Krugman on Living in a High Cost Oil World

I hope Mr. Krugman gets more folks to start talking about the changes we need to make in order to live a low oil lifestyle. And as he states, its not about prying cars away from Americans, but instead facilitating walking, biking, and transit. You know, what the transit blogosphere is talking about anyways.

To see what I’m talking about, consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping.

It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.