Cargo e-bikes generally have a battery capacity limit of around 25 miles (which batteries aren’t meant to be fully drained every time they’re used anyway).
Any suggestions that don’t include the use of cars in a carpool or moving?
Is “Fuck Cars” a pro-city/anti-rural philosophy?
I mean, I hate cars yet I probably use either a family member’s or a friend’s car every now and then, or will take taxis. It’s not about, do anything possible to not use a car (although if you can, better, I guess) but it’s about changing the way we as a society rely on cars. In fact, I believe even in a society where trains are predominant there are still scenarios where certain people will need electrical automobiles, mostly in rural areas for people who need to move a lot around specific hard terrains. Your case, though, could be easily solved with trains.
Your case, though, could be easily solved with trains easily solved
while I agree with a lot of your post (certainly more informative than the others), I disagree that the issue could be easily solved. There is a lack of political will (at best) and an outright hostility (at worst) to the very idea of trains and public transportation.
there is noise, pollution, crime, and wildlife habitat destruction with trains, too. In one area I lived, i could hear the train blow its horn 5 miles away - despite all of the forests in the area. A ride share program would be a nice idea - even if it only included 5 houses in your area once a month. A local tax service might be willing to allow you to divide the cost up amongst you all - if they had a mini van or larger SUV (many in rural areas don’t, though).
While a country connected by train sounds unrealistic and futuristic for most Americans the exact opposite is the case. The US ran on trains for the most part of its history. Almost every town built before 1940 had a train station at some point in time.
What I tried to say is that it could easily be solved in the sense that the solution to your problem would be easy if your country would be willing to spend some money on infrastructure, but that will never happen simply because liberal democracy is incapable of doing anything to prevent the climate crisis, therefore it will never stop relying on cars.
Then is the point of this community just to vent frustrations without actually changing anything because its pointless? I mean that’s fine, I guess.
I mean, most of the communities regarding any kind of politics tend to be pointless in the sense they achieve nothing, that’s what I think of /r/antiwork for example. I don’t think you can fight back the lobby done my car manufacturers within a capitalist society if that’s what you’re asking. I’m here because I like seeing posts that reinforce and serve as facts about how poorly designed is the urban model that uses cars as its main transportation mechanism.
Thank you for your opinion.
I am an odd mix of being a capitalist (anti-fascims, though) and an environmentalist (naturally, that includes tree-hugging, veganism, and minimalism). Political discussion has its place, but in the wrong forums just makes some of us feel out of place.
Well, this is a community about politics, so idk.
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drops of water in a bucket can add up to a full bucket
Let’s think about this in the terms of material reality of the working class. What kind of improvements have been? Has the life of an interesting amount of the proletariat gotten any better? In that case I think /r/wallstreetbets is probably worse than /r/antiwork because that people tend to steer towards different forms of rightism, at least the anti work movements are an introduction into possible branches of leftism which could end up radicalizing a few people. Maybe if anti work would have traction in another country, like for example India, or almost any from Africa, I could think there’s a chance of it becoming in something that could bring change, but since it’s happening in the US I don’t think the proletariat there can do much against the biggest militarized state of the entire world. Still, I’d rather this a thousand times before having a right wing movement having lots of followers.
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Listing problems is fine, but constant complaining drives some people away.
No. This community is about getting city people who could easily just use a bus not to clog the roads, cause accidents and pollute simply because they want some extra comfort or convenience. Anyone stating anything beyond that is either delusional, or wishing for a really good public transport network.
Thank you for this straightforward and clear answer. This makes more sense.
The answer is to use a car. Ideally the smallest and most efficient one that fits your common use cases.
Fuck Cars is not anti-rural but it’s more applicable in urban and suburban places, where your essentials are within a few miles and there are viable alternatives. There are areas where cars can’t be avoided, and nobody is suggesting you never leave your house.
Hi. I live in the Cascade Mountains of WA. Essentially Amazon (Fuck you Jeff) or Walmart or similar delivery is about the only option. Often you can carpool with someone. I plan and buy groceries / supplies once each month. If you are in an area that has no public transportation then hitchhiking is a viable options as it’s not considered weird in those types of communities.
An e-bike isn’t going to cut it, especially in the winter. The problem is going car-less in a society fundamentally based on owning a car.I’ve hitch-hiked myself when I needed to get to a metro area. I am too ashamed to do it in a smaller area, though, where everyone knows me. its a safety issue as it is often those you know a bit who rob you or hurt you. Sometimes e-Bay delivers certain types of food, but I found, at least for my soy shake, that Sam’s Club (BigBiz) was cheaper. A problem I had in rural areas with delivery is that the packages are often left at the farm gate where anyone driving by could look at them (I had nosy neighbors) or steal them. The delivery times were often a day or more off, so leaving the farm gate open was not a safe option for me (I am a single female).
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I lived for 23 years on 15 acres - 10 miles from the nearest grocery store. When my car died when the 2008 recession hit, i had to bike to and from the store. i had to buy extra tires (inner and outer), extra brake pads, a light for the handle bars, a pump, water bottle rack, sturdy backpack, and a rack for over the back wheel - but I made the trip there and in the opposite direction to work -over 25 miles daily - for a 14-month period. i love the country and felt the hard ship was worth staying there. i wish I had planned better, of course. I’d’ve had a backup bike and wouldn’t bought the parts before the car died. Also, in some areas, as long as you don’t drive on the road, you can use a scooter or ATV on the sides to the road to get to the store. Not easy once you get into town or in more residential areas. I had may rescued pets, so that made it 10X harder.
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I can’t believe you didnt figure this out before, but maybe your car died. idk. You might consider asking an elderly nieghbor who is on a tight budget if you can pay him/he to take you once a month and in exchange you could help him/he carry groceries and pay for their gas. As an added bonus, if that person is single, your seeing them once a month (or more) would mean you can help monitor their health and safety. Ex: If you say that they were suddenly not walking or driving well or that their house or car weren’t doing well, you could bring it their attention or maybe to the attention of family. I had a relationship like this with women in her 80s for a while. I usually had a car - as did she- but a few times we each had trouble of various kinds and were able to help each other out. I have trust issues and knew she was too old to be much of a threat to me - though she did call the cops to do a welfare check on me after I didn’t respond to her calls for a month- that pissed me off to no end.
Is “Fuck Cars” a pro-city/anti-rural philosophy?
Pretty much, yeah. The only place where cars make a hell of a lot of sense is out in the sticks where everything is spread out for miles around. In urban centres this obstacle doesn’t exist, as everything is concentrated in a far more manageable distance.
I reckon bicycle-related solutions are totally viable at these distances, but the challenge is variable depending on your situation.
So much depends on where you are. What sort of terrain do you have between you and the things you need? What’s the weather like through the seasons? What are the road/path conditions (and car drivers!) like?
Driving in rural areas is less of a problem because there is more space to waste, there won’t be congestion because of low population density and there probably won’t be enough fumes/pollution in one place to seriously harm anyone.
So yes, I wouldn’t mind someone driving a car in a rural area as long as:
- either an electric car is used or fuel is not subsidised and is carbon taxed (if it is not carbon taxed you are essentially stealing from everyone else)
- the people who use the rural roads pay for the infrastructure
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I think our shared goal is easily accessible modes of transportation for everyone. Sadly cars are quite exclusive (elderly, children, drunk people, poor people…) and have a big negative impact on the environment (pollutants, noise, space required to park them 23 hours per day and much more).
You correctly picked up on the conflict between people living in the city and people living in the suburbs. People driving into the city makes the city a more dangerous, noisier and worse place to live in wich results in even more people (who can afford it) moving to the “quiet and peaceful” suburbs.
That said we can’t blame people for making rational choices for their lives. We need to create a society where taking the train or moving near your workplace (in Europe most people live within 5 to 10km of their workplace) is a viable and comfortable option for the individual.
For your specific case it seems that you’re best option is to rely on a small, pre-owned, efficient car. That said there are still some things you can do to reduce your negative impact. -Most importantly take part in your local politics. A small grocery store or some form of public transportation would make life easier for many folks in your community
- Buy in bulc so that you can cut your grocery trips in half
- Use park and ride when driving into a city. We would be really happy about cleaner air, quieter streets and more space for people instead of cars
Having your groceries delivered or buying a moped or motorcycle might be an option for you. I don’t think anyone on here would begrudge you using a car in that situation, though.
I think the anti-rural sentiment you sometimes see, mostly stems from how unsustainable and car dependent the lifestyles a lot of people who live outside cities are. People who find a job in a city to get a high pay, move out of said city to get a garden and then commute back and forth between their home office and their work office, with very little concern for how they effect the world around them. They take no personal responsibility and don’t want to take collective responsibility either, because that could threaten their lifestyle.
People who live in suburbs, villages or rurally because that is where it makes sense for them to live, isn’t an issue. It makes sense to move to the countryside when you retire and no longer have to be anywhere. It also makes sense to live in the countryside if that is where you work or if you work from home. Some of these people would benefit greatly from owning a car, while others can get by just fine with a bicycle or their own legs.
You can also do a lot to lessen the dependence on cars outside city centers. You can easily run metros and trams into the suburbs and encourage a higher density (more row houses and smaller apartment complexes). Rurally you can encourage people to build villages (clusters of houses) instead of every house being spaced evenly apart, and you can run bus lines through those villages.
It’s fine, in the future you could get some solar and your next car could be electric. Less than 1% of people are in your situation though.
as long as you don’t expect the rare exceptions to live or think the way the many live and think, well - good. Individual needs and desires matter. Society is made up of individuals, after all.
Yes that’s true, but today it’s the opposite. Today the individual is forced to use a car in many cases, because of a lack of other options.
Fuck Cars and everything that is and has been designed around and for cars over people.
your next car could be electric
I thought this community hated cars as a concept which would include electric cars?
I think like that, fuck electric cars, too.
I think like that as well, but I don’t have a better solution for this persons problem right now. Also what I said doesn’t necessarily conflict with this.
Electric cars are better because they don’t emmit greenhouse gases or toxic fumes, but they do share much of the other problems cars have (take up space, dangerouse, congestion).
Also Lithium mining is often not very environmentally friendly
Lithium mining looked horrendous. I saw the documentaries about various types of mining. But, all-or-nothing is lazy thinking (or not thinking). If roads or paths were made for those not using cars that were nowhere near cars, maybe let those using cars worry about space, danger, and congestion. As for air and toxins, that affects us all and is almost impossible to contain no matter how hard people try.
get it delivered, or grow food yourself
Getting food delivered would not only be outrageously expensive but it also requires a car on the road. It is not very practical to grow 100% of a family’s caloric needs without spending many hours every day outside working (I would love to see a guide that shows how to do this) and there are plenty of necessities that just can’t be produced on a single plot of land.
If anyone that was rural followed this advice, they would be a large amount of rural people living in poverty and there would be an even larger disconnect between urban and rural populations.
exactly! deliveries still require a vehicle - whether it is yours or someone else’s. As for growing your own food, it is healthy in so many ways - sun, exercise, fresh air, and the nutrients are far, far higher in produce freshly harvested then immediately cooked without eating leftovers. It is very hard, though. Poverty isn’t great (I don’t love it), but sometimes you must sacrifice to live by your values. But, working from home has greatly increased, so for those with internet (Hughe’s usually in rural areas), this could mean not living in poverty. As for a disconnect between populations isn’t that part of diversity? i think it is okay - especially considering we have internet now, so can see what others are doing, saying, thinking - we are no longer isolated in our own little bubble - unless that is our mindset, our choice.
John Jeavons has an EXCELLENT book about growing your own food and goes into excruciatingly fine detail (I love details!) about square footage, food costs, how much of a food is edible (the corn plant is mostly inedible material, so not a good choice). His videos are online and I think I found (then lost) a free downloadable version of his book, too. Growing dark leafy greens yourself is the smartest way to start out. Make a long bed 4’ wide by 8 to 12’ long. You can cover it when it is cold out.
