peak cars - and the world being turned upside down

today's ditty:   Madonna - Material World

There are some strange goings on as the baby boomers retire and pass the reigns to the first generations raised on PC's, Apples and cell phones.

The young seem less interested in cars - many are putting off getting their drivers licenses and their first cars for a few years. Quite a few are deciding they don't need to drive at all. As a result of this, and of the aging of our populations, we are seeing a "peak car" phenomena.  In Germany, Great Britain and France the average miles driven per car has been on the decrease for the past 10 years, and per-capita car ownership has been on the decrease as well (see The Economist). In the US these numbers have plateaued. It seems that people see less need to drive when they have high speed internet access to friends, entertainment, work-at-home, news and and other information. And it seems they are less willing to pay the ever higher fuel prices, taxes, insurance rates and other associated with owning and driving an automobile.

Peak Cars (source - Economist Magazine)

Is the glitter of consumerism dimming?  Is the realization finally dawning for many that beyond a certain point  the things we own just take away from our most valued trove of wealth - our time?

If this is real, and if people's desires continue to turn away from the material, the world will be turned upside down.

I think it is real. And, by the way, I think that this change in attitude makes a lot of sense.  Why would we want to continue consuming exponentially when in the long run this can only lead to major depletion and exhaustion of the world's resources?  For more reading on this see: crash course.