19 September 2006

Get Your Clean Air Act Together!

While waiting for the bus to take me home after my first day of work (a temp data entry job), I noticed something today which I hadn't before: the people of Halifax, by and large, do not carpool. I saw an awful lot of single-occupied vehicles during the afternoon rush hour (and a bit...and don't get me started on the number of people on cellphones). If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that about 75-80% of the vehicles travelling today had only one person in them. That's not good. Lot of big trucks, SUVs, and vans included in there too. Also not good.

If the Canadian Government wants to tackle pollution, I invite them to start right here in Halifax, because it was a pretty nasty sight out there today.

7 comments:

C. LaRoche said...

Tackling car pollution from a carpool perspective has more to do with allowing high-rise development on the peninsula and improving public transportation than it does limiting emission standards. Both go hand-in-hand, but the fact is that suburban sprawl has created N.A. car culture. Halifax is no different than any other city in N.A. -- most of its residents live in suburbs, and they all drive themselves to work.

On an aside, Halifax' tap water is apparently cleaner than Evian.

RGM said...

Really? Cuz I tell ya, my water purifier gets a pretty good workout and tastes oodles better than the stuff right out of the tap. True, clean does not equal taste, but the stuff just doesn't do it for me right out of the tap. I'm still clinging to being spoiled with some really great well water from the days of my youth, though.

Jacques Beau Vert said...

I hate those people. I know you shouldn't hate and you shouldn't be angry - I saw Empire Strikes Back and all. But those guys really really bug me. Even if we don't all agree on global warming, we all agree on smog and pollution, and can those single-person people go screw themselves, please?

I'm on the street all of the time, and I see single-person vehicles all day long. It's hard to put into words how irritating it is to me.

Moreover, cars are sealed off and impersonal. When was the last time you saw an example of Sidewalk Rage? Exactly.

Cars SUCK.

RGM said...

Sidewalk rage? We have fairly regular swarmings here in Halifax.

Anonymous said...

i hate cars..

i actually hate having a licence sometimes.. carrie and i used to walk every where..
and i havent taken a walk in so long.
im so disappointed with myself.
i hate cars and the pollution they make. it greatly disgusts me.
and thats a huge reason why i dont like people either..
because we all pollute..
and our efforts of trying to clean up the world, dont seem to be working that well. which really disappoints me.
i'd like to have the world stay a nice clean-ish place a little while longer.

C. LaRoche said...

Well, I don't know about you guys, but the water in Bedford comes from Pokwok (sp?), which is basically just a giant fucking well. Chances are your water is bad, Richard, because of the pipes in your building.

Now what really pisses me off are all these "friends of the commons" people protesting the Stones concert. Gimme a break!

RGM said...

Protesting? Where? I didn't see anybody out there, and I've got a pretty decent view. Plus I went down to street level last night to check out the video screen and stuff. Quite the sight.