TRANSPORTATION

Transportation is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions, next to energy generation. This is bad news.

We have to get places, it’s true. For those of us living in Canada, it’s easy to sympathize about how hard it is to get around. After all, our country is not at all densely populated, and we are living in the world’s second biggest nation. So, if you’re living in Iqaluit, Nunavut, we’re not about to suggest you dump your car in favour of a bike. But it’s worth pointing out what a major problem cars are among the types of transportation causing toxic emissions.

• Next to electricity generation, road vehicles are the largest and fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions, producing 30% of emissions worldwide.

• For Canada, vehicle emissions represented about 34% of greenhouse gases in 2003.¹

• A person driving alone in a car produces eight times as much CO₂ as someone taking public transit!²

CARS

Shocking fact: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that for those of us who do it, driving a car is our greatest contribution to pollution.³ Cars and trucks produce 30% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Bet they didn’t tell you that when you bought your new Hummer. You don’t have to see that thick black smoke coming from the tailpipe to know that something gruesome is escaping into the air. Unseen are nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, particles, benzene, and lead. These toxins are linked to health problems and pollution.

• There are more than 500 million cars on the road today.

Cars are central to North American culture. Not only do they act as a status symbol; they determine peoples’ lifestyles. For a large population, cars act as the bridge between work and home, home and school, even home and the shops. Suburbs are designed for people with cars. Many communities don’t even cater to people without vehicles, and as a result there isn’t public transportation. The biggest shock is that the average Canadian spends more money owning and operating their car than they do on housing, food or education.



The solutions are things we’ve heard for years on end: ride a bike, take public transport, carpool and walk. But for the many of us that make a conscious effort to stop using our cars, there are just as many who feel they can’t. What are the alternative options? Combining your trips, doing cold starts instead of warming up your engine and driving in a steady and controlled manner (erratic driving and heavy braking puts a burden on your fuel consumption). Or heck, just sell your car!


DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

Car companies need to be pressured to invest in greener technologies. Hybrid cars are a start. Hybrid cars run by using gasoline and a rechargeable battery. The battery power is what provides the car with bursts of energy such as acceleration and driving up hills. Restraining our dependence on fossil fuels has other bonuses apart from fending off the worst effects of climate change. We can expect cleaner air, less traffic clogging our cities, and greener communities.

• Oil consumption produces nearly 42% of the world's fossil-fuel—related emissions of carbon dioxide. The majority of that comes from cars, trucks and planes.

• In Canada, 15% of CO₂ emissions come from light-duty vehicles (this is how SUVs are classified). They burn 45% more fuel than regular cars.

FLY LESS

• The airline industry emits twice the yearly carbon dioxide output as the entire nation of India.

Another thing to be aware of is how much you fly. World aviation is on the rise from its current 4% CO₂ emissions. Air travel is responsible for about 2% of total global emissions of CO₂, releasing more than 600 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year. By 2050, air travel is expected to contribute 10-17% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Because C0₂ is released from planes at a higher altitude, its impact is greater.⁴

• Air travel produces three times more carbon dioxide per passenger than rail.

Take a train to get around the country. Flying less is the only solution, since the gas-guzzling planes that are in the air today have a lifespan of thirty years. Meaning many airlines are locked into this pattern of over-the-top pollution making. On top of that, so far there have been no advancements or inventions for alternative aviation fuels.⁵





STOP MOTOR BOATING

Yes, this is a wild one you probably never considered, but motor boating is super bad. Outboard boat engines cause more environmental damage than car engines. Gasoline engines produce air pollution as well as water pollution, since unburned fuel often leaks. On top of this, there are many older, inefficient motors in operation since their engines tend to last longer than car engines. Shocking fact: one hour of water skiing can create nearly as much smog as a car driving from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida.⁶


HOW IT ALL FITS IN

A National Public Opinion poll was taken in early 2007, and the results showed that nearly three-quarters (72%) of Canadians said they have public transit in their area, but over half (56%) said they wouldn’t even use it in an average month. Another sad finding is that when asked if they would reduce their dependency on driving, 1 in 5 Canadians said they’d never cut their driving by half. One-third said they wouldn’t be able to cut their driving by half in the next year.  This sort of thing is the perfect reason why it’s really up to us to do something about the climate crisis. We can’t count on super-freak hippies to make up for all the steps we aren’t taking to get green on our own.

BUY CARBON OFFSETS

If you know you’re polluting, but feel like you have to (like, really, how else are you going to get to Hawaii?), then do the responsible thing by kicking in the extra money to companies that can offset the mess you’ve just made. A carbon offset provider such as Carbon Zero takes a fee, and contributes to a process which aims to reduce carbon emissions, or increase carbon absorption. Visit www.carbonzero.ca to calculate your emissions and neutralize them with one of the many offered carbon offset projects.

^{1 Source: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/statistics/see06/energy-use.cfm?attr=0
2 Source: http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm
3 Source: National Safety Council Fact Sheet http://www.nsc.org/ehc/mobile/mse_fs.htm
4 Source: Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1999 http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/aviation/index.htm
5 Source: http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2006/may/20/ecotourism.guardiansaturdaytravelsection
6 Source: The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Change. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999, 110.}