It trod a well-worn groove of anti-corporate environmentalism.
But my car takes me to work, lets me travel freely, and takes my kid to the doctor. You have to work pretty hard to convince me that I shouldn't drive my kid to the doctor.
There is nothing in this story that says there are no cars or other transportation. It does in fact mention not only bike paths, but streets. If everyone got around by dragon, they wouldn't need the streets. Also if Chris' parents had the money to buy him the dragon equivalent of a Mustang GT, they would have had enough for they're own if they wanted.
I don't think the author is slamming corporations for making cars as much as he's making a statement about peoples' choices of cars.
example:
My bother has a mini-van with 240HP! That's stupid! His Mustang "only" had 225. This van uses much more gas than it needs to just to have power available that it can't use.
Let me explain that last part. This van is front wheel drive and has passenger car tires. When the the van is put under hard excelleration, the front end of the van lifts (normal to all cars) and the tires have less weight to hold then against the road would start to slip if the traction control system didn't limit the engine power. At highway speed the van hardly needs 50 or 60HP. This thing has probably never needed more than 140HP and never will, but he uses the extra gas to have that power on hand.
Over-powered cars and trucks. Vehicles far bigger than anyone needs. The buying of a car just because of what the neighbors will think. This is what I feel the Author was commenting on. He's not saying anything against the family with the Camry for the whole family and the Corrolla for the commuter.
Oh yeah. I take the subway to work, the train on vacation, and my kids to the doctor's in a stroller. All of which are faster, safer, cheaper, and more enviromental. The car(yes I do have one) gets less than 4000 miles a year. Last point, I pay over six dollars a gallon and I don't care because I only fill up once every four to six weeks. The huge gas tax is used to buy open land and put it under protection from developement.