Comparing Places - To move or not to move...

In the grand scheme of things, most people in this world don't move around very much, and certainly not over large distances in short periods of time as I have been doing in the past 2+ weeks. People stay in their homes, go to work, see their friends and arrive back in the same spot before they go to bed, then they wake up and do it all over again, and it's for one simple reason: they can't move, they're stuck in the life they have. 

It's an odd thing to consider sometimes, though most of us are stuck in one way or another by the circumstances of our lives. We know this because we're not living out our absolute, perfect, dream-like lifestyle. We have responsibilities, commitments, and social pressures pulling us back to "where we belong." These sorts of things are common the world over and they stop us from doing what we really want all the time.

At this moment I'm in Toronto, on my 9th city and 3rd continent in just 3 weeks, and I'm noticing some stark differences and glaring similarities between places and people.

The most interesting to me at the moment - perhaps also because this is an enviro blog - is the way in which people move around; be it from home to work and back again or over longer distances for other reasons.

I started in Taiwan where people are in love with their scooters, cars are a status symbol and the brand new MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is desperate to be recognized as a legitimate form of transportation.








From Taiwan I flew (yes, I know, I hate flying, too) to Europe and stayed in Germany, Holland, Denmark and Britain where mass transit is relied upon for nearly every journey where possible and convenient, though cars still play a role. I found it telling that in Denmark bikes are still used a great deal even in winter, AND that the girl whose birthday we went out for in London made an "unusual request" that we take a taxi to the restaurant instead of the underground. Clearly, cars in Europe aren't quite what they are elsewhere.

And lastly, I've come home to Canada, where bikes are for pleasure, the mass transit is horribly underfunded and cars carry their single passenger over great distances every morning and evening for the commute. The alternatives to taking a car in Canada are groaningly moving forward at a snail's pace. The argument remains: "I need my car because everything is so far away." True, things are far, but do you really need a four-seater to go get groceries or commute 20 minutes to work everyday? Probably not, unless you're bringing 3 imaginary friends with you.

Now, I don't like to country bash, and pointing out the faults in my own country is easy when you live abroad and are happy about it, but I find it a little frustrating coming back to Canada. After having traveled so seamlessly through Europe on smooth-gliding high speed trains and well managed tram systems which run throughout the country - even in small cities like where I used to live in Germany - I'm ready to start criticizing a little bit.

There comes a time when we have to wake up as a country and realize that the world is passing us by, and all the while we're convinced of our own superiority. Asia is hard at work building their transit infrastructure and using Europe technology to do so. They're asking the experts and paying them well to make their societies more livable. We are not.

Good transit is also a poverty issue, and you can ask any economist; poverty is bad for business. If a person from Mississauga can get quickly and easily across the city without a car, then more job opportunities open up. In this way cities can reduce the poor's dependence on welfare and gain more tax-paying citizens.

At the moment we have the economic advantage, but that is largely dependent upon variables like infrastructure and - perhaps most importantly - attracting talent. What does it say about Canada when the most talented of my friends (and the least as well) aren't staying in Canada because they want to, but rather because they feel stuck in those responsibilities, which keep the rest of the world from moving around?

It won't stay like this forever. Those who stick with what they've always done will only get what they've always had. In a world that's progressing very quickly, we just can't afford to have such a crappy mass transit infrastructure. It's a detriment to our people and it's a large part of why I don't want to move back to Canada.

Environmentalism is no longer a movement of hippies and frustrated youth, it's a global movement that is touching every economic field with a large, firm index finger.

If we continue to ignore that, in transportation or any other sector, we will be left behind.