Traffic: A Tragic Overpopulation Story

We've all seen it and experienced it first hand; traffic has become a part of people's daily lives. Some accounts say that people may spend 14% or more of their waking hours in cars. Frustrated and tired, sometimes I've had to endure up to 45 minutes in traffic to travel only a usually 10 minute trip home from school. In just the year and a half I have been driving, I have witnessed 360 (Capital of Texas Highway) becoming more crowded during a longer lasting rush hour. I am not the only Austinite frustrated with this rise in traffic. There have been multiple projects on Austin's main arteries like The Mopac Improvement Project and the proposed Austin 360 project. An Austin-American Stateman article states the traffic issues most clearly, "you name it - cars, bicycles, pedicabs, skateboards and people [are] competing for the road. I have to be alert at all times and looking in the rear view mirror." 

These new projects started because of the growing Austin area and growing metropolitan areas nation wide. The population of the United States has more than doubled since 1940 and is growing by about 2.5 million people each year. The population of Austin has grown 20.4% in the last decade and an average of 1% in urban areas nationwide. It is important to note that there was a slow in population growth over the past decade due to the tumultuous economy, but overall this is insignificant.

Now, why is the United States growing so fast? Well the US census in 2000 shows that there is a baby born every 11 seconds. Forty percent of these babies are unintentional. Most of these unintentional births are from the 20 and above age-group, but teen pregnancy is the most publicized. This is a video of a famous "youtuber" who gained his fame from his entertaining rants on popular subjects. He talks about how teen pregnancy has been glorified and is disappointed in the invasive nature of the MTV show 16 and Pregnant. Please excuse the language. Skip to 0:24.

Other reasons the population has sky rocketed is due to the fact that food is easier to find and buy. With modern convinces like fast-food restaurants and all-in-one grocers like Wal-Mart and Target, nowadays it costs less for each person to eat. Also, medical and healthcare advances have helped raise the average life expectancy through vaccines, medications, and procedures.

If the United States metropolitan areas continue to grow at this current rate, there could be large consequences. We have witnessed the short-term effects of this population boom in the record high in college applications, traffic, and the never-ending construction on new apartments. However, in the long-term overpopulation becomes even more detrimental to the United States. A main worry is that by the currently projected population, by 2030 the United States may no longer be able to export food because of the needs of the American citizens. Also, the current American energy use greatly exceeds its proper share, which adds to the energy crisis globally. Lastly, as the cities of America grow, more and more grasslands are being run over and morphed concrete jungles. In the mean time, Austin and its surrounding ares have been named one of the top-ten "Boomtowns"at just under 3.5% growth last year.

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For more information on growing cities and on the countryside:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/national/18FRISCO.html?pagewanted=all

For more information on Austin area growth:

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-area-population-increases-by-nearly-half-million-1263947.html

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project was written by Moises Kaufman and the members of Tectonic Theatre Project as an investigation of a brutal hate crime in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. This play is taken entirely from interviews of Laramie residents, and the journal entries of the Tectonic Theatre Project, and in this way, it gives a completely genuine and fascinating look at Laramie from the inside and from the outside. The way Tectonic views Laramie changes a lot throughout the course of the play. Beginning with the view of Laramie as your typical town, it morphs to become something just a little out of the ordinary. One of the first things Greg Pierotti notices about Laramie is the welcome sign. It reads: "WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ON EARTH. Instead of WYOMING -- LIKE NO PLACE ELSE ON EARTH," (27). Similarly, Barbara Pitts notices that "in the dark, [they] could be on on any main drag in America -- fast food chains, gas stations. But as [they] drove into the downtown area by the railroad tracks, the buildings still looked like a turn-of-the-century Western town," (28). Greg even swears he "saw a heard of Buffalo," (27). To the Tectonic Theatre Project, Laramie is a tiny rural town that's just a bit off. This view is also shared by Stephen Mead Johnson, a representative of the Unitarian Church who first finds Laramie to consist only of a "tumbleweed" and a "cement factory," (36).

The next scene is an interview with Marge Murray and Allison Marge who really begin to show the depth that Laramie seems to hide. Marge, in particular goes from asking "Well, yeah, honey, why wear clothes," to describing the intricacies of Laramie's view on homophobia (28). Allison and Marge are such a fantastic example of how this play operates -- one second Allison is embarrassed to explain to Greg that "S. O. L." stands for "shit outta luck," and the next Marge quite eloquently sums up Laramie's class problems with the few sentences: "It's about the well educated and the ones that are not. And the educated don't understand why the ones that are not don't get educated," (29). Though both Marge and Allison seem like your typical comical country bumpkins, they both have a lot more to say about Laramie, Wyoming than anyone would expect. Marge ends this scene by frankly telling Greg that she's know more than she's telling him.

At the end of the play, Tectonic leaves the "sparkling lights of Laramie, Wyoming," with a completely different perspective on this tiny town (88).

Kaufman, Moises, and Leigh Fondakowski. The Laramie Project. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2001. Print.