‘Car Brain’ Is Making the US Unhealthy and Dangerous. EVs Won’t Fix It.
A trio of new books argue that we need to confront the full range of costs that car-based living has imposed on our cities, our health and our society.
Illustration: Ian Grandjean for Bloomberg
In 2005, the late writer David Foster Wallace began his celebrated commencement address at Kenyon College with a joke: Two young fish are swimming along when they come upon an older fish headed in the opposite direction. “Morning boys, how’s the water?” asks the elder. A younger fish, perplexed, turns to his companion and says: “What the hell is water?”
Wallace was making a point about the importance of recognizing what can otherwise be hidden in plain view. That message should resonate among members of a growing movement that castigates automobiles for clogging streets, fouling the air and endangering anyone trying to get anywhere. In many wealthy countries, cars are so pervasive and ingrained that it can be a struggle to conceive how life might improve with fewer of them.