Mad Max or the Jetsons? Getting Around in Tompkins County as Oil Prices Climb Higher

Monday, March 14, 2011 from 6:00-7:15 pm,   Sixth Floor, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell

Ithaca: Popular revolts in the Middle East and North Africa – just as energy demand is rising in India and China – have market speculators fully focused on oil prices and supply lines.  How will this global drama play out in Tompkins County?  Are we prepared for the most likely impacts?

Sustainable Tompkins is organizing a panel discussion co-hosted by the Johnson Museum of Art on possible scenarios for transportation in the coming years in Tompkins County. The event is scheduled for Monday, March 14, from 6:00-7:15 pm in the 6th floor conference room, at the Museum on the Cornell University campus —  as part of the “Unpacking the Nano” exhibit.  Parking is free.

The panel will offer a primer on the assumptions behind our current transportation plan and a look at local initiatives to buffer our car-dependent system.  But will this be enough?  Do we have time to redesign our communities and adopt new technologies to reduce our vulnerability?  Or is it already too late for that and we must instead adapt mobility needs to current infrastructure and what will become fierce competition for remaining oil supplies?

Panelists include Aleksandr Mergold, Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture at Cornell; Fernando de Aragon, Executive Director of the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council; Jennifer Dotson, Executive Director of Ithaca Carshare; Rob Morache, principal of New Earth Strategies; Jon Bosak, Editor of TC Local;  and Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Tompkins.

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian film that was followed by sequels in 1981 and 1985- all very profitable over time- and all very much dystopian. The 1973 oil crisis was cited as inspiration for the first film by its screenwriter who “wrote the script based on the thesis that nations would not consider the huge costs of providing infrastructure for alternative energy until it was too late.” The Jetsons is best known as a half hour cartoon shown Sunday nights for only 24 episodes, September 1962 to March 1963. These episodes whimsically conveyed an imaginary and comfortable American science fiction future circa 2062. These pop-culture contexts suggest a counterpoint that Ithacans might reference. The audience for this event will be welcome to add their insights to the discussion.

For more information about the Tata Nano car and the exhibition at the Johnson Museum of Art, on view now through March 27, visit http://aap.cornell.edu/events/nano/.   An international symposium “Unpacking the Nano – The Price of the World’s Most Affordable Car” will be held March 10-11 by the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University.