Let’s just ignore the whole OK Boomer thing. I have written before that we are not in an intergenerational war, but a class war and a culture war. “In some ways, we would be better off if this was the last gasp of boomers trashing the place. In an intergenerational war, time is on the side of the young. Class wars are harder.”
But we cannot ignore that there are a lot of baby boomers in North America. Most are in pretty good shape right now, but in ten years, the youngest of the 70 million baby boomers will hit 65 years old and the oldest, 85 years old. Recently, I have been writing about aging baby boomers, and what we have to do in our cities and communities to cope. Here are a few of my posts that I think are most relevant to Treehugger readers.
Walking while old is killing a lot more pedestrians than walking while distracted.
/CC BY 2.0There are all kinds of distracted and compromised people in our roads. Some of them cannot help it.
At the most basic level, we have to stop this “distracted walking” nonsense, this stuff about headphones and hoodies.
We need a better word than ‘walkable’.
Bloor Street W/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 Streets also need to be rollable and strollerable and so much more.
Buildings on this stretch of Toronto street have a walkscore of 98.
Walkability isn’t enough; we also need:
Rollability. Walkability isn’t enough anymore. Or–Strollerability, for people with kids. Or–Walkerability, for older people pushing walkers. OrSeeability, for the vision impaired. Our sidewalks have to do all of this. And we can’t forgetSeatability – places to sit down and rest, orToiletability – places to go to the bathroom. All of these contribute to making a city useable for everyone.
Why pedestrian deaths are a public health crisis
Sidewalk in Toronto/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 When lots of aging boomers start walking for transportation, we’re going to have a problem. (And remember, they like to vote.)
Where I live, the city is fast at plowing the streets, but sidewalks are the responsibility of the homeowner. It pushes people who don’t drive out into the streets.
It’s why cities like Atlanta have to fix their sidewalks and cities like Toronto should plow them. “With an aging population, sidewalks are lifelines, and walking is the most important form of transportation. It can’t be ignored any longer.”
“Progressive” baby boomers are fighting housing and transportation progress.
My favorite protest sign complaining about a bike lane taking away parking in San Diego that encapsulated everything was: “Factory Famering [sic] creates more GHG than all the transportation in the world. GO VEGAN.”
Falls may soon be the biggest cause of death.
Stair on Bay Street/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 But don’t call them accidents; most of them are completely avoidable.
The stair in the photo above almost killed my mother. Note how the only handrail is covered in bicycles and the treads are all dull gray. I tried to sue but they all said, “She was 96, get over it, people fall when they get old.”
But she didn’t fall because she was old. She fell because of bad design and worse maintenance. This is happening everywhere, and we are making the problem worse.
Everyone on the road hates everyone else.
Car on sidewalk and bike lane in Glasgow/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0 There’s a war on the bike, on pedestrians — and soon on old people.
Every time people try to stop a bike lane, they are suddenly worried about older people.
In fact, most old people don’t drive, and need a different kind of infrastructure.
