AutoSprawl triggered financial collapse

The Death of the Fringe Suburb - NYTimes.com: "It was predominantly the collapse of the car-dependent suburban fringe that caused the mortgage collapse."

'via Blog this'

Mother Nature makes a comment on consumerism

Water surrounds factories at a flooded industrial estate in Ayutthaya province November 14, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj

Thailand's surreal industrial park: crocodiles but no chips | Reuters: "(Reuters) - Knee-deep in foul-smelling water, workers are piling office equipment, documents and food onto fibre boats that ferry them from one building on Hana Microelectronics' 12-acre company site to another with more space on higher floors."

Thanks to #occupywallstreet, some anti-oil crumbs fall from the table

APTA Commends Congress for Passing Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations Bill Which Increases Funding for Public Transportation - Mass Transit: "Although current public transportation infrastructure needs far exceed the appropriated funds, we applaud Congress for taking this action which will address important transit and highway needs and put Americans back to work. Every $1 billion in public transportation investment supports or creates 36,000 jobs. Also, for every $1 invested in public transportation, $4 is generated in economic returns."

Autosprawl => energy waste => energy wars => dictatorship => rebellion

Photo credit

The Syria dictatorship is a proxy for big powers trying to control a region full of oil and gas, their sources, and their transport routes. People have had enough of dictatorship. But is the desire for suburban car-dependent life too strong? The energy waste required for the auto-system is too great to allow for democracy. Humans need to choose. Now. 

A better world is possible

Watch as more and more corporations diverge from oil coalition

Cars and trucks are the single largest users of petroleum, consuming about 43% of the total and about 16% of the total energy used in the U.S.

Help Reduce Air Pollution By Using Public Transportation Systems — Cereplast: "As a daily commuter, public transit can help you to save gas and money. According to an APTA study, access to bus and rail lines can reduce driving by 4,400 miles per household annually. Americans living in areas served by public transportation save 640 million gallons of fuel annually in congestion reduction alone. Public transportation’s overall effects save the United States 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually. This green community transportation provides an affordable, and for many, necessary, alternative to driving. Households that are likely to use public transportation on a given day save more than $10,000 every year. Free public transportation makes them save even more money."

Auckland could be a leader of world cities

Auckland too could be transformed into a modern, clean & green world-class city by implementing an efficient, integrated, publicly-owned fare free public transport network. Free & frequent low (or no) emission buses criss-crossing the city and linking up with free electric rail services and ferries, would free up the roads and allow people to move about easily, and leave their cars at home.


One councillor inevitably asked "How would it be paid for?" Fowler noted that no one seems to ask who pays for all the extravagent motorways, tunnels, and flyovers that continue to be built - only to be encourage more traffic that soon gets clogged again. Not to mention the high costs to people's health from exhaust pollution and accidents.

Government & Council funding for decent public transport should be a public service priority. Free public transport would make Auckland a world leader and attract a large influx of visitors, who could be levied a special tourist tax. Companies who profit from the resulting increased business could be levied too. And Auckland would be spared the excessive costs of building more motorways.
 
Fare-Free New Zealand

U.S. oil desperation increases

The oil-controlled U.S. government is in a jam and it will get much worse before better. They are simultaneously begging China for mercy and rattling the nuclear-strike sabre.

Why? Oil.

As soon as the economy tries to recover, oil prices, which are artificially low to begin with, will crush it right back down.

Military adventures to control oil and gas sources and routes have been a disaster, and puppet dictators are not working out so well. So they plan to have their proxy in the middle east execute a nuclear strike on Iran to show the world that the U.S. still has some bite left.

Meanwhile, they plan to create jobs by building more roads and cars. They must be stopped.

Tripoli, Lebanon, 13-November, Car-Free Day

https://www.facebook.com/TripoliCarfreeDay?sk=app_106171216118819

https://twitter.com/TripoliCarFree

AAA knows, it's not just your car that's broke, it's the whole auto system

AAA: Fatal motor vehicle crash costs $6 million – USATODAY.com: "The emotional toll for Americans who lose a friend or loved one in a motor vehicle crash has a steep financial counterpart — an average $6 million per fatal accident, according to auto club AAA."

'via Blog this'

1% depending on misdirection of #occupywallstreet

The occupy movement has the 1% baffled so far. They tried ignoring it. They tried ridiculing it. They tried intimidating it. So far, no success.

The best hope of the 1% is provocateurs, trolls, and careerists inside of the movement.

Provocateurs make sure there are plenty of pictures of vandalism for the corporate media. They may attack police and provide cover for the 1% to order a police attack.

Careerists will think of ways to direct people into actions that coincide with actions decided in the GA but which divert attention from the the main focus. They will split and weaken. They might push dead-end goals, such as constitutional amendments or such. They seek notoriety to further their careers.

Trolls seek to annoy and confuse. They make debate so unpleasant that people are turned away from engagement. We have given tips on how to identify trolls here.