Bleve wrote:
If we get a little smart about transport, and anticipate the
consequences of the (all too foreseable, alas ... but people *are*
stupid) choices made re where we live, how we get to places we want to
go, where we send our kids to school etc, then it's actually not so
bad. The kids can ride their bikes to wherever they want to go, unless
it's stupidly far away, in which case, the consequences of
unsustainable choices are going to smack the people that have made
those choices, and they have no-one to blame but themselves.

Unfortunately houses within cooee of the kids' school start at $1
million for a dump. I live 12 minutes drive away on a good run. I can
ride it in 18 and do when it's just me and I don't need to be
'dressed'. It's not a safe ride for my kids, nor could they do it
practically with the varying hours and the gear they need. Sure there
are choices in all this. I could use the local high and primary
schools, for demonstrably worse educational outcomes. We could decide
not do all the other activities. The extra benefits my kids get are
part of the richness of life in Brisbane/Australia in 2006, for those
who can afford it. That means driving. Talking about blaming myself is
silly. Should I choose to forego what is on offer for my kids? Heck,
I'd better move to the country and live in a humpy while I'm at it.

Donga