Yes. This is what I've been saying, about transportation. Now, what about other realms? Including one linked to transportation; we need to reconfigure city layout (more streets closed to vehicle traffic and open to congenial gathering (cafes with outdoor seating, community gardens, perhaps a stage for musical and theater performances) and remixing of residential, commercial and (smaller) industrial zones so that people don't have to commute long distances to work. And an end to the scale of intercontinental shipping of consumer goods now polluting the oceans, replaced by a much smaller fleet of win d-powered ships. More medium-scale renewable electricity generation--that is, arrays that are installed, owned and operated by a community, located where wind blows a lot or the sun is least obstructed, with both fossil fuel corporations and utilities left out of the arrangement. But I don't know how we do the prefigurative move on most of these...
It's true, some of what we need to do won't offer readily imaginable prefigurative approaches. We'll have to ponder quite a bit on that one.
Maybe we should reach for the low hanging fruit of the prefigurative options as we build a movement. There ought to be a lot we can do with local food production as prefigurative politics, e.g., community gardens, farms and food forests. Some of what we need to do is going to have to be in local / municipal governments -- especially those policies which fit into the degrowth movement approach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrowth
Perhaps we could talk with degrowth advocates, asking them where we can explore possible synergies and collaborations between existing degrowth methods and our favored prefigurative approaches?
James R. Martin: "Is there any shared history and overlap between WNBR, Critical Mass and Extinction Rebellion? I'm sure there must be. Perhaps we can synergize our efforts more effectively?"
Rob Jordan: (With permission):
"From the perspective of WNBR in the UK, there has been a lot of synergy with Critical Mass. From the early days when WNBR was little-known, the Friday evening Critical Mass was an important recruiting event for WNBR London. Critical Mass riders were some of the early ride marshals for WNBR. While Jim Ireland says the rides have different reasons, in my view WNBR and Critical Mass are very closely-aligned in original objectives: calling for an end to dependency on fossil fuel-based transport, and facilitating cycling as a low-carbon, healthy alternative. WNBR in addition has the body-positivity message.
The relationship between XR and WNBR is more controversial. The two organisations have many goals in common. Some within the WNBR community have a strong objection to XR's tactics of civil disobedience. WNBR has cultivated good relations with authorities based on lawful protest, and these people feel any links with XR would threaten this good reputation. WNBR London has taken this view. On the other hand, other rides, notably WNBR Brighton, have co-hosted with XR, feeling that the shared goals justify a closer relationship."
How will that help? The only results I have ever witnessed from blocking traffic is pissing people off and turning them against your cause. Many low income people can lose their jobs if late for work, people on parole or probation can end up in trouble, the list goes on. We need more love, understanding and working together, not more traffic stopping. And many people I used to spend time with who participated in critical mass were confused, narcissistic personalities who could have much better served the world by looking at and integrating their long shadow casting a gloom on our earth. Healing this world starts with healing ourselves, and by recognizing the toxicity we hold within that reflects outward. The outer toxicity we can observe in the environment is merely a reflection of the inner toxicity of humanity. Blocking traffic won't solve that.
I didn't propose stopping traffic in cities and towns, I proposed basically slowing it down to bicycle speed, thus making the streets safer for bicyclists and other small, light, slower vehicles. This would raise awareness of our need to phase out automobiles. You may not believe that we do need to phase out automobiles, but I've studied the topic in great detail and the evidence for this need is overwhelming -- if we are to phase out fossil fuels. No, replacing internal combustion cars with electric cars will not phase out fossil fuels for many reasons, one of which is that an average electric car will consume 33.3% (one third) of the energy it will use in its useful life in manufacturing alone (this includes mining of minerals, etc.), and that manufacturing energy will be drawing on a world energy supply which is currently 84% fossil fuels sourced energy.
Maybe you don't believe in anthropogenic climate disruption ("change")?
I definitely believe cars need to be phased out in time,but it would need to happen alongside a whole redoing of our society and how we live. The biggest polluters by far are the military and industry as a whole. Until we phase those out, nothing substantial will change. And climate disruption is multifaceted, geoengineering of our weather systems being the huge elephant in the room few are talking about. So until we put everything on the table and address it, its a mute point. But my point was slowing traffic just pisses people off and in some cases could cause harm. If you want people to care and join you, win them over by showing how much you care, in a way that does them no harm.
Yes. This is what I've been saying, about transportation. Now, what about other realms? Including one linked to transportation; we need to reconfigure city layout (more streets closed to vehicle traffic and open to congenial gathering (cafes with outdoor seating, community gardens, perhaps a stage for musical and theater performances) and remixing of residential, commercial and (smaller) industrial zones so that people don't have to commute long distances to work. And an end to the scale of intercontinental shipping of consumer goods now polluting the oceans, replaced by a much smaller fleet of win d-powered ships. More medium-scale renewable electricity generation--that is, arrays that are installed, owned and operated by a community, located where wind blows a lot or the sun is least obstructed, with both fossil fuel corporations and utilities left out of the arrangement. But I don't know how we do the prefigurative move on most of these...
All good ideas, Mary.
It's true, some of what we need to do won't offer readily imaginable prefigurative approaches. We'll have to ponder quite a bit on that one.
Maybe we should reach for the low hanging fruit of the prefigurative options as we build a movement. There ought to be a lot we can do with local food production as prefigurative politics, e.g., community gardens, farms and food forests. Some of what we need to do is going to have to be in local / municipal governments -- especially those policies which fit into the degrowth movement approach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrowth
Perhaps we could talk with degrowth advocates, asking them where we can explore possible synergies and collaborations between existing degrowth methods and our favored prefigurative approaches?
From World Naked Bike Ride Facebook page
James R. Martin: "Is there any shared history and overlap between WNBR, Critical Mass and Extinction Rebellion? I'm sure there must be. Perhaps we can synergize our efforts more effectively?"
Rob Jordan: (With permission):
"From the perspective of WNBR in the UK, there has been a lot of synergy with Critical Mass. From the early days when WNBR was little-known, the Friday evening Critical Mass was an important recruiting event for WNBR London. Critical Mass riders were some of the early ride marshals for WNBR. While Jim Ireland says the rides have different reasons, in my view WNBR and Critical Mass are very closely-aligned in original objectives: calling for an end to dependency on fossil fuel-based transport, and facilitating cycling as a low-carbon, healthy alternative. WNBR in addition has the body-positivity message.
The relationship between XR and WNBR is more controversial. The two organisations have many goals in common. Some within the WNBR community have a strong objection to XR's tactics of civil disobedience. WNBR has cultivated good relations with authorities based on lawful protest, and these people feel any links with XR would threaten this good reputation. WNBR London has taken this view. On the other hand, other rides, notably WNBR Brighton, have co-hosted with XR, feeling that the shared goals justify a closer relationship."
How will that help? The only results I have ever witnessed from blocking traffic is pissing people off and turning them against your cause. Many low income people can lose their jobs if late for work, people on parole or probation can end up in trouble, the list goes on. We need more love, understanding and working together, not more traffic stopping. And many people I used to spend time with who participated in critical mass were confused, narcissistic personalities who could have much better served the world by looking at and integrating their long shadow casting a gloom on our earth. Healing this world starts with healing ourselves, and by recognizing the toxicity we hold within that reflects outward. The outer toxicity we can observe in the environment is merely a reflection of the inner toxicity of humanity. Blocking traffic won't solve that.
Ann -
This article will help you understand why we need to boldly challenge the idea that cars are simply necessary.
Visualizing all of the cars in the world
https://rword.substack.com/p/visualizing-all-of-the-cars-in-the
Hi Ann -
I didn't propose stopping traffic in cities and towns, I proposed basically slowing it down to bicycle speed, thus making the streets safer for bicyclists and other small, light, slower vehicles. This would raise awareness of our need to phase out automobiles. You may not believe that we do need to phase out automobiles, but I've studied the topic in great detail and the evidence for this need is overwhelming -- if we are to phase out fossil fuels. No, replacing internal combustion cars with electric cars will not phase out fossil fuels for many reasons, one of which is that an average electric car will consume 33.3% (one third) of the energy it will use in its useful life in manufacturing alone (this includes mining of minerals, etc.), and that manufacturing energy will be drawing on a world energy supply which is currently 84% fossil fuels sourced energy.
Maybe you don't believe in anthropogenic climate disruption ("change")?
I definitely believe cars need to be phased out in time,but it would need to happen alongside a whole redoing of our society and how we live. The biggest polluters by far are the military and industry as a whole. Until we phase those out, nothing substantial will change. And climate disruption is multifaceted, geoengineering of our weather systems being the huge elephant in the room few are talking about. So until we put everything on the table and address it, its a mute point. But my point was slowing traffic just pisses people off and in some cases could cause harm. If you want people to care and join you, win them over by showing how much you care, in a way that does them no harm.