Stanley I. Hart,Alvin L. Spivak
The U.S. has slipped car-by-car and road-by-road into a massive dependency on a transportation system which has become a public addiction. Until we kick this suicidal habit, the nation's efforts to escape dependency will be frustrated by public subsidies--the free use by motorists and the trucking industry of costly urban space and municipal services (which are far greater than generally understood). Cars and trucks have been identified as the most wasteful element of our consumer society. Our abuse of market forces compels Americans to depend almost entirely on 180 million automotive vehicles for passenger and freight transport. In turn this causes American vehicles to consume 4 billion barrels of oil annually--half the world's motor fuel and 20% of the world's oil production. This vicious cycle continues causing two-thirds of our trade imbalance plus the ecological damage done by our producing a billion tons of carbon dioxide a year which makes American cars and trucks critical actors in the environmental problems facing our planet. This book not only analyzes these often ignored intertwined problems, but also outlines practical ways in which we could turn this devastating system around and start to unravel the complicated grasp on our lives held by the internal combusion engine.
Elephant in the Bedroom, The: Automobile Dependence & Denial : Impacts on the Economy and Environment