Michael H. Momeni
When we commute by car to our employment a significant distance away, we pay a high price in terms of time away from family, friends and the community. Some of us commute in excess of three hours each day and also put in eight or more hours at work. Our time on congested highways exhausts us, depletes our energy and often robs us of our patience and good humor. When we allow ourselves to think about being away from our families for eleven or more hours a day, five days a week, we might feel resentful but also helpless to change the routine. Moreover, commuting is expensive; the costs of a personal car, fuel, and maintenance can be a large share of our income. However, commuting allows our families to live in better homes and surroundings, so often the trade-offs seem necessary.
At present, many of us have no choice but to use our personal car to commute to a job far distance away. We simply don’t have feasible alternatives.
We must also consider the physiological costs that a polluted environment incurs when cars on our congested highways spew toxic exhaust. These pollutants damage our personal health, including heart, lungs and nervous system. It is a well-documented fact that automobile exhaust is responsible for many medical and psychological diseases we have been experiencing in our modern society. Aaron Reuben’s article, “This is your brain on Smog (July/August 2015, Mother Jones), provides a highly persuasive assertion that pollution contributes to inducing many neurological problems, including dementia. The recent article in Los Angeles Times by Tony Barboza and Jon Schleuss (March 2, 2017) indicates that “L.A. keeps building [dwellings] near freeways, even though living there makes people sick. Are you one of the 2.5 million Southern Californians already living in the pollution zone?”
Sierra Club and Public Transportation:
How can we affect the social transition from a car culture to a mass-transit culture? The elected members of the House and Senate are seldom members of Sierra Club. A majority of the Senators and the Representatives pass legislation demanded by their constituents.
What is the public attitude toward a mass-transit system? Would it be fair to suggest that a large fraction of the public don’t vote and have a minimal interest in any public mass-transit system? To change the present status from a car culture to a public transportation culture would demand a mass public education.
Maybe this education should be initiated at the grade school.
