This photo was snapped on I-95 in Miami during rush hour. It is nothing new that big cities like Miami are clogged with tons of motors of different types clogging up the roadways. While I took this photo in Miami, I was on my way back from 4 days in Key West. I didn’t take photos of trsffic in the Keys because I wanted to capture the charm of the area, but if we, as a culture, want to see firsthand how toxic our love affair is with combustion, petroleum burning, motors are, just go to mile zero.
I visited Key West nearly 25 years before. Back then, it was a party town but in a beach bum kinda chill way peppered with some high energy gay fun. All in all it was a place where you could wave your rainbow flag free and enjoy a good mojito. Its remote location gave it exclusivity inits isolation. The people that came made a lot of effort to be there. The remoteness kept it a bit sleepy, less attractive to the average tourist. That has all changed. Key West is now a full time party town.
We rented an Airbnb near downtown. The listing mentioned that Key West is best experienced on a bike and since parking is all paid and quite expensive, we immediately found a public garage with a day rate and rented bikes. There are lots of bikers in Key West since there is literally so little parking, but the town is also a slave to the tourists. While it is super easy to bike around, most people are in love with their motors and unwilling to give them up. So, instead of a pedal bike you can rent an electric bike or stand up motorized scooter, if you need it even easier, you could get a moped or a golf cart. But in my opinion that is where it should stop. If I was mayor of Key West, I would ban all cars from the area except for commercial delivery and emergency vehicles, build a parking garage with a shuttle to downtown. I would consider a possible compromise off allowing just compact residential vehicles only.
But I’m not mayor, nor ever will be, so this is just ranting. But it is not as crazy or utopian as it might seem at first glance. In a small area like Key West where everything is within a couple of miles distance and the roads are flat, why is it necessary to drive a v8 truck or SUV? A series of tragedies are bound to happen or have happened. Biking and walking would have been so much more enjoyable if the only motors I had to worry about were from mopeds or golf carts. Plus it would reduce emissions, save wildlife, and more. It is so obvious that the combination of pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, golf carts, cars, AND trucks, SUVs, etc… plus lots of imbibing 24/7, are a disaster waiting to happen. In the few days I spent, I had several close calls.
It is time to shift our priorities. We are going to lose all these lovely places if we put our love of motors over common sense. I have a friend up in the area where I live who is originally from France. Europe has embraced bicycles way more than Americans. He posts often of the danger of roads congested by cars and trucks which are shared by bicycles and pedestrians. He points out the unnecessary attachment that we have to these motors, especially big ones. These large vehicles, in a small area like Key West, would stretch over the lanes at times. Parking them was near impossible and would stop traffic. On a bike, having a truck behind you, itching to pass, was like having a tiger breathing down your neck, waiting to pounce.
But our love of motors, in beautiful, ecologically precious places like Key West, affect more than the potential for accidents on the road ways. There are tons of motor boats, jet skis and even an international airport in the area, all spewing toxic smoke and dripping toxins into the ocean which erode the coral reefs. We are in a a game of chicken with the environment down there. It is so obvious. The very natural beauty that brings people to visit, is being destroyed by the need to accommodate our toxic love of motorized transport.
On my trip we biked everywhere and also went kayaking, all eco-friendly activities. But on our last day we went snorkeling. While really fun, it was then that it really hit me how f*cked up it is that we are taking a motorized boat with a bunch a tourists, who once they start drinking (which is what pretty much everyone was doing) their empty plastic cups would fly into the ocean, only to be consumed by turtles who mistake them for jellyfish. Then we stopped near the reef where everyone jumps in to snorkel willy nilly, some diving down and messing with nature. The reef that we saw was pretty paltry and we learned that it had been damaged by the motor oil from boats. Yet here we were arriving in a motorized boat to view the natural beauty while also destroying it. I left with guilt.
I would like to see a future where we don’t just move away from petroleum to electric or fuel-celled vehicles but where we also question, and ideally regulate, where they can be. If big tractor trailers have restrictions as to where they can go, why not extend to trucks and in some places all motors? Lets have some motor free zones where people can walk or ride freely and nature can flourish with less of a toxic load to filter.