Brooks Memorial Library, Tues, October 24 @ 7pm
In Vermont, our cars appear to many of us as natural as our mountains, moose and fall colors. However, with climate change bearing down on our state, carbon emissions are now seen by concerned Vermonters as the prime issue with our auto-centric culture. But could we be missing something even bigger?

This workshop probes the fascinatingly elusive psychology of the automobile and its pervasive influence on our vision of the world and place in it. We'll focus on how the collective super-sizing of our bodies in cars (power, weight, velocity, size, noise etc.) has profoundly transformed the integrity of our sacred relations to both the human and more-than-human worlds. Furthermore, we will explore how this immense power is perhaps undermining our response to the most significant crisis we have ever faced - climate change.

Most importantly, we'll embark on a world tour of remarkable efforts challenging automobilism - the unbridled and indiscriminate use of motor vehicles. We will consider how Vermont can greatly benefit from this burst of innovation (planning, micromobility, technology, psychology and more) that is inspiring human-scale living, a reconsideration of our place in the world and helping us to move beyond a 1950's model of automobility and transportation consumerism.

Bio
Dave Cohen is an integrative psychotherapist in Brattleboro, VT, specializing in approaches in mind and body modalities and ecopsychology. In 2016, he founded VBike, an advocacy group dedicated to promoting new bike design and technologies for everyday bicycle transportation in Vermont. Through a state contract Dave provides free consultations to Vermonters looking to reduce their automobile dependency and shift over to e-bikes, e-cargo bikes or other micromobility alternatives. He belongs to the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America and has presented his work focusing on the psychology of transportation at conferences in the US and Canada. His work has been the subject of numerous podcasts and featured in the internationally-screened cargo bike documentary Motherload.

Event Info

Sep 25, 2024, 5 to 6:30 PM

Sep 27, 2024, 7 to 8:30 PM

Sep 28, 2024, 7:30 to 8:30 AM