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3 things I love about truckers

By Ant | Jul 4, 2008

1. I love the way they clogged up the city centres and poured out probably tons of particulates and stinky diesel pollution into the environment for us all to choke on, and the for planet to struggle with. It helps draw attention to how much we prefer a cleaner environment, and perhaps one without trucks (so much).

2. I love the way they organised themselves - it shows there is a militant spirit alive and kicking, it’s just kicking at the wrong things and preoccupied with economic self-interest.

3. I love the way they draw attention to the way the world is changing and our need to get with the programme. And I also would sneak in another love here - I love the way they have given the media an ‘excuse’ to FINALLY get talking about transition towns. Hopefully, involvement will rapidly follow. I still maintain that parish contexts can provide a vital point of engagement in this regard.

Of course the road user charges should go up. Truck drivers, along with everyone else, are going to find the transition to an economy not based upon cheap oil really tough to begin with. That’s a point of pastoral care, mission, love, engagement, change etc - it’s what the church, arguably, is supposed to be all about.

I was just talking with someone from school, who said they wish they had had some eggs handy for when the trucks went past. Feelings are running high.

So thanks, truckers. Perhaps you’ve done us all a favour. Now, hopefully, we can return to the REST of the news (which this morning seemed to consist mostly of trucks and tornadoes).

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US air pollute stats
July 5th, 2008 at 7:39 am

US air pollute stats…

[…] - are under attack for inflating food prices, destroying natural habitat, depleting water supplies and increasing pollution. One-fourth of the U.S. corn crop now goes to ethanol, and corn prices are so high that ethanol producers are […]…

Robert Ashe
July 7th, 2008 at 11:49 am

Well said. If we’re going to use markets to send the right signals, then it’s about time we got the costs of moving freight by trucks right. A 2005 Ministry of Transport study into this showed that trucks are currently paying only 56% of their costs to the economy, while the comparative figure for rail freight was 82%. The new increases in road user charges for trucks closes this unfair gap by a small fraction…but not enough to make it more economical to send a container from Auckland to Wellington by truck rather than train. Crazy.

[Source for stats: http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Images/NewFolder-2/Overview-for-pdf.pdf

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