Breaking Up With...My Car
“I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals; I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.”
Most objects surrounding us are in our homes, cupboards, drawers and this is where a lot of the "decluttering" happens.
But there is one mythical object which is both functional and charged with symbolic value: the car. I know many car fetishists, mostly male (I hate stereotypes, but this one sticks), for whom their car is an extension of themselves and “a purely magical object” (Barthes). I have a friend with whom I have regular arguments about the joy of not owning a car. He looks at me with big eyes. I share my hope that may be our kids might not need to get a driving license, and that cars will soon drive themselves. He is horrified at this prospect. My friend just cannot see his life without cars.
I have owned 12 cars in my adult life. I got my driving license 30 years ago. For many years, my husband and I both commuted by car (separately) and we owned 2 cars. We started thinking about no longer owning a car when we moved from New York suburbs to central London, 4 years ago.
Living in a walkable city with good transportation, good rail systems, great black cabs, several efficient riding apps, some good car sharing services (with increasingly electric options), and a growing self-service bicycles schemes, the decision of breaking up with a life with a car was in retrospect easy. Of course, we still use cars from time to time, and we enjoy renting cars when we travel abroad or decide to explore the British country site. It is fair to think that we would escape the city more often if we owned a car. But for now we do enjoy our city life.
Of course, not owning a car is generally much cheaper even if you use a lot of taxis or ride apps and rent cars when needed and most importantly is much better for the environment. Earthshare gives you a lot of tips and data on “greening your commute” and suggests that not using a car saves an average of 20 pounds of CO2 emissions per day, reducing your carbon footprint impact by a mind blowing 3.6 US tons per year!
But beyond the environmental impact of living car-free, there is something quite exciting and liberating about not having to worry about driving, parking, servicing, repairing (as well as having one less place attracting potential clutter!). I just feel lighter, freer and healthier. I am also happy to have the exceptional freedom to tailor my commute based on the weather, my schedule, or my mood. I can just choose to balance how much I walk to work and how much I take us the tube, the bus or decide to take a cab or a car is I feel like it.
Breaking up with my car has been one of the most impactful change towards living a simpler better life. And I have never looked back.
Simply yours,
Brigitte Bellan
