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Series:   Elements in Environmental Humanities

Automobility and the Anthropocene

The Car as Post-Human

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2025

Gordon M. Sayre
Gordon M. Sayre
Affiliation:
University of Oregon

Summary

The automobile has transformed Earth's habitats and humans' habits since the 1890s, when it, this Element argues, began the Anthropocene. Climate change now motivates efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, of which cars and trucks account for at least 10 percent. Shifting to electric vehicles is not enough; one needs to better understand the power cars hold over humans. Environmental humanities scholars examine human/machine hybrids but have ignored the most obvious example. Humans driving cars are social agents constituting a civil society of automobility in roadscape environments. This Element traces the evolution of cars from horsecars, carriages, and bicycles, and the influence of Henry Ford and Alfred P. Sloan on labor standards and consumer behaviors. As the car industry pushes high-tech autonomous or self-driving vehicles, it relies on futuristic fantasies and false promises. The ills of automobility cannot be solved with new products that only intensify human dependence upon cars.
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Keywords

automobilityAnthropocenepost-humanismcar-drivercars
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Environmental Humanities
Online ISBN: 9781009526715
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 26 June 2025

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