Here’s my friend Anthony Perl, together with his co-author Richard Gilbert, talking about the need to quickly adapt transportation as oil runs low.  Sorry about the over-the-top background music.

Come to this non-partisan talk I’ve organized:

Tuesday, 2008 March 4, 7 pm
OISE room 5250
252 Bloor Street  West

The world we’re moving into will be radically different from the one  we move in today. So different that it’s hard to imagine. It’s even harder to  imagine the transition.

Global warming demands that we stop using oil.  The age of cheap plentiful oil is ending anyway. We’ve built up a society where  we drive everywhere, and most of what we buy, including almost all of our food,  is now brought from long distances. Hybrid cars and other incremental efficiency  measures have their place, but are not nearly enough to get us where we need to  go.

What will future transport look like and how can we make the  transition with the least disruption?

Anthony Perl and Richard  Gilbert have worked through the details of a carbon-free future for  transportation, including such innovations as wind-assisted shipping and  personal rapid transit. They’ve done the math to show that their vision is  workable, and they’ve plotted out a practical step-by-step process to get our  society to where it needs to be.

Based on their book Transport  Revolutions, Anthony will present where we are now, the challenges we face,  and what potential exists for the future. Richard will then lead a discussion of  the issues.

Dr. Anthony Perl is the Director of the Urban Studies  Program at Simon Fraser University. His work has focused on public policy,  transportation and the environment. Transport Revolutions is his fourth  book.

Dr. Richard Gilbert is an independent consultant, popular  and academic author, and teacher at various universities. He  served as a Toronto City Councillor for 15 years.

Sponsored by Post Carbon Toronto and the Coalition for a Green Economy

Anthony Perl, the Urban Studies Director at Simon Fraser University, is an old family friend who I met 24 years ago when he and Charlie lived at Massey College in the University of Toronto.  At the time, Anthony’s main claim to fame was that he had become the president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers by sending proxy ballots in pre-addressed envelopes to the entire membership, and therefore came into the convention with half the members in his pocket.  His main competitor was the love of his life, who at the time regarded him as childish and in need of much refinement, but was eventually persuaded to marry him.  He is very engaging.

His fascination with trains led him to focus on public transportation policy in his political science studies, while writing travel articles for train magazines.  In promoting trains, he started to research the environmental benefits of rail transportation and came to be concerned simultaneously about oil depletion and global warming.  And from there he moved onto sound urban planning.  A whole career built around trainwatching with his dad as a boy.     Read more »