Exploring Root Causes of Transportation Mess

In reference to your editorial “Transportation Plan Warrants Support” (May 14), I would like to comment on more serious transportation problems than the “congestion” our citizens cite as the No. 1 Orange County problem.

Had we planned ecologically in the first place, or considered the consequences of a transportation system based on cars, we wouldn’t be talking about higher sales taxes or congestion today.

Ecologically, cars release their weight in carbon, on average, per year; we burn over 60% of U.S. oil per year for transportation. Releasing carbon from oil-based fuels has saddled the earth--our children’s future--with global warming, acid rain and who knows what else?

Before a transportation plan warrants our support, let’s make sure that we are not preparing to saddle the future with another unsustainable, people-hostile transportation system. Let’s plan for real this time, the reality of individual and ecological needs.

ED EVANS

Cypress