The Crossroads of Air Pollution

I have just been informed by my lovely daughter-in-law that Indy is the sixth most toxic city in the nation. For the most part she is correct. However, if the city planners 150+ years ago had known about the creation of the EPA, they would have laid out the city a little differently.

There is no dispute that if you tape a plain piece of paper to the hood of your car on a typical day in Indianapolis, there will be a layer of black grit on it by the end of the day. Hey, we're breathing this crap. No wonder I can't run a marathon in spite of the fact I have never trained for one. Nevertheless, the air is full of crud. Where's it coming from? Well, very innocently most of the industry, power plants, airports, and major distribution warehouses with the affiliated trucking companies are all located on the west side of town. With the prevailing wind out of the west all of the crud gets blown right over the main part of town where the EPA very sensibly measures air pollution.

Cities with the industrial bases on the east, north, or south sides of town just get grazed by the nasty little boogers. So, until Cummins Engine finds a way to catch all of the particulates from diesel engines, IPL builds a nuclear plant somewhere downwind so all of the radioactive fallout lands on Ohio, and the airlines start using biofuels we are going to be on the list. It is kind of like building a campfire and then standing in the smoke while you roast your weenies.

Commuting in Indy - Why It's Not for Me

When I was a squirt we were a one-car family. That was not unusual in the '50's. I was one of six children and by the '70's our family owned over eight cars, each with a gas-guzzling V-8 engines. Hey, gas was only about 35 cents per gallon. We were told that there was an endless supply of oil.

We all got married and collectively bought six more cars for our spouses, except for my brother Joe. His car was provided to him, but I'll save that story for my "Youngest Sibling Blog". Then, we all moved far away from the city where land was cheap and the houses were big. Life was grand. The six siblings had 19 children and I haven't counted cars lately, but you can see where I'm headed. In a wealthy country with over 300 million people there is not enough fuel and land for the process to continue.

I think it is time to re-think the American Dream.

I've lived the dream. My family of five owned a five bedroom house, five cars, and one enormous custom van. I had the means to pay for it all, but I did not leave much room for error. However, the twenty-somethings today have even less room for error. Our society can no longer expect to have more than the generation before them. But, they can still have a wonderful lifestyle. It will just take a little common sense to make it happen.

Make a list of the things you require and pick a spot somewhere in the middle to call home. My wife and I moved downtown from the burbs to be closer to work, entertainment, restaurants, and virtually everything else that used to require a car. We love it. Each of us has eliminated 15,000 miles of rush hour traffic a year. At 48 cents per mile we have saved over $10,000 per year in commuting cost and untold hours in traffic. We are now planning on being a one-car household again. We live in 40% of the space we used to own. Almost everything costs less now except for one thing-my property taxes.

If everyone exercises their right to vote in the next election, I think we can fix that, too.