U.S. Auto Culture and the Environment

The AUTO provides convenience and unprecedented mobility -- also symbol of power, sex, excitement, and success.

Despite its numerous virtues, the car has many destructive effects on people and environment:

I.  The Auto's Environmental Impacts

A.  Accidents -- motor vehicles kill 40,000 to 50,000 people in U.S. yearly (350,000 globally)

B.  Land lost -- 60-65% of land in and near large U.S. cities goes to transportation

C.  Resources used by motor vehicles:

D.  Solid wastes

E.  Pollution by oil & gasoline

G.  Air pollution

1.  Nine million metric tons of hydrocarbons (= 49% of U.S. total)

2.  Nine million metric tons of nitrogen oxides (= 48% of U.S. total) -- ozone & photochemical smog are produced when hydrocarbons and NOX react in sunlight

3.  56 million metric tons of carbon monoxide (= 67% of U.S. total)

4.  large amounts of carbon dioxide (= 53% of U.S. total) -- 19 lb per gal of gasoline burned

5.  85% of benzene (human carcinogen)

6.  30% of formaldehyde (human carcinogen)

7.  tire dust: 600,000 metric tons per year in U.S. -- small latex particles enter lungs causing allergic reactions

(More info on automotive emissions at http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/05-autos.htm )

II. The Auto's Energy Impacts

A.  Transportation accounts for 40 to 50% of all U.S. energy use -- about 25% used directly as fuel, plus about another 20% used indirectly for manufacture, roads, bridges, insurance operations, etc.)

B.  Energetically inefficient transport modes came to predominate in the 20th Century's era of cheap oil:

1.  Passengers between cities -- cars only about 1/3 as fuel efficient as buses, only 1/4 as fuel efficient as trains (per passenger-mile)

2.  Passengers within the city -- cars only 1/5 as fuel efficient as buses

3.  Freight between cities -- trucks are less than 1/5 as efficient as trains

The historical trend: energetically inefficient modes have displaced more efficient ones --

E.g., Percentage of U.S. urban passenger-miles by mass transit:

III.  Control of U.S. Ground Transport by the "Big 3"

A.  The Auto Culture, with its environmental, energy and social impacts, was virtually imposed on the U.S. by several giant industrial corporations.

Three "automobile" firms, led by General Motors (GM) and joined by Ford and Chrysler, came to dominate all forms of motorized ground transport.

To maximize profits, the "Big 3" substituted automobiles for other, more efficient and environmentally-sound kinds of travel.

B.  By the early 1970s:

C.  How did this collective monopoly (or oligopoly) arise? -- And how did it cause the decline of non-car transport in the U.S.?

1.  Forced Growth of Automotive Transport (also see the video Taken For A Ride)

E.g., in 1936 National City Lines (NCL) was formed by GM with Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) and Firestone Rubber Co. They converted electric transit systems in 16 states to GM bus operations, also boosting fuel and tire sales. (A list of U.S. cities "served" by National City Lines can be found at http://members.aol.com/metrafan/nclines.html )
By this method the $100 million electric rail system in and around Los Angeles was largely scrapped in favor of buses, and ultimately cars.

2.  The long-term effect of dieselizing urban transit systems was to sell more autos. Diesel buses are smoky, noisy and slow. They have 28% shorter lives and 40% higher operating costs than electric buses (plus the environmental and energy costs cited above). But GM's revenues were 10 times higher from selling cars instead of buses.

D.  The Railroads, and GM's Role -- GM diversified into railroads in 1930, buying out Winton Engine (then the largest firm) and Electro-Motive. They proceeded to shift trains from electric to diesel engines:

Compared with an electric engine, a diesel one

So, why the change? -- Profit maximization by GM. GM was the nation's largest shipper from 1935 through 1970. It used its freight business to coerce the railroads to buy GM diesel engines.

The result: Dieselization impaired trains ability to compete with cars and trucks for both passengers and freight. This left the U.S. with a third-rate railway system. But again, GM sales were larger, by 25 to 35 times, if could sell cars and trucks instead of train locomotives. So private profits prevailed at great expense to the public and the environment.

E.  Conclusion:  We in the U.S. now are locked into an environmentally disastrous and unsustainable Auto Culture, largely as a result of corporate capitalism.

1.  A Piece of Larger Puzzles  

Consider how the Auto Culture is tied to many other environmental stresses-acid rain, for instance (or oil spills, or global warming).

2.  Solutions?

More on the U.S. Auto Cuture and the Environment:

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Thomas Detwyler maintains this page (tdetwyle@uwsp.edu).
Last updated March 24, 1998.