gregf83 

The only car-free people I know are both multi-millionaires so economics or convenience is not really a consideration.

Roody

Ethics and politics are not mutually exclusive, although it may seem that they are presently.

But if you want to be ethical about cleaning the air, wouldn't it be more ethical to join together with others who also want clean air? It seems like you can't really do much to clean the air all by yourself. If you supported politicians who want clean air, gave money to groups who are working for clean air, pressured policy makers to adopt clean air policies, and so forth...wouldn't that be doing more good and hence be more ethical than just driving your own car less?

The type of politics that I refer to when it comes to carfree living is the local type or grass roots type. Policy on the federal or even global level is obviously important, but most of us ordinary people can do more on a local level. This is basically just joining together with your neighbors who share your interests and values. It can actually be quite fun, and it will help to chase away that impotent feeling that you are not "powerful enough/rich enough" to make a difference.

In my case, politics did not lead to being carfree, but being carfree led to being more political.

Rowan

Ethics are a moving target that depend very much on culture. The ethics that the Chinese have in business are substantially different from those that certain western business people have. It's a considerable issue when large mutlinational businesses try to impose their "tried and proven" business ethics in new markets; the result can be an absolute disaster. And if you want to go further, the ethics of war differ between nations as evidenced by what is emanating from the Middle-East.

Trying to bring together a common agreement on anything involving a large number of disparate-thinking nations is virtually impossible. The exception could be interpreted as having been the UN's mission to redistribute the world's wealth under the guise of climate change. The recent statements about a certain country withdrawing from the Paris agreement resulted in a clear statement from the UN that its climate change agenda was wholly and solely about redistribution of wealth and not about changing ethics.

Ekdog

There you go again, politicking and climate change denying. Yawn.

Walter S

Ethics is about what people should do. Getting people to do things is political.

cooker

Wow, what does this political rant have to do with the topic?

1989Pre 

I disagree. People tend to imitate others, and when they see that there is an increasing number of people using their bikes for utility and commuting, it can have a cumulative effect. Being out on your bike, instead of a car, is a strong encouragement for others to do the same. Besides, the sending money to environmental groups is all-well-and-good, but why not practice what we preach, instead of expecting N.G.O's and government offices to reel up all the slack?
You understimate the importance of practical, individual demonstration.

wolfchild

The main reason why many individuals on this list are car-free is because they believe that their LCF status is saving the planet and they believe that cars are unethical and immoral...Rowan is correct, especially the part about redistributing the wealth under the disguise of fighting climate change...The war on climate change is nothing less then stealing money from hard working people in western nations and then giving that money away to nations who hate us....This whole climate change thingy is just one big profitable business. I am laughing and radiculing at all the people who are buying into the climate change lie.

StanSeven

Mod note: While this discussion is interesting, it's going political and a couple people objected to content. If it continues, we will move the thread to P&R.

I-Like-To-Bike

You are entitled to believe in your wishful thinking fantasy about any significant "number of people" who did or will take up bicycling for utility and commuting purposes, or voluntarily choose to live car free, in order to imitate the relatively tiny slice of the population they see living that way, or that such LCF/bicycling examples will be seen by any significant "number of people" as worthy role models to emulate.

Walter S

I agree. Rather than "imitate" the word that comes to mind for me is "inspire". I sometimes find examples of older people that are living a lifestyle I can learn from and modify my own so as to follow a similar path - to "imitate" them. Examples of people that live like you might want to are important.

cooker

Certainly in my case I started to bike commute in part due to seeing colleagues doing it. In those days (about 1992) bike commuting by white collar workers in Toronto was quite rare, now it is common.

Roody

I'm not running down the value of individual practice. But I believe it's much more effective when paired with co-operative and mutual efforts by like-minded people. IOW, politics.

At any rate, I commend your efforts and hope they will indeed inspire others to do the same.

Ekdog

A British colleague of mine bought a cheap, second-hand bike and started pedalling to work on it back in 1990, and he inspired me to do the same. I was car-free at the time, depending on buses and an occasional taxi. Even though I'd been a car-free cyclist at times when I lived in California, for some reason it hadn't occured to me to do the same here in Spain. Everyone said I was mad: It was too dangerous. The bike would be stolen... Just as in Toronto, bike commuting was a rare thing here at the time, but now there are thousands of us.

Some years later I joined a cycling advocacy group, so I agree with Roody. Joining forces with others who want the same kind of change I want makes a lot of sense and, of course, you must walk the walk if you want to be taken seriously.

tandempower

Yes, but there are different ways of approaching it. Sometimes I look at the bright side and hope people will just gradually drive less and less until it one day becomes as culturally comfortable to LCF as drive. On the other hand, I put a lot of effort into trying to accomplish anything and everything car-free, and in that way I study how difficult it is to avoid driving for certain things. Getting to an airport CF for a flight, for example, is getting easier but can still involve an overnight stay, which severely increases the cost. On principle, I'd rather avoid renting a car, but when it costs more to do it car-free, it's hard to justify the additional expense. For this reason, I favor free public camping (i.e. sleeping in your 'car' but using a tent as the 'car.')

Roody

Study after study shows that when you provide workable carfree alternatives, people will utilize them. For example, when workable bike infrastructure is installed, the modal share of bike riding goes way up. When public transit is improved, many more people will use it. And so on...

Unfortunately, in most places non-auto travel is stuck in a feedback loop. It doesn't make sense to improve alternatives because so few people use them. But so few people use them because they are poorly implemented. In places where they've broken out of this loop, the data repeatedly show that the car's modal share declines.

tandempower

I have a colleague who lives in an apartment complex less than a mile from work, which is next door to a discount store and across the street from a discount supermarket and another discount store. I sometimes walk by that apartment complex during long midday breaks when I don't bike home. Although we work in a relatively low-paying job, my colleague still owns a car, pays for insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc. instead of saving that money for other things. Why? Probably because she doesn't want to lose access to all the places she can drive, even though she doesn't really need to drive.

So what does it take to create apartments and housing devoid of parking areas, which can be serviced by small roads because large numbers of people don't drive? It may be the case that more/better bike/pedestrian infrastructure stimulates more car-free trips, but at what point do people give up car ownership and driving in favor of LCF? When driverless cars become a more convenient option than owning a personal MV?

While I love bike roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks; I somehow don't think they will ever result in a significant reduction in the ratio of MVs (and MV parking/lanes) to people until some other factors intervene, such as rising fuel costs, rising vehicle/maintenance costs, or declining income relative to costs of living.

52telecaster

I think elly blue is a prophet, and anyone looking to ride more gets my help.