Today, like every Sept. 22, is World Car-Free Day, a global initiative that asks people to stay out of their cars for the day. Surely it's a nice, earth-friendly way to take some emissions pressure off of Mother Earth, if only for 24 hours, right? No! It's far more nefarious than that! According to World Carfree Network, it's a protest day meant to "remind the world that we don't have to accept our car-dominated society." And there's more:
"But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to 'normal' life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists and other people who do not drive cars." "Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like and sound like without cars … 365 days a year."
I'm all for walking and biking -- I love it for the exercise, if nothing else -- and I commuted pretty much solely by the subway in New York City, where I lived for 11 years. I even take the underutilized Metro here in Los Angeles when it's convenient to where I'm going (rare) and when I want to avoid sitting in traffic (always). But the goal of getting rid of cars altogether is -- how to put this gently -- completely stupid. Totally unfeasible in every area of the developed world, not to mention the fact that automobiles are a symbol of human ingenuity, have improved the lives of countless people and families across the world, and are a vehicle (pun intended) through which we challenge our performance, engineering and endurance limits. Also: Cars are awesome.
It's in this vein that the Competitive Enterprise Institute has announced a "Protest World Car-Free Day," encouraging you to celebrate the human spirit by taking a drive -- just for the hell of it.
So, which side are you on?
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