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Climate Strike -- Carmageddon (week 63) [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-26  

You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event, in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information.

This is the letter for week 63 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents to see topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…

STRIKE FOR THE PLANET

How Do We Prevent Carmageddon?

This week is about SAFETY, NOT CARS.1

What is Carmageddon?

The end of the world by car. Traffic so bad it feels like2, and contributes to, the end of the world.3 And, with the death of transit and the push to reopen jobs, by all accounts Carmageddon is coming.4, 5, 6, 7

Is Carmageddon bad?

It will cause massive and rapid increases in CO 2 , particulates, soot, sulfur dioxide, ozone, NO x , noise, more cars hitting and killing more pedestrians and more cyclists8, and the loss of exercise and social distancing spaces and calm in a very unquiet time.9

But we can avoid Carmageddon!

How? Through Targeted Universalism: the creation of universal goals achieved through targeted practices.10 Targeted Universalism is a systems thinking practice that comes out of UCB, so expert assistance is literally next door.

So what is our universal goal here? Clearly, as stated in Vision Zero, it is safe streets and zero traffic deaths.11 Safe streets means more than just zero traffic deaths though, because as Vision Zero goes on to state “safety helps create a lively, vibrant city that works for everyone.” And a lively, vibrant city that works for everyone is a city that isn’t destroying the atmosphere with carbon.12, 13, 14

What does this look like in action?

If the universal goal is safe streets and zero traffic deaths, then:

Tons of transit only lanes! 15

Permanent Slow Streets, and more Slow Streets! 16

A connected network of protected bike lanes 17

Vastly increase the number of scooter and bike share stations 18

Paseos (pedestrian-only streets) 19

Permanent car-free streets in parks 20 (not just Golden Gate Park!)

(not just Golden Gate Park!) Expanded sidewalks 21

Roundabouts 22

Microtransit 23, 24

Electric ride- and car-share programs like Green Raiteros 25 and BlueLA 26

and BlueLA Low emission streets 27

Traffic signs, speed limits, lights, and infrastructure that favors pedestrians and cyclists over cars 28

Enforcement of traffic laws 29

A slowed down speed limit throughout the city 30

No non-residential cars on residential streets (turning off the Lower Great Highway, for ex)

Congestion tolls 31, 32, 33

Enforcement of noise ordinances to get noisy vehicles off the road 34

Designed traffic flow to minimize car interactions with pedestrians, cyclists, green spaces, and neighborhoods. 35, 36

Incentivized working from home. 37

Making it easy and safe for ALL students to walk or bike to their schools. 38, 39

Reduced availability of cars for terrorism.40

And I’m sure there are more actions we can do. See how easy it is? You set a universal goal, and suddenly there are a multitude of ways to achieve it. This is not a case of “either/or.” It is a case of “yes, and.”

Safety, Not Cars! People, Not Carbon-Spewing Death Machines!41

I’m a cyclist. We do not own a car. I’m a careful cyclist. I try not to go faster than I can handle to fall at. I stop at every light and stop sign. I’ve been in three bad accidents in SF, ended up in the hospital once, and know intimately what road rash feels like. I’ve been threatened by drivers and passengers, deliberately squeezed by MUNI buses, almost killed by Uber and Lyft “drivers”, attacked by dogs twice, and told by a cop that they wouldn’t take an accident report from me because they don’t even really look for stolen cars (implying cars are more important than people.) I ride the sidewalk for a part of my regular commute because that section is way too dangerous to be in the street; even the bike lane there is unsafe due to speeding and distracted drivers.

It is pure relief every time something shuts down the roads to auto traffic. Everyone on the roads suddenly feels as if a death sentence has been lifted. That is what Carmageddon does to us. That is part of why it has to stop now, and why you’ll be supported in stopping it.

As a reminder, if we’re interested in surviving, we also need:

Countywide blackwater recycling;

An SF native urban forest with green pathways for plants and animals throughout the city;

Immediate all electric and clean energy transportation that is free for those most in need;

A majority of roads permanently closed to car traffic;

Elimination of all single-use plastics in SF and aggressive movement toward eliminating all plastics that are not reusable, locally recyclable, and biologically safe;

All local, carbon-neutral or carbon-negative energy — eliminating all methane heating and cooking and assisting in transitioning from fireplace-to-electric heating; and

A resilient and self-sufficient SF.

When I started, this letter would have said you have 25 weeks left in which to start the necessary big actions if we’re going to survive. That’s not true anymore.42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 In a little over a year, we have lost 10 years in which to act. There is NO time left; you must act now.

FOOTNOTES

1. And look! It’s even been adopted by SF in the Vision Zero SF program. https://www.visionzerosf.org . It might be a good idea to update the site. The map on projects, for example, was last updated in September of 2016. You are still working on Vision Zero, right?

2. Douche_Crew. “carmageddon definition”. Urban Dictionary. 15 November 2010. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Carmageddon . Plus the definitions contributed by MedicMommy (27 February 2010) and Lolo1921 (9 February 2010).

3. Phillip Inman. “congestion set to exceed pre-lockdown levels as cars crowd back on to UK roads”. The Guradian. 14 June 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/14/congestion-set-to-exceed-pre-lockdown-levels-as-cars-crowd-back-on-to-uk-roads .

4. Sara Stinson. “Bay Area traffic will be worse post-coronavirus shutdown: study”. KRON 4. 7 May 2020. https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/bay-area-traffic-will-be-worse-post-coronavirus-shutdown/ .

5. Andrew Chamings. “The post-shutdown Bay Area commute may be hell”. SFGate. 6 May 2020. https://www.sfgate.com/driving/article/post-shutdown-commute-may-be-hell-15250950.php .

6. Joe Cahill. “Chicago must prevent traffic nightmare post-COVID”. Crain’s Chicago Business. 18 June 2020. https://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-cahill-business/3-steps-stave-post-covid-traffic-meltdown .

7. Ben Knight. "To avoid a return to pre-coronavirus traffic congestion, experts want to talk a bout change right now”. ABC News. 18 April 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/coronavirus-changing-the-way-we-move-around-our-cities-forever/12158612 .

8. Kimberly Veklerov. “San Francisco’s dangerous streets: where bicyclists and pedestrians get hit”. San Francisco Chronicle. 12 March 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-s-dangerous-streets-where-13680719.php .

9. For more details, refer to Strike letters weeks 7 (transportation), 15 (environmental justice), 29 (transit), and 34-36 (carbon dioxide).

10. john a. powell, Stephen Menendian, and Wendy Ake. “Targeted Universalism: Policy & Practice”. Haas Institute. May 2019. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/targeteduniversalism .

11. Vision Zero SF. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://www.visionzerosf.org .

12. “Living Near Highways and Air Pollution”. American Lung Association. 20 April 2020. https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/who-is-at-risk/highways .

13. Rachel Swan. “Map shows which SF neighborhoods are hit hardest by air pollution”. San Francisco Chronicle. 4 September 2017. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Map-shows-which-SF-neighborhoods-are-hit-hardest-12172473.php .

14. Sabrina Hall, Renay Jenkins, Leaotis Martin, Bradley Angel, and Dalila Adofo. “Earth Day appeal to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors: Protect the health and environment of Bayview Hunters Point”. Bay view. 23 April 2020. https://sfbayview.com/2020/04/earth-day-appeal-to-san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-and-the-board-of-supervisors-protect-the-health-and-environment-of-bayview-hunters-point/ .

15. Rachel Swan. “Muni’s solution for a possible Carmageddon: Emergency transit-only lanes”. San Francisco Chronicle. 27 June 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Muni-s-solution-for-a-possible-Carmageddon-15371003.php .

16. “Slow Streets Program”. SFMTA. Accessed 7 July 2020. https://www.sfmta.com/projects/slow-streets-program .

17. “San Francisco Bike Map”. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. As of 31 May 2019. https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/pdf_map/2020/04/sf_bike_map2019_5.31.19.pdf . Note how many areas are inaccessible or not connected, and how many dangerous stretches of road with bike paths do not have protected lanes (ex. Market from 8th St. to the Ferry Building).

18. And good luck finding a map of where they are if you aren’t on a smartphone and a specific app.

19. “Paseos (Pedestrian Only Streets)”. SF Better Streets. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://www.sfbetterstreets.org/design-guidelines/street-types/paseos/ . I know of only one pedestrian only street in SF right now — it’s Maiden Lane between Kearny and Stockton — and it’s open to traffic from 5 pm to 11 am, making it only 25% a pedestrian street.

20. “Car-Free Days in Golden Gate Park”. San Francisco Recreation & Parks. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://sfrecpark.org/1177/Car-Free-Days-in-Golden-Gate-Park .

21. “Inner Sunset Streetscape Improvement Project”. SFMTA. 11 July 2017. https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/agendaitems/2017/7-11-17%20OCSC%20Inner%20Sunset%20Streetscape%20Project.pdf .

22. Stacy Finz. “We Should Drive in Circles, Study of Roundabouts Finds”. SF Gate. 1 February 2012. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/We-Should-Drive-in-Circles-Study-of-Roundabouts-2936004.php .

23. “MicroTransit Pilot”. Metro. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://www.metro.net/projects/microtransit/ .

24. “Microtransit”. American Public Transportation Association. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/mobility-innovation-hub/microtransit/ .

25. Stephanie Kinser. “Green Raiteros: Greening Transportation for Communities that Need It Most”. Heising-Simons Foundation. 19 October 2018. https://www.hsfoundation.org/green-raiteros-greening-transportation-for-communities-that-need-it-most/ .

26. BlueLA. Accessed 8 July 2020. https://www.bluela.com .

27. Tom Powell. “London low emission streets: All you need to know about the first petrol and diesel car ban on east London roads”. Evening Standard. 2 September 2018. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/londons-first-ultralow-emissions-streets-everything-you-need-to-know-as-petrol-and-diesel-cars-are-a3923856.html .

28. “Pedestrian Infrastructure: Strategies for improving pedestrian safety through low-cost traffic calming”. WalkBoston. August 2015. https://www.walkboston.org/sites/default/files/WalkBoston%20-%20Low%20Cost%20Pedestrian%20Improvements.pdf for examples, though we’ve adopted a number of these measures already.

29. “How traffic law enforcement can contribute to safer roads”. European Transport Safety Council. 19 June 2016. https://etsc.eu/how-traffic-law-enforcement-can-contribute-to-safer-roads-pin-flash-31/ .

30. Prashant Kumar. “Why traffic lights are pollution hotspots”. World Economic Forum. 14 February 2015. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/02/why-traffic-lights-are-pollution-hotspots .

31. The Associated Press. “New York City drivers will soon have to pay for the privilege of sitting in traffic”. USA Today. 3 April 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/03/congestion-pricing-new-york-city-drivers-soon-face-new-toll/3350401002/ .

32. Donald Shoup. “It’s Time to Try Congestion Pricing in L.A.” Bloomberg CityLab. 2 July 2020. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-02/the-case-for-congestion-pricing-in-los-angeles .

33. Ben Kesslen. “To curb traffic, cities explore implementing congestion pricing during peak hours”. NBC News. 18 March 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/curb-traffic-cities-explore-implementing-congestion-pricing-during-peak-hours-n979986 .

34. Simon Moesgaard. “6 Unfortunate Ways Traffic Noise Affects People (Research Findings). Reflected. 27 January 2014. https://reflectd.co/2014/01/27/6-unfortunate-ways-traffic-noise-affects-people/ .

35. Jessie Singer. “We Should Ban Cars From Big Cities. Seriously.” BuzzFeed News. 3 November 2017. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jessesinger/ban-cars .

36. Eve Andrews. “Why do cities keep building all this new stuff for cars?” Grist. 17 April 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jessesinger/ban-cars .

37. Stephanie Marie Delgado. “8 Unusual and Unexpected Benefits of Working Remotely”. Medium. 20 June 2019. https://medium.com/better-marketing/7-reasons-why-remote-work-will-save-company-dollars-the-environment-and-keep-workers-safer-10c2e49bd2b .

38. I personally will escort you on a bike ride from any residential location in the city to any SF school to show you that most of these sites are absurdly and dangerously inaccessible due to traffic and road infrastructure— such as the McAteer campus on Twin Peaks, Galileo in North Beach, Marshall in Bayview, and so many more. This is true for public and private schools, in “good” areas and “bad” areas, and at all grade levels.

39. Annie Vainshtein. “San Francisco school area is fourth-worst in the nation for distracted driving”. SF Gate. 20 September 2017. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-schools-dangerous-intersections-12207276.php .

40. Heather Heyer, Summer Taylor, and this article: Nitish Pahwa. “Why So Many Drivers Are Ramming Into Protesters”. Slate. 12 June 2020. https://slate.com/business/2020/06/george-floyd-protests-cars-ramming-racism.html .

41. In the Panhandle, on the north paved path, for years there was a stencil on both sides of Masonic that said: Warning! Death Machines Ahead. The image below this text was a picture of a car. The stencil was put there by bicyclists because some of us didn’t survive that intersection.

42. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736 .

43. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report .

44. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html .

45. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ .

46. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html .

47. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/ .

48. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/ .

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