According to a January 13th article on the New Urban News Network, civil engineers at the University of California (Berkeley) have estimated that there are 800 million parking spaces in the United States. Yes, you read that number correctly, 800,000,000 stupid parking spaces! That is approximately 2.7 parking spaces for every man, woman, and child living in this country. Please note, the calculation did not include pavement from roads, streets, highways, runways, sidewalks, tarmacs, or driveways, just parking spaces.
Using a standard 10 foot x 20 foot space as a barometer, the civil engineer’s also estimated those 800 million parking spaces amount to 160 billion square feet of land area or 3.67 million acres of concrete and asphalt (an area larger than the entire state of Connecticut).
So, unless you are a parking lot operator or an asphalt or concrete contractor, these are some pretty sorry numbers. The data provides 800 million examples of how much the United States is addicted to oil.
Despite her best efforts, it appears Joni Mitchell was not able to redirect our steady march towards paving paradise (or at least Connecticut) in order to put up parking lots. The lyrics to “Big Yellow Taxi” are provided below:
“Big Yellow Taxi,” by Joni Mitchell
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel *, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put ’em in a tree museum *
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT * now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
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Panethos 