On Fri, 7/18/08, Jon Bosak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Oh, that's right, without those wasteful vehicles, they're not going to be able to get it to you, are they? Tsk. Jon, On our farms we really never had any use for all those cars Andy Goodell was referring to when it came to getting our goods to the city. On our farms we used trucks, not cars, to transport the tons, not pounds, of our farms' production to market. Between the dozen or so farms owned by the members of the clan we had the 1/2-3/4 ton pick-up for small loads, 2 or 3 single-axle large trucks and at least one ten-wheel truck owned by an uncle but available to other family members as needed. Milk production was hauled away by a truck - owned and operated by a local family. For large shipments like bulk grain, hay and straw we would contract with a local indpendent owner/operator or a tractor-trailer to haul goods to market. I've seen nothing in the past couple of decades to make me think that this practice has not changed among farmers. My farmer in-laws in Viet Nam still rely on the old standby that Tom Shelley referenced in his e-mail, the handcart. On flat land they can haul a 500-1,000 pounds of produce the 10 miles to market in Hoi An in about 3 hours. But I'm willing to bet they are in far better physical condition than any reader of this post. One of the horrible negatives of the urban density model I advocated a few months ago is the elimination of that suburban American sacred cow known as the sideyard. Eliminating the sideyard in favor of townhouse party-wall architecture however would free up 25%-30% of the land currently wasted in cities such as Ithaca and let it be utilized for more productive, greener use, like community gardens within walking distance of ones home. Our colonial predecessors here and America brought that concept from Europe 400 years ago. Outside the United States 99 percent of the world's urban denizens understand the concept. It's pretty amazing in this "enlightened" day and age that we still can't figure it out. George Frantz
--- On Fri, 7/18/08, Jon Bosak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Jon Bosak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Prius/electric Cars Could Be Polluters To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, July 18, 2008, 3:21 PM Andy Goodell wrote: | I specifically chose to live in a place that I knew I would easily | get along without owning a car. I get everywhere by bike except | when I have been lazy and use the moped, which is about $2 of gas | per month with my current usage. Good thing someone else is willing to grow your food for you. Oh, that's right, without those wasteful vehicles, they're not going to be able to get it to you, are they? Tsk. Jon _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
