Eye opening

While checking out a post on TAPPED, i came across this claim:

That equates to offsetting the emissions of roughly 300 million cars, all the cars in the world, for 20 years.

figuring that there's close to 300 million cars in the US, i didn't see how that number could possibly be accurate.

Turns out it's not, but it's not that far off, either. Obviously some of the numbers have changed in the past few years, but around 45% of the world's automobiles live in the US.

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Deep thought

When they teach Driver Ed. in North Carolina high schools, do they leave out the part about tailgating being a bad idea?

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Cars

I'm too busy at the day job to post much this week.

But this is worth the read:

Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.

As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. “When I had a car I was always tense. I’m much happier this way,” said Heidrun Walter, a media trainer and mother of two, as she walked verdant streets where the swish of bicycles and the chatter of wandering children drown out the occasional distant motor.

Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”

Automobiles are the linchpin of suburbs, where middle-class families from Chicago to Shanghai tend to make their homes. And that, experts say, is a huge impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, and thus to reduce global warming. Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe — a proportion that is growing, according to the European Environment Agency — and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States.

Durham remains on the wrong end of the trend, requiring huge parking garages for every new or redeveloped building downtown, and giving virtually no thought to integrating pedestrian friendly features into road construction anywhere but the very heart of downtown.

Oh well.

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Road trip

I had to make a run up the mountains of western NC yesterday, and saw some interesting sights on the road.

First though, a rundown of Friday night's Warehouse Blues show.



Skeeter Brandon's not getting any younger, and some health issues kept him off the stage for much of the second set, but he did recover enough to give us a great version of Rainy Night in Georgia. Friday's beverage? Leinie wheats.



Now the structure of the West Village courtyard is such that you can only see the sky overhead, not the horizon. Fortunately, this show hung on long enough for us to see it on the way home.


From the Brightleaf Square parking lot.

Now, for the road trip.

I've owned only about half a dozen or so cars in my adult life. They've all had personalities, most have had names, and several were clearly possessed of gender. My 73 Subaru, Angel, was female, and my 87 B2000, which i've owned for almost 21 years now, is a mule named Beauregard.

People who don't get it ask on occasion, how you can tell if a car is male or female? It's not always easy, but sometimes the vehicle has distinguishing characteristics.



This truck, for instance, is clearly male, as a closeup photo reveals.



I wonder if his name is Major?

More sights from yesterday's trip to follow later.

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