Questioning Car Culture

"When my son was four years old he asked me, Father, when am I going to get a car?"

To me this was a surprise because I never told him he was going to get a car. And, actually, my wife and I don't own a car. 

There are cars marketed to kids at every age. "Big cars for little kids." 

Why do little kids need big cars? Having a car means power, control, convenience, comfort. 

Cars are getting bigger. You might think that big cars and trucks are only used in construction but many people have this as their personal automobile. 

I'm trying to raise my kid as a spiritual being in a physical reality. I'm trying to educate him with values of limiting consumption, thinking longterm and caring for people around him. 

At some point the value of owning a car and caring for the planet are on a collision course. The planet will likely add another couple billion cars in the next millennium. 

What are we supposed to do about this? We need to question the use of personal automobiles. Kids can choose to give toys to their children, but besides that kids learn a lot more from what parents do than what parents say."