Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Automakers

How to Reframe the Narrative About Car Dependency

Photo: <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/jVWxLStmxPU"Clay Leconey, CC

"Roadway safety is a shared responsibility, and people in cars and outside of cars play an equal role in keeping each other safe."

"Sprawl is good, actually, because it means people can have big, beautiful houses and some quality alone time on their daily commutes."

"We won’t need to worry about transportation emissions or the broader impacts of automobiles on the environment for that much longer, because haven’t you heard? Electric cars are here!"

Those phrases might make the average sustainable transportation advocate's blood pressure spike. But in the world of corporate disinformation, they're simply a handy way to reframe the conversation about car dependency — and to manipulate the public into accepting the avoidable deaths of their loved ones and their planet.

On today's episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson brings you an extended interview with Grant Ennis, author of Dark PR: How Corporate Disinformation Harms Our Health and the EnvironmentListen below, and check out a sharable summary of the "nine devious frames" he outlines in his book here. 

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: The Secret History of Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service

...and what it means for new passenger rail service across America.

December 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Walk the Line

If you're a capitalist, the market says there's a premium for living in a walkable neighborhood. So why not supply more to meet demand?

December 19, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Fighting to Win

Carter Lavin talks with Jeff Wood about the necessity of messy politics in obtaining street safety.

December 18, 2025

Streetsblog’s ‘Car-Free Carolers’ Bring the Joy, Mirth and Ho-Ho-Hope to this Holiday Season

Streetsblog's singers are back, belting out their parody classics to make a serious point: New York's roadways don't have to be dangerous places for kids and lungs, but can be joyous spaces for people to walk around, shop, eat or just ... hang out.

December 18, 2025

Study: More Protected Bike Lanes = More Micromobility Users

This ought to silence doubters who claim that no one's using that shiny new cycle track.

December 18, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Are Hot-Blooded, Check It and See

Hopefully the Earth won't have a fever of 103 when judges get done with the Trump administration's proposal to dismantle greenhouse gas regulations.

December 18, 2025
See all posts