IPFS
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Frosty Wooldridge
More About: EnvironmentPART 9: WHAT CONSTITUTES OVERPOPULATION IN AMERICA? GRIDLOCK IN OUR CITIES
Last
month, in China, car drivers experienced, according to NBC anchor Brian
Williams, a 60-mile-long traffic jam. It
took over a week to unsnarl thousands and thousands of cars that ran out of gas
so they couldn’t move. Consequently,
other vehicles couldn’t escape. People
suffered from lack of food, water and restrooms. The sanitation nightmare alone caused serious
problems. Citizens around the world found it ‘amusing’.
But
anyone that lives in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta,
Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, New York City, Boston and any other over-
bloated, obese metropolitan city—knows the emotional, mental, physical and
dangerous toll that ‘gridlocked traffic’ takes on millions of American drivers
every day of the week.
By
the way, as China continues its rush toward “a car in every garage and a
chicken in every pot”, which anyone over 50 will remember from the 1950s in
America—China faces monumental consequences. Brian Williams reported last week
that China manufactured and added to its highways—6 million cars to its roads
in 2009. That equals 16,438 cars a
day! No wonder they suffered a 60 mile
traffic jam! No doubt, with 1.3 billion
people and adding 8 million net gain
annually, they may find themselves with 100 mile gridlocked highways. They ride a wild horse toward an unfortunate
future filled with environmental and sociological consequences just beginning
to manifest.
James
Howard Kunstler, The Long Emergency, researched the fact that China, by 2030,
expects to burn 98 million barrels of oil per day. If you understand that the world only burns
84 million barrels of oil daily, you see that 98 million exceeds the entire world of 2010. Will China be able to access that much
oil? Not a chance! They face an enormous reality check that
could collapse their civilization.
The average American driver spends 443 hours per year behind the wheel!
As
a math/science teacher in Denver, Colorado since the early 70s, I supported my
enormous teaching salary, $5,400.00 a year, with a summer truck driving job
with United Van Lines. I worked 70
official and another 30 unofficial to total100 hours a week, and for 25
summers, drove those white lines through 48 states and Canada. I moved Americans from coast to coast.
As
America’s population exploded from 195 million, steadily to 300 million, I
enjoyed a ‘high trucker’s seat’ in a cab over twin screw above the highway as I
jammed those 13 gears and rolled those 18 wheels across this amazing
continent. But on the way, I watched
city horizons turn to dirty brown clouds.
I watched pristine highways turn to trashed garbage pits with thousands
of miles of cans, bottles and plastic containers—tossed by Americans. I watched plastic bags billowing from fence
posts, barbed wire and trees. I watch
millions of road-kill of every animal conceivable being squashed as it tried to
cross our highways.
As
the years passed, the big cities and
then, the middle-sized cities jammed-up in a new phenomenon called “gridlocked
traffic.” Or, so many cars that the
highways couldn’t handle the volume, so it backed up into 10 and 20 mile
traffic jams. Sometimes in New York
City, to cross over the Washington Bridge, it took me three hours of stop and
go traffic. I watched thousands of
accidents occur in my travels through 48 states.
In
my own city of Denver, with 2.25 million people, our drivers suffer no less
than 24 to 30 accidents per day, five days a week, and half that many on
weekends. In cities like Houston,
Dallas, Chicago, L.A., Atlanta and New York, I’m willing to bet the accident
rates must exceed 50 to 100 per day.
Depending
on the year, between 35,000 and 40,000 drivers suffer death on our highways annually. If you take all the accidents from
overpopulation in our mega-cities, you’re looking at mind-boggling consequences
for the hundreds of thousands of car accidents in the USA each year. Between 1986 and 1995, approximately 6,000
pedestrians were killed each year in the U.S. by automobiles. For every
pedestrian killed by a car, another 15 were injured.
Let’s
see what else overpopulation gridlock causes:
· Over-dependence on highways hurts communities
by:
· Polluting our air and water
· Increasing congestion and gridlock
· Wasting gas and energy
· Eating up open space, farmland and habitat
· Increasing commute times and distances
· Lowering the local tax base
· Shifting businesses from downtown
· Limiting commuter choices
· Leaving behind those who can’t or don’t drive
(students, seniors, people without cars)
· Reducing options and safety of pedestrians
and bikers
“Sprawl and lack of transportation choices force people to own and drive cars
in order to reach most destinations. The average American driver spends 443
hours per year—the equivalent of 55 eight-hour work days—behind the
wheel.” Source: 1997 USDOT Report, "Our Nation’s Travel
“Infrastructure needs arising from sprawling development
cost American households an average of $630 per year. Transportation is the
second biggest household cost for American families, more than food, education
or healthcare.” Source: http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=36
“Residents of sprawling communities drive three to four times more than
those living in efficient, well-planned areas and can waste up to three to four
times more energy from driving than people who live in better-planned,
efficient cities that offer more transportation choices.” Source: www.environmentaldefense.org
“While roadways for autos continue to be expanded, there has not been a
corresponding increase in safe and convenient pedestrian walkways, making it
more difficult and dangerous for people to walk. Between 1986 and 1995,
approximately 6,000 pedestrians were killed each year in the U.S. by
automobiles. For every pedestrian killed by a car, another 15 were injured.
Wide roads have been built without sidewalks or frequent crosswalks, and
high-speed traffic makes these roadways particularly deadly. In many areas,
intersections with crosswalks may be as much as a half-mile apart, leaving
pedestrians with no safe way to cross the street." Source: "Mean
Streets 2000," Surface Transportation Policy Project, www.transact.org
Did you notice? I did! Not one
mention of overpopulation causing the problem.
In other words, experts ‘dance’ around the root cause. In the end, they
won’t dance and can’t dance with another 100 million people added to this
country within 25 years. Is that what
any of us want for our kids? We’ll
see! We can change course by our actions
and choices today.
##
In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”,
Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG,
graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation. Take five minutes
to see for yourself:
“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck
This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of
unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future
generations: in a word “Mind boggling!” www.NumbersUSA.org
Watch Streaming Broadcast Live:
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