Originally Posted by
Dachs
->
Neither friend nor foe, I'd say, but individual mobility has become a necessity to some extent for which a car is not needed, though, except in rural areas. What you wrote about "the good old days" sounds a bit romanticised to me and is not due to the spread of automobiles alone.
"Healthier, slimmer, fitter"? Doesn't life expectancy at that time tell us a different story? Didn't people drop like flies?
"Fresh grown food"? In summer perhaps for those living in rural areas but it was not what we'd call a variety of fruit and vegetables. In winter people were starving and had a very monotonous diet that was not fresh at all. I'd say people
had to work and shop locally and, thus, were also heavily dependent on employers and traders and at their mercy. I'm not in favour of applying the survival of the fittest- concept to human society. We had that once and the consequences are known.
The concentration process in the retail sector was not only caused by the automobile but would have happened anyway. The next big step in that process is online trading which was not induced by the automobile either.
The changes in life-style that you outlined were chiefly a result of the development of society with more and more capital being available and making inventions and changes possible but also of people's convenience and expectations.
I agree that big changes will be unavoidable and ought to be implemented very soon. One element of that can be buying locally wherever possible. Why would apples have to be shipped all around the globe from NZ if they can be provided by local farmers? Would consumers be ready to accept ugly or less standardised food in this case so that we take a step closer to an environmentally sustainable food supply chain? Why would beer brewed in the north of a country also have to be offered in the south transported there by lorries? "Because we want it that way and there's a demand for it", people might say. Here it is again: people's attitude and expectations.
As for individual mobility, if it's to be maintained and I agree it is, then we need to find ways of reducing the carbon footprint. A mix of using electric cars, public transport, or e-bikes/bicycles besides conventional cars seems to be the solution for the foreseeable future.