Today, my sister and I went to Buffalo’s Garden Walk after our workout at the gym. As I was walking to the gym, I was thinking about the prompt for today:, which is to get a bit controversial and talk about the president and how the president’s policies have helped or hindered the work that I do. I’m a blogger and a community journalist and a gardener. Doing this work means that I need to travel around. Every day, I have to figure out how I’m going to get to where I need to go. Which makes transportation unreliable, and that’s not helping my “industry” at all.
You’re probably getting ready to ask me what this has to do with the president. Well, pretty much everything. And pretty much nothing. Public transportation has been treated like Cinderella for many decades, ever since the trolleys in most cities were shut down and the tracks removed. Public transportation is treated in very much the same way that Cinderella was treated by her stepmother.
In the United States, It’s all about cars. Building highways for cars. Paving land over and building parking lots. Building malls that are inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t have a (guess what?)… car. Putting parks in places where public transportation doesn’t go. Putting places of employment in places where public transportation doesn’t go. Drilling for oil in so many places. Pipelines that have the potential to leak oil in sensitive creeks. We can’t afford to pollute our creeks. We like cars but we can survive without them. We cannot survive without water. Each president sets priorities and they never seem to include improving and updating and fully funding public transportation to make it fun and user friendly and a viable means of transportation that gets you to where you need to go in a reasonable amount of time.
If we had presidents who were interested in creative solutions to both the problem of inadequate public transportation and the problem of climate change (in the United States, our transportation sector accounts for 28 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Can’t we do better than trying to make people purchase expensive electric vehicles, which still have environmental issues, such as a large lithium ion battery that can’t be recycled? They don’t produce as many emissions, but cars are still not an efficient way to transport people. Many vehicles are carrying one person. Which is why we need to come up with creative public transportation solutions.
If we had a government, not just a president, but a government that wanted to ensure that everyone had access to quality transportation, we could be well on our way to carbon neutrality. If we wanted to be creative, our public transportation could be fun and efficient. Imagine if we had gondolas, like Medellin, Colombia. Their gondolas are an integral part of their public transportation system. And they’re attractive for tourists. You get to go somewhere, and you get an incredible view while you’re traveling. Or how about a suspension bus service, where you’re traveling above traffic, like they have in Wuppertal, Germany? How about a bus-train hybrid, like they have in Adelaide, Australia? And what about maglev trains, like they have in Shanghai, China? In my opinion, the gondolas are definitely my favorite because of the view and it just seems like a really cool way to travel.
And what about bullet trains? They are fast and efficient and fun. But we don’t have them. We have train tracks that are mostly old and in serious need of replacement. Can’t we do better than that? When will we have a government that focuses on our happiness and on improving the environment to benefit generations yet to be born?
Those are great ideas! I think we need better public transportation, too. And it would be great if it came with a lovely view. Congratulations on walking over 9 miles in one day! That is VERY impressive.
Thank you! Yes, my feet were kind of sore, but I felt good about getting 23,000 steps in one day! As for the transportation, I really think that we need to make public transportation fun to entice people out of their cars!
As a non-American, please allow me to objectively comment on your presidents’ (non-)contributions to the environment:
One of Trump’s most significant actions was formally withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. He rolled back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which aimed to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. Instead he promoted fossil fuel development, including coal, oil, and natural gas, and sought to open up more federal lands and offshore areas for drilling.
One of Biden’s first actions as president was to rejoin the Paris Agreement, signaling a renewed commitment to international climate goals. He proposed significant investments in clean energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, and upgrading the power grid to support renewable energy. Biden committed the U.S. to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Whoever’s president though, you’re right, they can’t do it alone. It takes the other politicians AND the citizens to change their attitude and habits. It’s not just the cars. A lot of resources are consumed that could be limited.
Thank you for adding that information, Tamara. Yes, Trump’s policies concerning energy and drilling and the environment were a disaster. Trump was so eager to deregulate, as he claimed that would add jobs to the economy, that he rolled back approximately 100 environmental regulations, many having to do with carbon emissions, clean water and removing protections from federal lands.
President Biden has done a number of good things where the environment is concerned, but his record is far from spotless. His agreement to let Project Willow go forth was a major setback in the goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Project Willow is an enormous ConocoPhillips Inc. plan to drill oil in Alaska’s North Slope. It could produce massive amounts of greenhouse gases, which will mean that the United States will not achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In my opinion, this is Biden saying one thing and doing an entirely different thing.
Public transportation is definitely something that needs to be addressed! Even for people with cars you get somewhere and there is no where to park. Public transportation would save timw, money and cut down on parking problems. Plus you can set and relax along the way or enjoy the view! I love all the garden tours you have Alice!
Thank you, Martha! Yes, a lack of parking is definitely a problem. And turning the entire country into a giant parking lot would be very sad indeed. Plus admiring a view from a fun gondola would be so much more enjoyable than fighting with traffic and the mad search for a parking spot!