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09-09-01, 11:37 PM
Originally posted by toolfreak
There`s no car for me, the gas prices are extreme high(1.50 $/ltr.), and insurance costs a lot.
My bike takes me about everywhere and if I really needed a car, I can lend one.
There`s really a difference between need a car and "need" car,
if you live and work in a big city, itfs not really necessary, because all the things you need (stores, markets, etc) are around the corner.
I don't think many people caught this from Toolfreak who lives in the Netherlands. He points out that gasoline in the Netherlands is $1.50 per liter. That is about $6.00 PER GALLON!!
He accurately points out that this kind of cost to drive redefines the idea of "NEED" to drive vs. "WANT" to drive.
I travel around the world on a regular basis and have seen what the automobile culture has done to the American lifestyle. Because gasoline is so cheap, Americans spend an exorbitant amount of time in their cars and spend less time actually living. This is certainly the case for most mothers and children who spend most of their afternoons being driven around from one activity to the next. Many of them eat meals in the car as they drive around town.
The Automobile started out making things more accessible to people in the 1940's and 1950's. Now, however, automobile culture has developed a society which requires long drives just to access the simple things in life like groceries and piano lessons.
If there is one stark difference I notice between USA lifestyle and that of other countries is that Americans spend so much time "on-the-go" in automobiles. Other nationalities seem to enjoy a much more leisure pace "where they are". I believe that one major reason for the less frantic lifestyle is that the cost of an automobile dictated lifestyle prevents non-Americans from this insanity.
How much would the price of gasoline have to be before you changed your lifestyle to the extent that you drove 1/2 as much as you do now?
That would probably mean getting a new job or moving closer to work. It might mean the kids take piano from a teacher in the neighborhood instead of across town. You might even have to shop closer to home despite the discounts available at the superstore 15 miles away.
There`s no car for me, the gas prices are extreme high(1.50 $/ltr.), and insurance costs a lot.
My bike takes me about everywhere and if I really needed a car, I can lend one.
There`s really a difference between need a car and "need" car,
if you live and work in a big city, itfs not really necessary, because all the things you need (stores, markets, etc) are around the corner.
I don't think many people caught this from Toolfreak who lives in the Netherlands. He points out that gasoline in the Netherlands is $1.50 per liter. That is about $6.00 PER GALLON!!
He accurately points out that this kind of cost to drive redefines the idea of "NEED" to drive vs. "WANT" to drive.
I travel around the world on a regular basis and have seen what the automobile culture has done to the American lifestyle. Because gasoline is so cheap, Americans spend an exorbitant amount of time in their cars and spend less time actually living. This is certainly the case for most mothers and children who spend most of their afternoons being driven around from one activity to the next. Many of them eat meals in the car as they drive around town.
The Automobile started out making things more accessible to people in the 1940's and 1950's. Now, however, automobile culture has developed a society which requires long drives just to access the simple things in life like groceries and piano lessons.
If there is one stark difference I notice between USA lifestyle and that of other countries is that Americans spend so much time "on-the-go" in automobiles. Other nationalities seem to enjoy a much more leisure pace "where they are". I believe that one major reason for the less frantic lifestyle is that the cost of an automobile dictated lifestyle prevents non-Americans from this insanity.
How much would the price of gasoline have to be before you changed your lifestyle to the extent that you drove 1/2 as much as you do now?
That would probably mean getting a new job or moving closer to work. It might mean the kids take piano from a teacher in the neighborhood instead of across town. You might even have to shop closer to home despite the discounts available at the superstore 15 miles away.