New human species — Homo Automotivis — emerges from car-dominated environment say authors after road trip around the USA
A transportation system based on the private car has so powerfully transformed the American environment that a new human species is emerging, say the authors of a new book. Homo Automotivis is less social, more aggressive, weaker, poorer and worships at the Church of Automobility, say Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, the authors of Stop Signs — Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay.
“We went on safari, by bus, through the prime habitat of Homo Automotivis and what we discovered left us fearful,” said Mugyenyi, a Ugandan-Canadian who lives in Montréal. “The new species that has emerged can barely walk on its own, spends more money feeding its car than itself, is sickly and attains status to the degree it is enthralled to the automobile.”
“The good news is that we believe Homo Automotivis is an evolutionary dead end,” said Engler, author of four previous books, including The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, a finalist for the 2009 Mavis Gallant Award for non-fiction. “We’re hopeful Homo Sapiens will wake up, take control of their environment and once again build cities based on the needs of human beings.”
Stop Signs, which is released by Fernwood Publishing takes a comprehensive, but often humorous, look at the private car and its effects upon the creatures living upon our planet, say the authors.
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For more information or to arrange an interview:
514.618.2253 or stopsignsbook@gmail.com
