Aaron Naparstek

Weird things happen when you’re an investigative reporter trying to cover an international oil giant like ExxonMobil. Your plane tickets are mysteriously canceled, your hotel room gets broken into, and the local reporter that you’ve hired is offered a lucrative job to work on something else. In this special bonus episode for Patreon subscribers, investigative journalist and podcaster Amy Westervelt tells us what it was like to report and produce the new season of her podcast, Drilled. It’s called “Light Sweet Crude.” In it, she takes us to the tiny South American nation Guyana where, in 2015, ExxonMobil discovered one of the world’s largest off-shore oil reserves. Seemingly overnight, Guyana began transforming from an international environmental leader and model of sustainable development to one of the world’s fastest growing petrostates.

Why start a brand new oil industry in the middle of a climate crisis in a country that is particularly vulnerable to climate impacts? Do wealthy, western, oil-guzzling nations have any right to tell a nation like Guyana to keep their fossil fuels in the ground? And once a project like this gets going, is there anything that can be done to stop it?

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***

In Huntsville, Alabama, it’s illegal to play ball on any street, alley, or sidewalk. In Lewiston, Maine, pedestrians must keep to the right half of the crosswalk while crossing the street. And in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, bicyclists are strictly prohibited from any kind of “fancy riding.” If these laws sound vague, arbitrary, and difficult to enforce, well, that might just be the point. In a groundbreaking new report, urban planner Charles Brown painstakingly identifies the vast array of transportation-related laws that are used almost exclusively to limit the mobility and freedom of Black Americans while providing no real benefit to public safety. Brown gives this repressive policy regime a name. He calls it: Arrested Mobility.

You can find a full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is produced with support from Harvard University Graduate School of Design Executive Education and Cleverhood.

*** Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content and stickers! ***

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Chances are, if a character rides a bicycle in a movie or TV show that character is a huge loser. From The 40-Year-Old Virgin to Arrested Development, bicycles are frequently used to represent immaturity, otherness and misfortune. Thankfully, things are changing — at least a little. Witness the Citibike-riding women of Broad City or Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, the sports psychologist who counsels the cast of Ted Lasso after commuting to work on her Brompton folding bike. Journalist Nitish Pahwa of Slate joins us to discuss the ways in which Hollywood and other parts of our entertainment-industrial complex use bicycles and cars to signify power and status.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is produced with support from Rad Power Bikes and Cleverhood.

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content and stickers!***

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What if we told you that some of the biggest, most exciting, and potentially transformative victories in The War on Cars are being fought and won these days by people working on affordable housing? In this special Patreon-only episode of the podcast we are talking to one of those people — Matt Lewis, communications director of California YIMBY. In the last few years, California YIMBY has launched an impressive barrage of legislation aimed at making housing more affordable by challenging the mid-20th century “California Dream” of single-family, automobile-dependent, suburban sprawl. Housing, transportation, climate, equity and inclusivity… For YIMBYs it’s all the same issue.

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.***

“15-minute cities” are having a moment, and not exactly in a good way. How did a mundane urban planning concept turn into the latest grist for the culture-war mill? Why does the idea of making it easier to walk to school or the grocery store have some people afraid that they won’t be able to leave their homes for more than 15 minutes? And why do some think this is all a plot by the World Economic Forum to force people to “own nothing and be happy”? We break down this conspiracy theory and ask if we can ever get back to reality.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is produced with support from Radpower Bikes and Cleverhood.

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content and stickers!***

Friends of The War on Cars receive 20% off tickets to Micromobility Europe, the world’s largest conference for small electric vehicles, June 8 & 9th in Amsterdam.

Pick up official podcast tees and other merch in our official store.

Buy books by podcast guests and check out our book recommendations at our official Bookshop.org page.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear.

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Photo credit: Mitchel Raphael Kern

EPISODE 101: FEMINIST CITY WITH LESLIE KERN

Cities have almost always been designed by men, prioritizing men’s needs as defined by the traditional male-female binary. But as scholar and author Leslie Kern writes in her  book, Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World, a truly feminist city could be, “an ongoing experiment in living differently, living better, and living more justly in an urban world.” Sarah talks with Dr. Kern about  how gender influences the way we move through our streets, and how adopting a feminist perspective could make our cities more humane and livable for everyone, regardless of gender identity.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only!

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, special bonus content and free stickers!***

LINKS:

Find out more about Dr. Leslie Kern’s work.

Buy Feminist City and other books by podcast guests at our official Bookshop.org page.

Pick up official  The War on Cars merch in our store.

This episode was produced and edited by Sarah Goodyear. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear.

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This marks the 100th episode of The War on Cars, and we’re feeling pretty good about it! In our centenary edition, we go all the way back to Episode 1 and ask what we got right, what we got wrong—and what the heck has been happening since we launched back in September of 2018. Then we hear from listeners around the world about what The War on Cars means to them.

Here’s to the next hundred!

This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only!

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all our regular episodes, exclusive bonus content and free stickers!***

LINKS:

Take a stroll down memory lane with us and listen back to Episode 1: Why the World Needs a War on Cars.

Here’s listener Alex Dyer’s project to break car culture.

Buy The War on Cars merch in our store and books by podcast guests at our official Bookshop.org page.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer and recorded by Walter Nordquist of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs.

TheWarOnCars.org

Is it acceptable to harm another person? To steal someone’s private property? To bend health and safety rules just to save a few minutes or make more money? According to a new study, it might depend on whether or not a car is involved. Dr. Ian Walker, a professor of environmental psychology at Swansea University in Wales, joins us for a fascinating discussion about the unconscious biases we all share in favor of cars, how those assumptions shape our streets, and how they prevent the kind of change needed to make them safer. It’s a phenomenon he and his co-authors call “motonormativity.”

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only! 

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and free stickers!***

LINKS:

Read the full study: Motonormativity: How Social Norms Hide a Major Public Health Hazard.

Learn more about Dr. Ian Walker.

How closely do drivers pass cyclists? According to Dr. Walker’s research, it depends.

What if people behaved in grocery stores the way they do behind the wheel of a car? (PSA via Norway’s State Road Administration)

Buy The War on Cars merch in our store and books by podcast guests at our official Bookshop.org page.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs. 

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