Invasive Species in the Transportation System

One of the most interesting things about Alexis Madrigal’s book The Pacific Circuit is how he discusses all the wealth that pours through the Port of Oakland which for the most part misses the neighborhoods that surround it and even damages them.

Silicon Valley including all the offshoots of Fairchild Semiconductor benefited greatly from shipping from factories in the Pacific Rim that grew up after the various wars in Asia. The benefits accrued to consumers and moguls, but not necessarily to workers and created “sacrifice zones” where shipping or industry impacted people’s health and wellbeing at higher rates.

What’s frustrating about this history is that we continue to see the creation of sacrifice zones that benefit some form of extraction and facilitate rewards to those outside of them.

Streets have become testing spaces for self driving car companies that will continue to pile more and more robotaxis onto the street until like an invasive species they kill off everything in the ecosystem. As we’ve found out from pricing in NYC, there’s a huge benefit to less personal vehicles in the system and a natural balance to be had.

So how do you balance this system to create benefits for communities instead of extraction? Well it’s certainly not cutting transit service. But it’s figuring out how to balance the needs of many over the needs of a few.

Obviously we shouldn’t get rid of ports and trade or transportation but much of the wealth generated from them should go to mitigation of their huge impacts like sustainable transportation, and care infrastructure. Once you see these connections over the long term, it’s unlikely you can ever go back.