HOW TO STOP PROGRESS

If we added together all the ways our transport is killing us it would show a global massacre, with one of the biggest perpetrators being the motor car. Over a million people are killed on the world’s roads each year. Automobiles are a leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions and air pollution and a reason for many of us to do less exercise.

Over a billion cars, burning up nearly a quarter of global oil consumption, crisscross the land, often sitting stationary in jams, chugging toxic fumes into the air. But these small metal boxes also mean ease and freedom; they help people get to work and see their loved ones. For many they are a lifeline.

Is it possible that cars, or the corporations that make money from their reign, have too much power? Global auto sales may be stalling, but there is a long way to go before cars loosen their