Overcoming Our Addiction To Autophilia

Carpooling was widely promoted during
the oil crisis of 1973.

When we moved just outside of Harrisonburg in 1988, nearby Highway 42 entering the city from Broadway was a two lane road with a growing amount of traffic. Now that portion of the road is an even busier five-lane stretch of Virginia Avenue next to where we now live at VMRC's Park Village.

One of the benefits of our location is being within walking distance of access to groceries, prescriptions, eye and dental care, the Park View Federal Credit Union and other services without my having to use a car. 

Speaking of cars, most of us in VMRC's independent living facilities own at least one of them, even as our need for this kind of convenient transportation diminishes. In fact, free transportation service is available to any other part of the VMRC campus, a Harrisonburg transit city bus stops by Heritage Haven on an hourly basis every weekday, and medical and other transportation services are also available on call fir a reasonable fee.

Meanwhile, by far the majority of vehicles speeding up and down Virginia Avenue have only one occupant. In our neighborhood, as is the case across the nation, in the last 50 years we have more licensed vehicles than there are licensed drivers. The average passenger vehicle on our roads and highways weighs over a ton, has all kinds of high tech features, comfortably seats five or more passengers, and offers convenience, comfort and speed even the wealthiest monarchs could never have imagined a century ago.

While only about 38% of the world's households owns a car, we North Americans have felt entitled to our SUV's, RV's, sports cars and monster pickups, resulting in a surplus of energy-guzzling machines that pose a threat to the planet.

So what if we did more walking and biking, carpooled when possible, used public transportation whenever feasible, and created car sharing co-ops as numerous groups have done across the nation? 

While our addiction to comfort, convenience (and class?) may take a hit, I'm sure our Creator God and our beloved earth would abundantly bless us.