To think that people should walk more, drive less if they want to save the planet?

[poshsinglemum]

I am 31 and I am learning to drive. I didn't want to learn when I was 17 as I was an ardent environmentalist. I am less so now and have realised that it would be very useful to have a car for dd and I.

However, I hope that I don't become the kind of person who drives to the local shops or down the road.

I think if people want to cut carbon emmissions they should only use the car for longer journeys and take the bus more.

It won't happen though. Peopel like their vehicles too much.

I'm reminded somehow of those pregnant women who say things like "I won't put up with that kind of stuff/ I won't let them watch tv/go to mcdonalds/will have a strict routine" etc etc.

Wait until you're a driver and then form an opinion.

You mean if I start to drive then I won't ever want to walk anywhere?
Don't get the logic really. If I do pass the blardy test the fact remains- it's bad for the environment.

I have travelled the world without a car but I do yearn to just get in and drive. I guess the ''freedom'' must be addictive.

So the only moral driving is the driving you are doing?

But once you can drive, presumably you'll buy a car. And then there will be days - especially in the winter - when you'll take the car rather than walk, because the weather is horrible. And there will be days when you take a drive somewhere "just because it's sunny". It's a slippery slope, I tell you.

you should have learnt when you were 17 it will take much longer when you are older and therefore be more polluting.

did you walk round the world?

You'll already have paid for/be paying for the car, and its tax and insurance, and you'll just think, "Why shell out on bus fares as well?"

No, I mean you don't know what you will do or how until you are in that position. Its easy to say you'll do this or that, but real life has a habit of getting in the way.
Plus if you were really that bothered about the effect of driving on the environment you wouldn't be learning to drive at all would you? Seems a bit of a wishy washy principle to me......

this anti private car thing is a bit like when the harvests failed in years gone by and people would make sacrifices to appease the gods

global warming 'science' is just another superstition preying on those ancient human weaknesses

my fav. is london types who ostentatiously don't use a car adn then jet off several times a year to the other side of the world to trapple over virgin forest and patronise indigeous peoples in the name of eco tourism

I kind of know what you mean. I learned to drive at 17 and we are a 2 car family (we live in the country and I would be stranded without) but I regularly walk into the village to take the kids to nursery. People ask me if I need a lift if it is raining at all (I do take the car if it is heavy rain) and give me a pitying look. Some people do seem to forget that it is possible to choose to walk when you own a car. On the other hand I rarely take the bus as it is unreliable and expensive and I have already shelled out for tax insurance etc for the car.

minge - tis an undeniable fact that oil is a non renewable resource. we are using it up too fast and will be fecked when we have used it all up.

we can go back to horses and chariots, it will be exciting

I am already preparing for this, going to raise the Iceni tribe too

ah look the school run of the future

you can all give up driving, but I am not.
I live up the top of a hill(not many buses) and dd is in a wheelchair........so that lets me off

You will find that by the time you have shelled out on insurance, tax, servicing, MOT and all the rest you will not be inclined to pay out for the bus as well.

Plus people making this statement never say where they live. I've just had to move for work and there is no way I can afford to live anywhere near work. In addition I have to go via nursery. DH will be traveling in the opposite direction.

I really wish I could be in a situation where I could live next door to work and we didn't need 2 cars. We'd be rolling in it. Sadly it isn't going to happen.

I flew arounf the world and yes-it is ironic but i did do environmental projects tb fair!

i have stated that I am not so much of an environmentalist now and I have nothing against drivers at all but my point is that we won't ''save'' the planet or slow carbon ammissions because we like driving too much.

I like flying too much so I have well and truly blown away my carbon footprint.

And like I said- I'm not as arsed about the envoironment as I used to be hence my learning to drive, rampant consumerism and lack of recycling! I am certainly not as idealisitic as I used to be because I don't think it is possible to live on the earth without having a carbon footprint.

What are we saving the planet from by walking to the shops??

And yes- my travelling lifestyle was very selfish too. Back then when I was a teenager I could justify it to myself.

Now I don't fly at all just drive so I am not oblivious to my impact. I'm not the one denying it. I just think that many drivers don't give it a second thought.

I am not trying to save the planet at all. I have long since given it up. I don't use reusable nappies etc which I bloody well should do.

I don't drive but don't use buses. I walk or get the train (if possible) and if something requires a bus I don't go. The cost of buses is prohibitive - £1.80 single to DS' school which is about a mile and a half away. The buses are inconvenient and unpleasant to use and I don't see why I should pay a premium to use them. I also have four children under 5 so it is difficult to get the bus. When I have to pay for DS it will become cheaper to get taxis most places - that makes me ! How can the Government expect people to use buses if it is cheaper to get a taxi?! A taxi will pick you up from where you are at the time you need it, it is comfortable and has seatbelts and will drop you actually at the place you are going. £3.60 return for 1 1/2 miles on the bus but £3.95 return (£1.00 special christmas offer) return on the train to the nearest city which is 20 miles away. There's no excuse for buses being so expensive.

they should improve public transport

Ican drive but dp uses the car (and I wouldn't drive into central london anyway) so i get the bus and tube every day and I get home loathing the world and everyone in it (I do very occasionally walk in but it takes two hours and I rarely have the time)

i think people often make a virtue out of necessity ..people who have never had a use for a car can hardly argue everyone else (people who find their car extremely useful) shouldn't use theirs...

the more kids you have, the more useful that car gets. the further away from the town centre you live the more useful it is. the heavier your weeks shopping gets....etc etc.

I say this as someone who quite enjoys a good long stomp with the dog, but hates pushing a double pushchair into town, nipping round little asda balancing a basket on top of the pushchair, then pushing the sodding thing now laden with shopping back up the hill with Ds trying to grab DD, and her trying to scratch him wiggling because she's now gone 2 hours without a wee.....

I'm saying that we can't save the (slow global warming)actually because people won't change. Myself included.
Apart from anything- i get a lot of excersise by walking everywhere. One thing that has spured me to learn is that the bus service in the country is rubbish. When I lived in the city there were very frequent, cheap buses. In the country- nada.
I also want to keep warm and dry and have a boot to store all my rubbish in!

Right-I'm off to study the highway code. And I DO wish I had learned when I was 17 as it would have been easier but then what did I know. I was young and gullible.