Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.
A 2018 article in The Guardian by Patrick Barkham noted "[Dr. Mayer Hillman] is anxious we are not side-tracked by his best-known research, which challenged the supremacy of the car."
The article quoted Hillman, "With doom ahead, making a case for cycling as the primary mode of transport is almost irrelevant [ . . . ]. We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels. So many aspects of life depend on fossil fuels, except for music and love and education and happiness. These things, which hardly use fossil fuels, are what we must focus on.”
Unfortunately for us, Dr. Hillman has an impressive track record of predictions. Barkham wrote, "Over nearly 60 years, his research has used factual data to challenge policymakers’ conventional wisdom. In 1972, he criticised out-of-town shopping centres more than 20 years before the government changed planning rules to stop their spread. In 1980, he recommended halting the closure of branch line railways – only now are some closed lines reopening. In 1984, he proposed energy ratings for houses – finally adopted as government policy in 2007. And, more than 40 years ago, he presciently challenged society’s pursuit of economic growth."
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