to civilly ask you to use your cars less

[mosquitofeast]

My last thread was deleted because I was not being "civil" enough, I don't actually think it is a subject there is much room for civility in, but I will try!

My last post was to try and answer some questions about me. Here they are

I think I have answered these.

No I am not a strict vegetarian. I don't buy milk or dairy, but eat it in other peoples houses,

no I don't fly,

foodmiles, well, I take them into consideration, but they are not the only indicator of the environmental impact of food. Tomatoes grown in a heated greenhouse 2 miles away might have more environmental impact than tomatoes grown outside in Spain, and flown in.

I have 2 adopted children, 1 is an adult no longer living at home I currently have 3 foster children, but that is likely to change this week

Yes I have a pet, it came with one of the adopted children.

No I don't smoke

@Mrsfrumble

I don't drive, it just seems like the op started a bunfight for no reason. This thread won't make anyone drive less

Oh god, not you again.

No, you can't 'civilly' ask me not to drive my car.
Your eco credentials are extremely questionable and you're a bit rude, with a poor understanding of some key areas.

It's laughable that your thread was deleted and you still don't get it

[quote Suchan1d10t]@mosquitofeast I don't have a car, but I do have asthma, so will you quit smoking as I am not polluting the air with exhaust fumes?

Read the other thread, can't believe you've started another[/quote]
why do you think I smoke?

YABU. Again. HTH.

@chunkyrun

Can I hijack your thread?

Can people please stop buying fast fashion if we're being preachy

yes, please do hijack! no problem.

No. You cannot ask this of other people. You live your life in line with your conscience. So long as other people live within the law then they should be permitted to live in accordance with their conscience; without some random asking them to do or not do certain things.

@DisgruntledGuineaPig
Don't worry, you didn't miss much.

To summarise, shouty hypocrite asked aggressively for us all to not use our cars so much.

Shouty hypocrite continued to swerve questions, valid debate and increasingly made themselves look a bit of clueless dick until the thread was deleted.

@BrightYellowDaffodil

Yes, you can civilly ask me to use my car less.

Doesn't mean I will accede to your civil request, and change my behaviour at all, in consideration of it, however, you are more than welcome to ask the question.

I agree with this. It is also overly simplistic to “ask people to use their cars less” when you don’t know people’s’ personal circumstances or where they live (good luck in getting a bus to the place I drive to everyday; I haven’t seen a bus in the village for about 15 years).

Maybe people are allowed to make their own decisions rather than be hectored by the sanctimonious?

The last thread was based on the recently released statistic that 50% of car journeys were less than 2 miles, and most of them were unnecessary

Yeah okay..ill use my car less, leave at 3pm whilst still in work to get to a 7pm rehearsal, then once it finishes at 9, I'll use a bus for 2 hours, then w a it until yam for a connecting train.

Oh, and I'll walk 5 miles to my supermarket, 30 miles to work and the 10 miles to my GP, or wait for the bus every hour to the supermarket, leave at 3am for work, and every 2 hours to GP.

Maybe your time would be better spent lobbying the govt to improve public transport...

@SengaStrawberry

What do you want people to say? That you’re a better person than the rest of us?

I wasn't saying anything about myself at all, except that I kept being asked

I fly (a lot) in non Covid times - this won’t change as my and DH’s families live a flight away. We each have a car so we can do our jobs. We also have pets - non negotiable.

@Shemeanswell

It’s actually a really reasonable request, OP.

We walk just under 2 miles to school & have done since reception. My exception is I drive if there are hailstones :) It’s not hard! Yet there are people who live much closer who drive. And sit there with their engines running if they arrive early

They are the people causing the problem. People just don't consider he affect their behaviour is having

Can I ask you civilly not to mangle the English language? I detest split infinitives.

@CallmeAngelina

May I civilly ask what it has to do with you when/why I use my car.

because it has an impact on my life, my health, my world, and the life, health and world of everybody else too

No I am not a strict vegetarian. I don't buy milk or dairy, but eat it in other peoples houses

Ah I get it, so you’re allowed to aggressively rant and rave at people for doing the thing that you object to on environmental grounds, but you’re so super special you can harm the environment in the ways that you choose to. Gotcha.

OP your attitude is awful and I only hope you’re a troll because the alternative is too depressing. If you’re real you’re aggressive, cringingly hypocritcal and quite honestly don’t come across as very intelligent.

@rawlikesushi

I live four (steep, uphill) miles from the nearest shop and ten miles from my place of work - no public transport, no one to car share with. I use my car every day. You would be better encouraging people to use more economical, environmentally friendly vehicles or campaigning for better public transport.

Then you are not in the category of people using the cars for unnecessary journeys of less than 2 miles

Who gets to deem what 'unnecessary' is exactly?

What is essential and necessary to some is excessive to another.

Stats can say anything you want them too. You only need to look at the mess the US is in to see that

I do apologise if you don't but I thought you said in your previous post you did (although I admit that I was reading in bed in the early hours so may be wrong)

@Shoxfordian I guess I’m intrigued as to WHY it’s such a bunfighty topic. Considering whether you NEED to drive short distances, or whether you might be able to make that journey by other means seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do. If the answer is “no”, then why the need to be so angry and defensive? I admit I’m probably quite out of step with a lot of popular opinion on MN as I’m frequently baffled by the strength of people’s reactions to some topics (and lack of reaction to others) and this is another one.

@mosquitofeast

I do apologise if you don't but I thought you said in your previous post you did (although I admit that I was reading in bed in the early hours so may be wrong)

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

So you can do what you like or be picky about what you do for the environment, but want to insist others do the thing you have decided is the worst?

what do you think I should do for the environment that I am not doing? I do my best. Most reasonable people do their best. Unnecessary car journeys of less than 2 miles are not anyone doing their best.

Then you are not in the category of people using the cars for unnecessary journeys of less than 2 miles

Who decided this? I'm not going to adhere to this!

I think perhaps you overestimate the amount of concern utter strangers should have for your life and your health. Or how much they should factor that into their decision making processes.

@Mrsfrumble

I really dislike the argument that it’s not worth making any changes to your lifestyle to benefit the environment unless you’re willing to live totally off-grid in a yurt, foraging for berries and weaving your own sack cloth. Of course even cutting down on meat consumption, car journeys, single use plastics etc. is better than not trying at all.

Plus there are big health benefits to walking and cycling more. As a nation I think we massively underestimate the benefit of passive exercise, and think the damage done by our sedentary lifestyles can only be fixed by expensive gym memberships. Getting children walking good distances from a young age teaches them healthy habits (and good time management of that’s your primary form of transport).

Of course it’s not going to be possible for most people to ditch their cars, but the 50% of journeys stay the OP posted in her original thread IS shocking, and if people were a bit more honest with themselves they might find it’s not totally impossible to make some of those journeys by other means.

Thank you.

Silly thing to ask in the middle of a pandemic. More people should use their cars currently to stop it spreading on public transport.