When I say navigating, in many cases I’m talking about even being able to emotionally deal with reading these questions from fellow environmentalists on social media.
It’s depressing when people a decade or more older than me, who are seriously committed to climate activism, are still asking what car they should buy, what their next car should be, etc.
On the other hand, me being scoldy doesn’t help. I want to say, come on, don’t we want to stop driving? I’m only 62 and I’m ready to stop driving forever, and I hope to never own a car again. And I plan on living for many decades more.
And, aren’t we eco-activists? Aren’t cars a thing of the past, don’t we want to support public transportation? Not only as eco activists, but also as seniors who don’t want to be car-dependent in our very-elder years.
But a lot of these arguments don’t really seem to reach people somehow. So when I see these questions on the social media, I’m trying to take a slightly different tack. Focusing more on the burdens of car ownership then on any environmental type stuff.
And also, it seems like lots of people don’t like to be reminded that we are getting older. Everyone wants to be 90-years-young and still driving, thank you very much. Because we have been indoctrinated to equate cars with independence. When actually it’s just the opposite.
I’m kind of an outlier in that way; I’m very happy to be a senior. I mean really, it beats the heck out of the alternative, right? And I plan on living about another 60 years. As car-free as possible. If I never had to get in another private automobile again, never mind actually own one, I would be a happy camper.
But, it’s not a perfect world, so a lot of fellow eco boomers are still going to be totally enmeshed in the transportation of yesteryear. And I have to find more constructive ways to respond, which might actually get some people thinking about alternatives. At the very least, I hope to get the Woodstock set at least questioning the whole car dominance setup. Because right now it doesn’t feel like people are even questioning it. In terms of lifestyle, the eco liberals are basically indistinguishable from the MAGAs. (Except that the eco liberals are expecting our government to somehow magic-away fossil fuels, even while we the people are totally consuming the heck out of them.)
To a fellow eco-boomer’s question on social media, regarding who do we use for auto insurance, I would say:
Blessedly, I no longer have to own a car, and I am grateful for that every day. For many many reasons.
Therefore: No car insurance. And a lot of other hassles removed as well.
Good luck, I hope you find a plan that gives you the coverage you need and doesn’t drain your wallet too much!!
Back in my various time periods of car ownership, which is probably a total of almost half of my adult life — but God/dess willing never again — I always used to use USAA. They offered good rates and were easy to communicate with.
To a fellow eco boomer asking their social feed what car they should buy:
Hope you find something that works for you and doesn’t take too much of a bite out of the wallet. I am so happy to never have to have a car again. Private car ownership was always too much of a burden for me. If I were forced to own a car, it would probably be a hybrid.
Interestingly, both of the above querents are the kind of supercitizens who have so much power, they could jerk their chin or twitch their pen (or keyboard) and command a meeting with a mayor, county commissioner, business leaders, possibly even the governor. The kind of citizens who get appointed to blue-ribbon panels and presidential commissions. Yet I can tell that they don’t feel powerful. Consumerist capitalist society disempowers us all. Hyperindividualism is the ultimate divide-and-conquer.
Interestingly, another super powerhouse mentioned having owned three different cars in the last 10 years. As in, I like XYZ type of car, I have had three of them in the last 10 years. I have to ask what is up with that? So my question would be:
You had to change cars three times in 10 years though? Are they not making cars as reliable as they were for a while there?
(Seriously, has planned obsolescence gotten bad again? It seemed like, at least for a time in the late 1990s-early 2000s, that cars seemed to be getting more reliable. I want to get people thinking, and resenting the enormous amounts of money and energy that they/we are forking out. I also want people to start seeing the connection with war.)
* Oh but wait, regarding that last example. Since I don’t have children I didn’t think of it. But it could be that one or more of the vehicles were for the person’s children, not for the person directly. Because in our car dependent society, even when people are living under the same roof it’s often the case that each person actually needs their own car. Or, even if they don’t strictly need it, it’s considered such a status symbol that it’s like a rite of passage, and even a mark of the parents’ social and economic success, for each of their children to have their own car.
There was a World War II poster that admonished citizens to not drive unnecessarily, and always share the car. It said, “When you ride alone, you ride with Hitler!” It’s still true.
PS. Added June 20: Another big energy-sucker, both fossil and human, is indoor climate control, particularly air conditioning. I lose count of everyone I know who posts about their broken AC and how many thousands of dollars it cost to repair or replace. One friend even posted that she has THREE central air conditioning units in her house! Not three window units, but three different central air conditioning units.
(BTW this person is not an eco professional per se, but definitely seems to be concerned about the environment overall.)
I posted this comment:
Yes – when the hot-hot part of the summer arrives, I usually sleep on bare tile, in the room that gets the most most breeze (half-screened porch), and this year I had to start early!
Hope yours gets fixed and stays fixed without costing a squillion dollars! <prayer emoticon x 3)
Me, I’m waaaay too cheap to pay for AC so it’s a good thing for me I just happen to prefer living without it! Yes it’s hot in the summer but I prefer open windows, just can’t deal with closed-up windows except maybe on the one or two coldest days of winter. Which obviously here in Florida never really gets all that extreme.
(BTW, in my comment, note that I didn’t say that I’m too poor to afford airconditioning. Although technically, I would not be able to afford it. The problem with saying “I’m too poor” is it makes it a negative to do without something. Whereas being cheap or thrifty is a positive. People who are thrifty enjoy the money savings they get from their thrift. Also, I have noticed that when someone says they’re too poor to do/afford XYZ, it can put other people on the defensive, as in feeling apologetic/defiant for being able to afford middle-class stuff. Not a good position to put people in, because they are not as likely to let in a different viewpoint if they are put on the defensive. On a sidenote: It’s interesting in the USA how it seems like everyone wants to be rich, but nobody wants to be thought of as rich. Other than maybe in some cases the actual ultra rich.)