Imagine if the car was never invented– there’d be bluer skies, cleaner streets, nicer people, the list goes on and on. Cars are nothing but a status symbol hiding behind the excuse of “convenience”. The best cities in the world don’t have a lot of cars, you know what they have? Working public transport systems and city streets built for people and experiences, not roads for cars, cars, and more cars. Think about the best towns on the planet, one thing they have in common: not a lot of automobiles.
Let’s be real for a second: why are there so many different versions of an automobile? The honest answer is vanity. Choice is for the privileged few who get to pick multiple vehicles and have an extra car for “coding days,” while the rest of the population deal with 3-4 hour commutes to thankless jobs JUST SO THEY CAN WORK ENOUGH TO BUY A CAR. It’s a ridiculous standard set by people who just want to sell us things. The Philippines, Manila specifically, ranks among the least livable places on Earth every year and a big part of that is traffic. Bad roads, horrible drivers, combine that with just an overwhelming volume of vehicles and you get daily car-maggedon. Who ever said that success is defined by the cars we drive? Well, many believe it.
The pandemic took away a lot from many of us but it also taught us how to live again and frankly, how life should be lived. One of the important things it showed us was a city without pollution. It was awesome, strikingly different from what we’re used to and we enjoyed it…for a while. Then the cities “opened up” again and we quickly and forgetfully went back to our old ways, now the SMOG CEILING over Makati and Manila pops up every other day on our Facebook feeds, with us just “shocked” at the amount of pollution we put out.
DISCOVERY
One of the main reasons biking is better than driving is finding things out for yourself. Our cities turn into towns, turning into communities when we pedal around. We see the small coffee shop in the corner, the Michelin-star level eatery that we’ve never been to because they don’t have car parking, and we get to meet all of the people that run these wonderful places. We get to discover the pieces and parts of neighborhood like never before, places you’d pass by otherwise.
A REAL GREEN
It’s no secret that Manila is super polluted and it’s not rocket science that automobiles– especially old, smoke-belching, breaking down ones, are to blame for this. There aren’t any factories or any kind of industry around these areas to justify the smog, it’s really just cars. IF we want a better world, better health, better EVERYTHING for now and the years to come, consider lessening your car use.
In short, get a bike. Your body and mind will thank you for it, so will Mother Earth. Ayala Avenue in Makati is CAR-LESS every Sunday, 6-11AM every week, Paseo de Roxas is also closed for Street Meet. Go out, walk, bike, and enjoy each other’s company.
Discover more from Sendr
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.