sustainability southeast manitoba

Summer in the City is now behind us. The organizers need to be commended for a well planned event. The South Eastman Transition Initiative contribution to the event was a booth drawing attention realistic alternatives to the gasoline consuming automobile; alternatives to the apparently irresistible car culture. Our contention was that we can maintain and improve our quality of life and use the car less.

We had two show stoppers: a fat bike and a velomobile. ( If you don't know what these are, google for them.) Many people stopped by drawn by these two unusual modes of transportation, and frequently conversation then evolved to other aspects of our mobility. Here are some gleanings from those conversations.

Steinbach is dominated by a car culture. Manifestly, our default mode of transportation is the car. When we walk out of our door, we do not consider whether the car is the best way of getting to where we want to go – we just get into the car. We drive for relaxation. A holiday without the car is inconceivable (unless it is by aircraft.) The coveted drivers license remains a rite of passage. Motor sports attract many. Our city planning ensures that anything done will be car friendly. Any new development; whether a business, an entertainment venue, an apartment, a housing development or a church; all need to provide easy car access and there needs to be adequate car parking. Car culture dominates!

We are so addicted to the automobile that we give no thought to the incongruities that are part and parcel of the car culture. Here are just a few:

Obesity and the lack of physical fitness is epidemic in Canada.

Constructing and maintaining pedestrian and/or cycling infrastructure is miniscule compared to costs associated with car infrastructure.

The physical environment associated with cycling and pedestrian paths is aesthetically much more pleasing than the physical environment associated with automobile infrastructure.

Every construction done to make our community car friendly, also inevitably, makes our community less friendly to bikers and pedestrians.

A city that walks and cycles is friendlier than a city that drives. As we walk or cycle, we greet one another as we pass, we make eye contact, we recognize people, we get to know our neighbours.

Our car culture is dependent on the cheap oil. Without cheap oil there will be no car culture.

Overwhelmingly, those stopping at our booth agreed that our addiction to car culture is neither sustainable nor wholesome. So what do we do about it? We can light a candle or curse the darkness. We can, each one of us, decide to make a change in the way we use our car. Not only is it good for us, but each rejection of the auto moves us incrementally away from a car culture towards a pedestrian/bicycle culture. And each time we choose to walk or use the bicycle, we encourage our neighbour, even in a minute way, to do the same.

But are we ready for the changes to our city that would need to occur as we transition from a car culture to a biking culture?