Originally Posted by
tandempower
Good point about the mortgage demand-price relationship. I also don't want to deny people the right to make their own decisions but I still see it as a problem when a certain critical mass of people chooses the rat race and, as a result, others get their lives structured into going along with it to greater or lesser degrees.
The only way to change it is either through a very slow process of changing awareness or a draconian form of legislation that would crash the markets and put lots of people out on the street.
It's no different but my point isn't that no one should ever hire out labor to anyone else but that it's not right what the media does always pushing for more jobs and more growth without ever acknowledging the option of consolidating economic activities in a way that increases free time instead of fiscal power.
The only way the economic engine we have at present keeps going is through endless growth. Again the best way to change it is most likely to be one person at a time. The trouble is if the serfs figure out they don't need the masters then the masters might have to actually work for a living, so don't expect it to be an easy ride.
All I've ever said about this is that driving only becomes a problem when it becomes a vicious circle where so many people drive that more lanes and more sprawl become necessary to accommodate all the traffic, and as a result biking, walking, and transit become less convenient choices. The irony is that driving also becomes less convenient as drivers have to drive longer distances through more sprawl and more traffic to get around.
It still keeps coming back to getting individuals to change their mindset. Personally I very rarely go into London any more because driving isn't a sensible option with the traffic and the buses and trains are unpleasant. Then once you get there it's more crowded than I like. Most people just put up with stuff because they perceive some form of requirement to do so when if the requirement relates to their job they usually (but perhaps not always, depending on their field) have the option to choose other forms of work and if the requirement is social they can always meet people elsewhere.
If a few people made this choice instead of the popular majority, I think it would have a whole different dynamic. The dynamic would be similar to someone who would take a second full-time job to afford to commute by helicopter. Unless the helicopter noise became a nuisance, I would support this choice. It's a different story when it's a minority who choose to work less hours to have more time for cycling, etc. and they are taken less seriously because they're seen as not being as committed to their career as someone who drives and devotes more of their time to work, even at the expense of health, the ability to save, and preservation of insurance funds expended to care for people who don't exercise enough because they spend too much time and energy working.
Why is it a problem when a minority is taken less seriously? If you want to change the way people look at things you have to be willing to accept not being taken seriously. If cycling was such an obvious thing to do then everybody would be doing it, right? So starting from there the challenge is to encourage people to see the world through your eyes and realise that there are options over and above the big metal boxes they currently prefer to use. If they steadily gain weight in their car while you steadily lose weight on your bike, if they routinely get stuck in traffic in the morning and get to watch you glide past the stationary traffic on your bike, perhaps they'll start to consider that they could consider the options you've chosen as a viable alternative.
Fundamentally it's about demonstrating the benefits of the alternative you're proposing in a way that's real and tangible now. If all that's on offer is some vaguely defined benefit at some abstract point in the future, in exchange for a very real cost right now, people won't buy it. Of course to someone who is fat and unfit the very real and tangible cost of taking to two wheels right now is very high, and the first challenge is to get people to realise that cycling 10 miles to work and another 10 miles home from work is even humanly possible for them (when I started cycling there was no way I could have cycled that distance in anything like an acceptable commuting time)