9th Feb 2010

Reduce the need to travel

In a recent letter to the Totnes Times, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate Lydia Somerville highlights our vulnerability due to our dependence on motorised transport for our basic needs:

The recent snow has opened our eyes to our perilous dependence on transport. Not just for getting to work, but for all our essential needs including the education of our children. People haven't been able to use their vehicles in the icy conditions, whether that be cars, buses, or delivery lorries. Essential services have been cancelled, schools closed, shops not re-stocked and food supplies threatened. Suddenly the supply of things we take most for granted become chaotic and we realise the vulnerability of our society and its complete dependence on mobility.

Replace the effects of snow with the predicted lack of oil or electricity, or with the extreme weather predicted through climate change, and you get a taste of things to come. In my youth we used to walk to the nearest school, food was grown and distributed locally, people lived near their work, especially essential services like policemen, firemen, nurses and carers. Towns had their own dairy, their own mill. It may seem quaint and old-fashioned, but the small scale and local provision of what we needed to live had a quality of resilience that we don't have today.

In 2010 food is distributed in a global market, people commute long distances to work, electricity and gas is supplied by a national grid. Even our entertainment is delivered via the internet and satellite from anywhere on the planet. This is the global market of products and services, this is the centralised, cost-effective, long distance distribution network which saves us money - until it goes wrong. And all entirely reliant on cheap oil.

When transport is disrupted, long supply chains don't seem so wise, loss of local employment doesn't seem so efficient. Healthcare, social services and education quickly become beyond our reach.

Green Party policy stresses local production for local need, local services that are accessible in our communities, and the importance of local schools. Not dormitory estates, and transport corridors. We need to reduce the need to travel, not just to switch from cars to trains or buses. Yes, public transport needs to be drastically improved, but we have to tackle our dependence on travel as well. This is the heart of our dilema. Our mobility-based economy has proved highly vulnerable. We used to say "its the economy, stupid". Now "it's resilience, stupid".