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It’s an American Obsession. It’s Based on a Total Lie. We Have to Stop Before It’s Too Late. (slate.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I sort of not really agree. I think the problem is bigger. We make cities where housing and jobs are placed very far from each other. That leads to freeways. We need to accept the views, noise, and smells of industry. If we established safety standards that were enforceable, then we could do that.

Where does your breakfast cereal, sugar etc come from? Oh a factory in China. But what if you lived next to a sugar mill? Or walking distance from such a thing? You could work there! But you also would have to live with the fact that your kids would want to go to school nearby and they would have to walk next to huge trucks carrying material to and from the factory.

The moment you separate the factory or farm from the places we live in. That's when things go bad. You then need modes of transportation on a daily basis.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Back before everyone had cars, we had company towns. Places like Cromford only exist because Richard Arkright needed somewhere to put his workforce. And while I'm not convinced that the solution lies in corporations owning entire towns, they could at least put on a bus to the local towns and suburbs to deter people from having to drive.

    But how many people are really going into major US cities to make things with their hands? At least half of all work in developed countries is office work. And apparently everyone thinks it's perfectly normal to take 2-3 tons of your own personal metal with them every day, at least an hour each way.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Well I'm an engineer and we make scientific type devices at work. We work from home if we get sick, specially with COVID. But otherwise, the pandemic really did a number on all of us. Like you can't manufacture stuff if you're not at work. But I do agree with you, if you're only working on programming all day or writing stuff, filling up papers etc, then stay home and make it easier on yourself and everyone else. No only do you save money from not buying gas or bus tickets, but you also can get to work quicker and go home quicker since you'll be there the entire time. And everyone else will also get quicker to work, saving money to the various employers, saving people's gas money and moving with more efficiency and less pollution. And we probably don't want to live next to the butcher shop or the radioactive ☢️ paint company. There has to be a balance somewhere somehow. Like maybe an app can help people with long commutes move closer to where work is. I drive to work every day against traffic. Tons and tons of people head towards Seattle every morning and away from it in the afternoon. It's incredibly irrational to think that someone purposefully gets into their car just to park in the freeway for an hour.

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