Train Interview with Taxi Driver

On December sixth during the train ride back from COP 15 I sat down next to a man on his way home from work. He told me he was a taxi driver in Copenhagen who lived in Malmo, and also that he came from Pakistan. I asked him if he thought there would be any real progress made over COP 15, if climate change affects his job in any way, and also why he was working in Copenhagen. To the first question he stated that "politics will not change people, but people will change politics. It is the people who will change the way they live and what they do to succumb to the climate change; sadly he said that politics will not change with the climate change issue. Even if COP 15 were to come to an agreement it would still rely on the individual people to partake in changing the way they live for the better. To the second question he said that his actual job as a taxi driver would not ever change, however the car that he drove he wishes would change to an electric car, preferably paid for by the government. His answer to the third question was interesting in that he told me why he moved from Pakistan. He said that because Pakistan had oil, the oil company was ruining the way they lived; the poor were getting poorer, while the rich were getting richer. Along with this he preferred working in Copenhagen because the danish currency was higher than Sweden so it helped him in the long run.

8 comments:

Jeannine said...

Smart taxi driver.

jomarie c said...

Why don't we have those kinds of taxi drivers here? I agree that its more of a individual thing more then politics thing.It seems like what he was saying it has to go beyond COP15 and they need to take it back to were there from to improve the circumstances there living with in turn making the population better.

Anonymous said...

Hey as the poor get poorer they have more kids and with more kids they're are more people and with more people they need more stuff and with more stuff we have more pollution.

Gina H said...

taking it back to where there from can improve the circumstances in which they are living. They have more kids as they get poorer. This is really interesting.

Anna Linh said...

I agree with everything the taxi driver said. I agree most with his comment about politics not changing people. People definately play a large part in how their government is run.

Bethany French said...

That's a very enlightened taxi driver. I do agree a lot with the comment that politics don't change people. People have to WANT to change and if they don't want it, nothing will happen. I think that we need to get more people away from the "it's not real" viewpoint because it hurts us all in the long run, if everyone (or at least the majority of everyone) isn't onboard then we won't make enough of an impact to fix this. At least that's my opinion on the matter.

-B. French (i don't know why i signed it that way...makes me feel special haha...)

Erika Jensen said...

We've been learning here about how the developed countries with the less people have all the wealth and causing most of the pollution. The less developed countries with rising population issues are doing less to harm the environment. Also, we've been reading articles by Ehrlich who points out that technology, affluence , and population each affect environmental impact.

Tara said...

Causal loops....feedbacks...as education goes up the population goes down.


This is what COP is all about. It's like sitting in house all day for days and days at a time. Haha, I love it.