Legitimate_Proof OP t1_ja3evf9 wrote on February 26, 2023 at 3:39 PM

Reply to comment by builtforcameron in A gallon of gasoline has more energy than a month's manual labor! by Legitimate_Proof

You could look at it this way. It would be a mess to use horses for the amount of transportation we do today. The way we do it today doesn't have less impact than doing it with horses would, but our way hides the impact. Hides it in places like "Cancer Alley" where oil refining and other factories cause the cancer rate to be 50x higher than normal. Hides it in climate change.

Hides it in deaths and injuries from crashes, in which we often blame the victim, and view as unavoidable. Hides it in obesity and the other health problems related to our lack of exercise. Using cars for all trips is related to several of the top causes of death in the US. I'm not saying we should walk everywhere instead (or ride horses) but some walking is helpful. Part of why Europeans are healthier is because they walk a few blocks to and from transit daily, whereas we only walk a few steps to get into and out our cars.

builtforcameron t1_ja3zome wrote on February 26, 2023 at 5:57 PM

I think I understand this post now, it was really hard to find any specific point you were making but I totally get it AND agree with you. Growing up in Rutland county I had to drive about 15 mins to work and school, even longer to hang out with friends and do other fun things like swimming holes etc. Now that I live in Burlington I absolutely relish in the fact that I can walk to the grocery store. We definitely need to walk places more, but the big issue is how do we build up our urban areas to be more affordable to live in? Rutland has so much sprawl, Burlington continued to get flooded with UVMers. I appreciate your perspective though, for future research I'd recommend looking into the differences between electric and fossil fuel heating. Then call your reps and senators, theres a super important bill called the Affordable Heat Act making its way through the state house. Keep an eye on it