America's dependence on automobiles gives me anxiety. Sitting in traffic, avoiding accidents, trying to park, buying gas, and paying for maintenance are requirements for holding a job, running errands and surviving the grind. It's so stressful.
Before arriving in Morocco I was living without a car at the edge of Missoula, Montana. Errands were a drag. I tried carrying beer in plastic bags on my bike's handle bars only to have them break through and explode in the street. I didn't know how to function without a car. My social life was hard to coordinate. Getting out of town meant finding a ride. I couldn't take myself or any of my things anywhere. I often felt stuck in my living room.
In Morocco though, not owning a car is not a handicap. With compact towns and an even distribution of shops and businesses, a car free lifestyle is encouraged. Errands, work, social functions, and even travel require little dependence on private vehicles. This is one of my favorite perks about Morocco.
With few privately owned vehicles, small town Morocco exhibits a different style of human movement. This morning I went shopping for breakfast. I walked less than a block away to get milk, bread, and butter, and then another two blocks to pick up some fruits and vegetables. With no windshield to hide behind, I greeted familiar faces and chatted with one of the store keepers. My errands provided the opportunity for positive interactions with other humans and it felt good. I was able to sync up with the rhythm of the day, feel the sunshine, and get a little exercise. It was convenient and pleasant. It felt like a very important part of the human experience.
Everyone in my town can get to where they need to be without the aid of a car. Though the population is somewhere around 15,000, density is high and everything is walking distance. Kids walk to school and adults walk to work. Socializing involves circulating around town to cafes or friends' houses. To bring the groceries home from market the women hire horse carts to transport their fruits and vegetables. Long distance taxis, buses, and trains provide the infrastructure for travel. It's a system of cooperation that forces face to face interactions to navigate the day.
In the streets of most American cities there are more cars out in public than there are people. Neighbors don't bump into each other often. People don't greet familiar faces on their way to the grocery store. We miss our daily greetings and go about our business inside our own heads without connecting with the person selling us our sandwich. People of different social classes or age groups have little contact with each other and we struggle to develop empathy towards other demographics. Cities are designed according to the machine and not the individual. With urban sprawl and increasing commute times American's are spending a huge fraction of their lives inside cars, not exactly a relaxed natural setting for Homo Sapiens. It's a system of independence that promotes social isolation.
I understand why cars are so popular in America. Montana is a fun place to explore by car. I love driving to the Black Foot river in the summer and driving up the Bitterroot Valley in the winter to ski at Lost Trail. Nothing symbolizes freedom as well as having the means to explore a playground as big as Montana. However, it would probably be best for us to love our cars a little less. Besides encouraging social isolation, obsession with cars is detrimental to our health, safety, and environment. For a healthy and happy population, the automobile needs to be used in a practical non-indulgent manner. It's something American culture could work on.
There 4,000 tigers in the world. There are 20,000 white rhinoceros in the world. There are over 1,000,000,000 cars in the world. That's more than any species of large mammal (except for humans).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_automobile_on_societies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mammals_by_population
Before arriving in Morocco I was living without a car at the edge of Missoula, Montana. Errands were a drag. I tried carrying beer in plastic bags on my bike's handle bars only to have them break through and explode in the street. I didn't know how to function without a car. My social life was hard to coordinate. Getting out of town meant finding a ride. I couldn't take myself or any of my things anywhere. I often felt stuck in my living room.
In Morocco though, not owning a car is not a handicap. With compact towns and an even distribution of shops and businesses, a car free lifestyle is encouraged. Errands, work, social functions, and even travel require little dependence on private vehicles. This is one of my favorite perks about Morocco.
With few privately owned vehicles, small town Morocco exhibits a different style of human movement. This morning I went shopping for breakfast. I walked less than a block away to get milk, bread, and butter, and then another two blocks to pick up some fruits and vegetables. With no windshield to hide behind, I greeted familiar faces and chatted with one of the store keepers. My errands provided the opportunity for positive interactions with other humans and it felt good. I was able to sync up with the rhythm of the day, feel the sunshine, and get a little exercise. It was convenient and pleasant. It felt like a very important part of the human experience.
Everyone in my town can get to where they need to be without the aid of a car. Though the population is somewhere around 15,000, density is high and everything is walking distance. Kids walk to school and adults walk to work. Socializing involves circulating around town to cafes or friends' houses. To bring the groceries home from market the women hire horse carts to transport their fruits and vegetables. Long distance taxis, buses, and trains provide the infrastructure for travel. It's a system of cooperation that forces face to face interactions to navigate the day.
In the streets of most American cities there are more cars out in public than there are people. Neighbors don't bump into each other often. People don't greet familiar faces on their way to the grocery store. We miss our daily greetings and go about our business inside our own heads without connecting with the person selling us our sandwich. People of different social classes or age groups have little contact with each other and we struggle to develop empathy towards other demographics. Cities are designed according to the machine and not the individual. With urban sprawl and increasing commute times American's are spending a huge fraction of their lives inside cars, not exactly a relaxed natural setting for Homo Sapiens. It's a system of independence that promotes social isolation.
I understand why cars are so popular in America. Montana is a fun place to explore by car. I love driving to the Black Foot river in the summer and driving up the Bitterroot Valley in the winter to ski at Lost Trail. Nothing symbolizes freedom as well as having the means to explore a playground as big as Montana. However, it would probably be best for us to love our cars a little less. Besides encouraging social isolation, obsession with cars is detrimental to our health, safety, and environment. For a healthy and happy population, the automobile needs to be used in a practical non-indulgent manner. It's something American culture could work on.
There 4,000 tigers in the world. There are 20,000 white rhinoceros in the world. There are over 1,000,000,000 cars in the world. That's more than any species of large mammal (except for humans).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_the_automobile_on_societies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mammals_by_population
