It's the demand, stupid

Billions of people want to live in U.S.-style car-dependent sprawl. As long as this is true, the fossil-fuel industry will have power, lots of power.

Currently, the autosprawl system of human shelter and transport has critical mass. Because most people travel by car, the massive public investment in autosprawl infrastructure is seen as necessary.

We can break that critical mass. But only by addressing demand. A carbon tax would address demand. But it would be easy oppose. People would rightly expect it to be corrupt.

Instead, we should make public transit fare-free. The payback is immediate and greater than the "lost" revenue. Free transit is simple and easy to see. There are no complicated carbon-pricing indexes to be manipulated. And the myriad benefits are out in the open for all to see: less noise, less congestion, less parking problems, fewer collisions, lower medical costs, etc.

More importantly, fare-free transit would break the critical mass of the auto as transport. Autosprawl public "investment" would be seen for what it really is, subsidy.

While we dither about the fiscal cliff, we sleepwalk to a carbon cliff

Mankind Approaching 'Carbon Cliff', Report Warns - AlertNet: "UXBRIDGE, Canada, Nov 06 (IPS) - A new international business report warns fossil fuel use is pushing humanity towards a catastrophic overheating of the planet, with temperature increases of four or even six degrees Celsius. No major developed or developing country is doing anything close to what's needed to prevent large parts of the planet from becoming uninhabitable, the report found."

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Free public transit is affordable

When public transit is fare-free, immediate savings begin. First, the transit authority need not have expensive turnstiles and ticket machines. People who were accounting for fares may now be engaged in improving service, security, or cleanliness.

Ridership will go up. That lowers unit cost on both capital and operations.

Those are just the direct benefits. There is a long list of indirect benefits which amount to much more than the lost revenue. City parking costs are reduced. Less community money is exported out of the city for auto fuel. There are fewer collisions. There is less demand for policing auto traffic. Urban neighborhoods are more attractive with fewer cars, raising property value. There is less noise. There is less stress. Workers have more options to get to their job.

People will demand more buses. That will increase frequency. More will ride. A virtuous circle will be started -- one that cannot be stopped.

Soon the "necessary" costs of the private auto will be seen for what they are: burdensome subsidy.

Occupy Sandy Relief | InterOccupy Hub #occupysandy

MoRUS Occupy Wall Street bikes power to the people on Avenue C!

Occupy Sandy Relief | InterOccupy Hub: "Occupy Sandy is a coordinated relief effort to help distribute resources & volunteers to help neighborhoods and people affected by Hurricane Sandy. We are a coalition of people & organizations who are dedicated to implementing aid and establishing hubs for neighborhood resource distribution. Members of this coalition are from Occupy Wall Street, 350.org, recovers.org and interoccupy.net."

Poll: 3 of 4 Americans want more public transit options - News - METRO Magazine

Manhattan traffic image by ILMRT via Wikimedia Commons.

Poll: 3 of 4 Americans want more public transit options - News - METRO Magazine: "According to the nationwide public opinion poll results, two out of three support government investment to expand and improve public transportation and twice as many people favor new transit — buses, trains and light rail — rather than new highways as the best way to solve America’s traffic woes."

Climate-changing methane 'rapidly destabilizing' off East Coast, study finds - U.S. News

Climate-changing methane 'rapidly destabilizing' off East Coast, study finds - U.S. News: ""We may approach a turning point" from a warming driven by man-made carbon dioxide to a warming driven by methane, Jurgen Mienert, the geology department chair at Norway's University of Tromso, told NBC News.
"The interactions between the warming Arctic Ocean and the potentially huge methane-ice reservoirs beneath the Arctic Ocean floor point towards increasing instability," he added."

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A vote for the Gas & Oil Party is a signal that you don't care about the biosphere

Jack Gerard, Top Oil Lobbyist, Positioned To Be Key Player In A Romney Administration: "The oil industry is used to pulling the levers of power. For decades, the industry has fought off efforts to combat climate change, first by funding public relations campaigns denying it was happening at all and second by pumping money into the political system to block legislation. The Obama administration has sometimes disappointed environmentalists with its support of "clean" coal and natural gas and its failure to pass climate legislation when Democrats controlled Congress. But the Obama administration has given the fossil fuel industry even more conniptions, by imposing new regulations on emissions and other climate change measures, while giving new financial support to alternative fuels. The White House regularly attacks oil and gas tax breaks worth billions a year and has put new curbs on oil and gas development on federal lands."

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Megastorm vs #climatesilence

Article: ThinkProgress   Photo: Adam Welz

Approaching Megastorm Threatens East Coast - ABC News: "Tropical Storm Sandy was expected to make landfall early Tuesday near the Delaware coast, then hit two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid monster storm that could bring nearly a foot of rain, high winds and up to 2 feet of snow."

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People of Brazil march for free public transit

Dissatisfied with transportation? Come to the March! | MPL Floripa: "But let's not fall for electoral promises nor passively accept anything. Florianópolis has shown several times on the streets, we no longer accept the fare increases and exploitation of transport users. We want a bus system quality and without charge, open to all residents, which guarantees the right to mobility and participation in the city."

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Demand, not supply, drives capitalism

No serious business will expand based on having money to invest. The extra capacity would increase costs. Only when there is demand for that extra capacity will business expand. It seems obvious, but we still hear lots of supply-side talk about giving the "job-creators" more money.

The fossil-fuel industry is responding to very strong demand. Billions of people want to live the sprawl lifestyle. Attacking the fossil-fuel industry is not a solution. We must create an alternative.

If we make cities car-free, clean, and safe, people will choose them over sprawl. The first step is to make buses fare-free.