!A third afoot
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agk's diary
16 Oct 2022 @ 02:32 UTC
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written on iPad Air via ssh.sdf.org in Safari
while crickets chirp and a skunk digs in my compost
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In his 2020 climate fiction novel, The Ministry for
The Future, Kim Stanley Robinson has a character
note people can be classified by transportation:
> the people of the world could... be divided into
> roughly three groups of wealth and consumption,
> measured by their transport methods. A third of
> the world traveled by car and jet, a third by
> train and bicycle; the final third...on foot.
I grew up in a family who traveled by car. From 17
to 20 years old, I traveled by bike, train, and
hitchiking. I spent most of my 20s mostly afoot;
late 20s to late 30s I traveled by car, pickup, and
motorcycle.
Transportation highly corrolates with my footprint.
When I was mostly afoot I sometimes walked 5 hours
round-trip to work or 3 to the grocery. At times I
carried water to wash, cook, and drink---or boiled
rainwater. I cooked mostly rice and beans, mostly
on a single propane burner. I composted bucket
toilet waste. My only electronic was a shortwave
radio, or later a BlackBerry Pearl. I sporadically
had electricity. I was vulnerable to violence and
arrest. For a few years I fought with bedbugs. I
wore out a pair of tennis shoes each year. My BMI
stayed around 19.
Now, driving a 14-year-old 2-door hatchback, baby
in back, resource constraints are vague, distant.
My house has central heating & A/C, water heater,
big appliances: washer, dryer, full-size freezer/
fridge, stove/oven, microwave, broken dishwasher.
Someone in my house is staring at a screen most
waking hours. I even read books on screens of dis-
posable electronics. I rarely eat beans, but lots
of chocolate. We drive over 500 km/week, mostly for
school and work. I'm overweight. I study or read
til late by electric light and electronic screen.
I hope we return to bike and train as I age. Afoot
is humiliating unless everyone's afoot. The way we
live now won't last.
- - -
On 11 Oct, Alex Schroeder reviewed a paper. It
noted "billionaires emit more carbon in minutes
than ordinary people do in a year," and "if soc-
ieties worldwide...matched what their citizens felt
was...'fair' inequality," global heating would stay
under 1.5 degrees.[^1]
There's a long tail to the third that drives and
flies, a great gulf between my family's humble,
hard-working way of life and the private jet-set.
If their assets were destroyed, I'd be more hopeful
for the rest of us. As it is, I wonder about a good
slow life among the ruins for all the living and
our descendents. Bike and train, and the life that
goes with them, sounds nice.
[1]:
gopher://alexschroeder.ch "Tax the rich"
