Walkability: The Saturn Ion commercial revisited

WHOA!  "Walkpooling" for school children was suggested for Dearborn's comprehensive sustainability plan by a regional activist who frequents our campus, and this great idea reminded me about the early Saturn Ion commercial where all the kids and a bus driver (in addition to all other vehicular traffic) were walking on the street sans the bus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_oWmY_mkCA

Watching it again with a new paradigm for walkability in cities, a better understanding of infrastructure and sustainability, I can't help but think that it's a bit ironic and hope that it's also prophetic about how we approach the way we travel and where we go to do the things that make up our lives.

This commercial captures an intrinsic truth about human travel so well that years later we can look at the commercial as an opportunity to rethink the status quo of transportation, why we drive so much, and reevaluate its necessity in the context of other needs for a balanced local community and global ecosystem.  In other words, it's a great clip for prompting discussions on walkability and livable communities even though the car company was trying  is no longer in existence.

That's beautiful communication--art if you will-- to me. It maintains its integrity as a piece for what it was meant to be (a commercial advertising the values of a human run car company), but it communicates profound things about the way we perceive and interact with the world around us, the things we do, and inspires us (or at least me) to wonder about what it all means and why we do it.

Some people wouldn't consider things built by humans as positive environmental issues, but they really are, and this commercial makes for an interesting connection to the built environment.  What's our impact?  Consider emissions (soot, fossil fuel consumption for gas/battery charges, carbon dioxide, etc.) accidents, and the time and space it takes to commute in congested traffic.

(Thanks Daniel for sharing this picture, sourced from http://consumerist.com/2010/06/how-much-street-space-car-vs-bus-vs-bicycle.html ; SEMCOG or EPA has a similar picture somewhere too)

In case you were wondering, this is one of those rare "blew my mind with a new paradigm" moments for me.  I guess some people get a similar experience when they discover that they've matured as well.  Anyhow, onward into the weekend! 

Coincidentally, the Green Cruise takes place in Ferndale this Saturday.  I'll see if I can go, but it's a bit of a drive to get there...