I think about this a lot. We’re past the point of a painless transition. There is no such thing. It’s just a matter of whether we do it now and minimize the pain, or do it later once it’s too late.

What I mean by that is… cars are unsustainable, full stop. Our transition COULD look like… stop subsidizing gas, let the prices rise and put pressure on consumers causing them to minimize unnecessary travel and demand better alternatives, so that we eventually get the walkable cities with public transportation that can be sustainable. OR we can keep going as we are today until it becomes completely untenable and then have to transition suddenly all at once resulting in mass chaos and huge swaths of totally unlivable land, a fresh collapse of the real estate markets, and even more insane housing prices in cities.

Of course, I’m still painting a rosy picture. We all know that if gas prices rise, most people will not react rationally but instead will pressure politicians to put the subsidies back in place. So we’re well and truly fucked.