themselves apart from their contemporaries with a spirited dedication to their ideals.
He is also the founder of Bicycle for a Day, an organization which encourages expanded bicycle use and environmental empowerment. On June 4th, BFAD is holding a fundraiser for SOLAR ONE, a New York based clean energy organization.
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I live in Los Angeles and got rid of my dual-exhaust sports car late last year and now take our sorry excuse for mass transit to work and back. Not quite as good as riding the bike (which I have contemplated), but one less car on the road is something.
Our city is in love with cars. Everyone and their dog has one. Here, perhaps more than other places, the car is a status symbol just as much as if not more than a means of transportation. Don't get me wrong...I'
But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss my car. I'm an Angelino through and through. My pride and joy in my younger years was a 1970 Chevy Malibu, fully restored and hopped up with a 454 Chrysler Engine, racing suspension, the works. That's the kind of guy I was. So sometimes it is very trying to get on a public bus with the smelly whinos and screaming kids and all the rest of it... But I will tell you, sir, that your piece here has given me encouragement.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
A bike as one's primary mode of transportation is nice if you live in California (where the weather is conducive to year-round bike riding), have a more relaxed schedule, live in a quiet neighborhood, and don't have little children to haul around.
Cars are not the new cigarettes. Oil is. We should have cars that produce little pollution by now, but the oil industry has kept us stuck in the fossil-fuel age.
I agree with the pro-exercise aspect of this article, but bike-riding is not for everyone. I'm not comfortable riding a bike on busy streets. I won't do it, and even though I have a short commute (and even if I didn't have to haul my kids), I would need to ride along a number of busy streets to get to work. My fear of getting hit while on my bike is too great. If everyone rode bikes or if there were as many paths for bikes as there are for cars, then sure. But that's never going to happen.
No matter what Matthew Modine says to try and make cars unsexy, they're not going away. They are America. We can and should have cars that produce far less (or even no) pollution.
It's nice that bike-riding is the answer to Modine's problems. But they're not the only answer to America's problems.
America was here long before the car and will be around long after.
The automobile is a symptom of cheap oil and resources. That is the only reason why everyone uses them. Without cheap oil, the age of the automobile is over.
Here's the fact buddydave, the more people that ride bikes, the safer it is for bicyclists. Fact. The more people that ride bikes the more leverage cyclists have to put in bike lanes. Fact. Check out Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Austin, Salt Lake City, and New York City. All of them have put in bike lanes. All of these cities have fewer and fewer accidents. Ridership in each of the cities has had a ridership increase of more than 20%. That is a lot more better air to breathe and a lot more happy people that aren't stuck in traffic for hours and hours a day. Fact.
I recommend you check out bicycling in Amsterdam. http://www
Thanks Matthew!
To the needling naysayers on this thread who have interpreted this blog as a call to 365 day a year bicycle commuting - PLEASE re-read the article. Even one trip a week on a bicycle or a bus - to the store, to the park, to the movies, to work - can make a world of difference.
To all the able-bodied people on this thread listing all the reasons they couldn't possibly commute ANYWHERE by bicycle AT ANY TIME, EVER - Do you own a bike or know how cheaply you can rent one for the day?
I personally know 3 paraplegic bicyclists and I have never seen my 78 year-old neighbor "Dee" drive a car! At the market, at a concert - there she is with a big smile and a bicycle helmet!
Instead of a taking your day off to drive around shopping or running errands - rent a bike, pack a lunch, spend the day riding around a local park or bike trail, bike to a matinee, meet a friend for lunch at a local restaurant or just bike around your neighborhood.
We are all going to have to make changes to slow the crazy consumption of fossil fuels. For some, in cities with sensible urban planning, it will be easier. For others, we are going to have to be the change we want to see!
We should spend our time coming up with reasons why it CAN work instead of detailing all the reasons
Excellent reply. A+
I can not agree with you more. I bike to work everyday - and everywhere else that I can.
I do realize that not everyone can ride, but some of the reasons given are just excuses. Look at Copenhagen. There, at a minimum, 30% of all trips are made by bicycle. They decided long ago that cars were second rate citizens and mass transit, pedestrians and bicyclists were king. They have built an entire infrastructure around this. And please, can't ride in cold weather? That doesn't stop the Danes. Favorite site: copenhagan cycle chic dot com. Check it out.
Cars are huge glorified wheelchairs that we feel are necessary simply out of mental inertia and laziness in infrastructure planning. Our nation has been senselessly developed to cater to the notion that cars are the lowest common denominator.
Regardless of the source (internal combustion vs. electric vs. _fill_in_t
So, why are we fed a mode of transportation that is completely inefficient, dangerous, expensive, etc. "Expensive" says it all; the money grubbing interests get more of your hard earned cash by you using the glorified wheel chair rather than your own muscles. There is no magic here, just marketing and lazy citizens.
It's this kind of "my size fits all" fundamentalism that makes real compromise and progress so difficult.
You mean kinda like forcing everyone to drive because they have no other options?
A good idea in theory, not so much in feasibility. If you live in an urban area, it could work....if you can avoid getting plastered by one of the overly agressive drivers out there. The infrastructure here in the southeast makes this darn near impossible. Very few sidewalks, narrow side streets and roads where passing is difficult and drivers have very little patience or respect for those on bicycles.
And a lot of steep hills to climb which are not so cycle friendly, except for the ultra fit out there.
But if they'd spend some of that stimulus money on making my area more bicycle friendly, I'd definitely be willing to give it a try, but I really don't see that happening any time soon.
I myself, favour horses to bycycles, why don,t we just get horse, like the days before cars...
A horse produces more greenhouse gases than a 1hp ICE. The problem is that people have 360hp ICEs in their trucks right now... and 360 horses per person, that's just unsustainable.
:-)
Now thats news to me,.. but if you take the horse dung, and use it for fuel you would see that your figures are quite, say complete..
Good article, and I do agree that cars are like cigs in that Americans are addicted to oil and fossil fuel burning. We love it! We love to drill baby drill no matter what eco disasters come from drilling and transporting this toxic goo. Alaska is rapidly turning into a super fund site: HazmatAlaska. And, like true junkies, they like it. Heck with the planet, childrens' future (so much for those "family values"), etc. So, yeah, America has a serious oil Jones.
On the other hand, if you buy the substance addiction analogy, then bicyclists are like "dry drunks." They are crude, rude, and obnoxious scofflaws. A bicyclist that stops at a red light or a stop sign is AN EXCEPTION. Can't count the number of times I have almost been hit by a bicyclist riding their bikes at high speed on the sidewalk-- again against the law where I live. Disobeying traffic laws is the equivalent dry drunk behavior: the total self-centered disregard of others that is common to "recovering" alkies an junkies. Same behavior minus the drug. Your basic American bicyclist. The solution is to retire and replace the internal combustion engine-- that piece of overpriced Victorian era technology. We did have electrics, then Bush got elected and Cheney's oil buddies drove policy. Sooo we lost 8 years, and have to start over. We're Americans, so we wouldn't have it any other way.
Bicycle safety can be addressed through a range of actions, including rider education, more bikeways and bicycle lanes, and stricter enforcement of traffic safety regulations by traffic cops on bicycles.
Totally agree about most American bicyclists. Their arrogance over not driving a car leads them to believe they can go anywhere and ignore all traffic laws.
Matthew, as the former owner of a bicycle store and bike messenger I appreciate what you are trying to say, but hear much condescension in tone., much like the vegetarians (nothing really against them) who sigh and shake their heads when I'm observed eating a double bacon cheeseburger. Mmmm, double bacon cheeseburger.
But I will take issue with your statement: "The automobile ads always present cars in a setting that is free of traffic and the drivers appear powerful, happy and liberated behind the wheel. Yeah, like that ever happens in the modern world."
Actually, it does. For those of us who are motorsport enthusiasts and club racing participants it happens quite often, and not just on the track. Just yesterday, a co-worker reported to me of the exhilarating drive he had up a stretch of Chuckanut Drive in his new Mini. Chuckanut is a legendary 2 lane, twisting scenic drive in our area. He was grinning ear to ear.
If you've never experienced the kind of exhilaration in a car that you get on a bike, you've just been in the city too long. You should try it. Go rent a convertible mustang and drive RT66, or go sign up for racing school, or get your agent to get you into one of the celeb races. If you have the means, it's an experience like no other.
My comments fall in line with yours Beaux510. Although not a former bicycle store owner or an automobile enthusiast, I'm a motorcyclist and feel that there are also benefits to be had from this type of transportation, espcially for the future of transportation.
I'm not familiar with the statistic "The statistical truth is that 90% of trips made in cars are less than five miles from our homes," Matthew. Where I live, in Maryland, most of the people I know commute to work at least an hour one way. If I'd like to go to the store or see a movie, it's a 15 mile ride into Frederick, Maryland. I'm sure people who work/live in the city are closer to this statistic.
I've also experienced the joys of riding a bicycle. While not recently, I own a nice bike and have ridden in a 10 mile area around my home. The exhilaration Beaux510 writes of in a car is also achievable on a motorcycle, perhaps at a much lower cost. I can pick up two 180hp sportbikes weighing less than 400lbs for less than a single BMW 3 series. (Part 1)
A used Legends race car (yamaha 1250 engine) will run you between $5500-9000. The Mazda RX7 I run initially cost me $1850.00 and was already a race car, but abandoned and in pieces, I just had to put it back together. A 3 Series BMW to run in the PRO3 series can be bought, ready to race for $9000.00 - $15000.
We've enjoyed the fuel mileage offered by our mode of transportation for years, not just in the past 5 because it's become fashionable. My Yamaha is rated at 71mpg. When parking is hard to find, we can make our own small parking spaces. While we do have the fees that go along with owning an automobile, much to my chagrin at times, many of us work on our own bikes and consider this a part of the bonding process.
Matthew your comment, "And, as an added bonus, bicyclists are less tense than the people belted into their metal, four-wheeled boxes." made me smile. You've touched upon an area considered by many motorcyclists, as we often refer to cars as cages in our everyday communication.
Looking towards the future, I'm seeing more people in my area commuting on scooters, such as the Suzuki Bergman. My conversations with motorcycle dealers confirms this; they've commented to me they are selling more now than ever, selling out at one dealer in fact. Electric motorcycles are in the works. One of the promising projects, Enertia, http://www
I hope to see a greater acceptance of the motorcycle as a means of transportation, especially as newer technologies emmerge which enable it to continue its over 100 year dominance of the mpg topic. (Part 2)
I too spend as much time as possible on my motorcycle. I commute on it about 20 miles each way every day unless it's pouring cats and dogs (Seattle area) or icy. I had a lovely ride in to work today. Cheers.
CAN YOU SPELL - GLOBAL WARMING? The world cannot support gas powered joy riding. Grow up. Your comments are condescending. You might well be saying, "I like a smoke after my morning cup of coffee." Which is fine. If you are alone. But if we have to breathe your exhalation, not so fine. Joy riding in a Mini is second-hand smoke for us all. Cars ARE like cigarettes.
You assume too much. Actually, my co-worker was travelling to Bellingham and instead of using I-5, chose the old route up Chuckanut for the enjoyment factor, you call it "joy riding" I'll call it multi-tasking.
I can spell a whole lot more than GLOBAL WARMING.
You really want to reduce GW? First, start with finding a way to move the millions of tons(daily) of cargo that supply our cities and towns without the requisite fleets producing fossil fuel emissions, next; eliminate air travel all together, then find the money to build better mass transit systems so those of us who live in the suburbs or rural areas will be able to get to work without using the car, then convert from coal power plants to hydro and nuclear power....a
I leave the SUV parked and ride my motorcycle most of the time, because I do care(and it saves me $$$), but at the same time I refuse to live in ever-present existential guilt over every drop of fuel I use. It's like the concept of original sin, which I also have no use for.
For the record:
No one here is saying that they love burning fossil fuel and polluting the planet. What we are saying is that without a practical alternative - and just give up the bicycle bs...if a paraplegic or a 90-year old can't do it, it isn't practical! As I was saying...w
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Beautiful, Matthew. Thank you!
40 years ago I felt like a madman in the wilderness railing against the automobile as one of the worst inventions ever. It does my poor old heart good to see so many crazy others wandering around with me now.
Earthlings Unite!
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Mr. Modine,
Bicycles are wonderful, and if you're a new yorker, and don't have to ride in January, they are a practical form of transportation. However your assertion that all folks should ride bicycles on trips less than five miles is fairly absurd. Most people work, buy groceries, move things in an automobile. Riding to work may be wonderful for you, but a gentleman in a three piece suit, in August, may disagree.
Your assertion that the automobile is analogous to a carton of cigarettes is absurd. The automobile remains one of the greatest forms of freedom, and mobility, that has ever been devised. And it will remain so, in ever cleaner forms for the foreseeable future, if not forever.
Agreed. I thought, from the title, that this post would be pointing out the absurdity of comparing a car to a cigarette. But no.
I can't pick up my kid on a bike. I can't get much in the way of groceries on a bike. And a car is a helluva lot safer, I see people with their kids riding bikes in bike lanes next to speeding hunks of metal and I think it's incredibly reckless.
This whole cars-cause
Most people in the world don't have and will never have an automobile and somehow manage to pick up their kids and their groceries.
I am sure you are creative and resourceful enough to figure out how to live your life without a car if you really wanted to. If billions of other people can do it, you can to.
Yes You Can!
After a hundred years, still no one has been able to figure out how to make an electric car that is affordable that people will actually want to buy. In a world of 6 billion people with limited resources, even electric cars use up too many resources and energy to be sustainable. Plus, no one in the States seems to want to pay to maintain existing roads much less build new ones to reduce congestion. The age of the auto is over.
Most of those people you speak of live in near poverty, with their whole family crammed into barely-bar
I presume Modine will begin cycling to the studio?
I used to bike to my job a couple of years ago. I now live too far away from my current job to make it feasible.I miss it terribly.
As a single mom, time to yourself is precious and generally last on the priority list of the day, but as I spent nearly the same amount of time on my bike to get to work as I would have sitting in traffic, I could rationalize the extra 10 minutes a day. The half hour each way spent going to and from work gave me time to de-stress and exercise at the same time.
I was lucky enough to live in Houston where the weather, albeit rather hot in the summer, is generally good enough most days, provided you leave early enough in the morning. I had the added benefit that I lived near a bike path by the bayou that took me pretty much straight to work while avoiding most of the admittedly dangerous vehicular traffic on the roads.
On various mornings I saw:
a green kingfisher perched on a telephone wire
a sparrow hawk
beautiful sunsets
and an osprey diving straight down into the bayou and coming up with a fish.
Great way to start (and end) the work day.
When I was a child, we had two local sundry stores that were smack in the middle of our very suburban neighborhood. They had the storefronts built into their homes. They were very convenient, but the items were more expensive, because they had that overhead that needed to be covered.
Once a day riding my bike for some of that penny candy or walking over for a stick of butter was all well and good. But I can't imagine my mother dragging 5 children under the age of 10 to the supermarket in the middle of winter to pick up a week's worth of groceries for a family of 7 ... on a bicycle. Not everyone has someone to watch the kids. 30 years ago, you could leave the 10-year-old to watch the 8-year old without having DSS and the police called on you.
I think living in the sunny climes of California for so long have made you forget that it's not geographically, topographically, or even economically feasible for most states. Mr. Modine, you write like an economically advantaged individual whose work allows him the luxury of having a lot of time on his hands to daydream without actually thinking it out.. As other posters have noted, it's not the cars - it's the fuel!
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