In response to Rose Marie Berger’s "Why I’m Walking to Work Tomorrow" (January-February 2000), I ask: What will it take for us to slow down and take a good, hard look at what we’re doing? Where’s the sense of responsibility that we are supposed to feel as neighborhood, city, and world citizens?
The effects of American automobile dependency are catastrophic. It seems that no one, even the American offender, is winning in this situation. Pollution, urban sprawl, road rage, highway fatalities...enough is enough!
Contrary to the ever-proliferating view, using public transportation (or one’s two feet) is not reserved entirely for the young and the poor. We have been brainwashed by social pressure and car commercials that driving everywhere is necessary and swanky.
We need a social revolution that goes beyond economic incentives. It isn’t hard to see that the problems we make for ourselves and the rest of the world are a direct result of our own greed, selfishness, and apathy. Why should we expect anyone to care that our polluting actions could be causing floods in Bangladesh? After all, we don’t even care about or recognize our immediate neighbors in need.
Mary Ward-Bucher
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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