Publisher's Letter: Connect the Dots

My six-month-old daughter's developing brain is still trying to comprehend "object permanence." When a blanket is pulled over a toy, she does not yet grasp that the toy is still there, just out of sight. Fortunately for my daughter she is catching on quick and seems on the verge of making the connection. Unfortunately for all of us, the American public is suffering from a staggering inability to look under the blanket and see the cataclysmic effects of their ever deepening obsession with the automobile.

No doubt the massive wealth and clout of auto-manufacturers, oil producers and highway builders - and the media fantasies they buy - have a lot to do with this. The image of the mighty sports utility vehicle rolling over pristine wilderness or cocooning the upper-middle class family through rough city streets is flashed hundreds if not thousands of times a night into millions of TV-watching brains.  These paeans to the auto-god hardly seem balanced by the dreary reality of car crash scenes' smog and global warming. And, when the blanket is pulled from the eyes of citizens fed-up with traffic james, noise and unrelenting sprawl, they face being treated like a tribe of rubes. It is reminiscent of the "Ignore the man behind the curtain" scene in the "Wizard of Oz." Only this time Dorothy and friends are us, and the Wizard is the car, oil, real estate speculators and highway builders.

Where will it end? President Clinton mounted an intense media campaign in October to raise public awareness of the impending catastrophe of global warming. Yet, fearful of impinging on the American auto-culture, he flatly ruled out a carbon tax, which scientists and economists agree would be the quickest, cheapest and by far most effective way of reducing global warming causing greenhouse gases. The political message was, "forget it, Americans won't stand paying more for gasoline." But is this really true?

Let's assume that Americans are more than the thoughtless, myopic, selfish idiots that the car makers, oil companies and politicians seem to think. Let's say there are strong signs that the end of the road for the auto age is drawing near. Let's say that groups of caring, courageous citizens are springing up around the country: groups like T.A., with members like you. Like you, these folks are contributing their vision, time and money to winning sane, environmentally sensible and socially equitable transportation policies. And like you, they are being rewarded with flashes of progress; bicycle lanes, traffic calming improvements, revitalized downtowns. Like you, they are ready to work wonders to change their city, their town, their county, and their country.

Social progress has always been the result of determined citizens fighting for change. We can't assume anything about American's seeing the light and waking from their auto-binge. More than ever, it is up to us to inspire our friends and fellows with a new vision and a change of heart.

From all of us at T.A., we wish you a happy Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and a
Merry Christmas.

John Kaehny
Executive Director