Monday, April 9, 2012

Car Addiction and Climate Change Mitigation

Se below
Se below (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The implications of climate change for the future of the car (64 page pdf, Dr. Mayer Hillman, World Transport Policy and Practice, pages 18-29, Jan. 2012) 

Today we review a thoughtful article and the need to stabilize climate change by reducing carbon fuel use, in the context of a global look at the future for the personal vehicle. The author concludes that the only approach likely to take effect in the short time remaining is one based on capping carbon emissions globally on a per capita basis. The alternative is to run out of oil in less than four decades, not just for cars but for all the other uses. 



Key Quotes: 

“Catering for the seemingly never-ending growth in demand for the energy-intensive transport activities, especially car and air travel, has led to investment in more road building, airport expansion and improved rail transport” 

“UK passenger mileages by road, rail and air in the last 20 years have risen by 25, 65 and 160 per cent respectively” 

“global energy consumption will rise faster than ever, with more than a 50 per cent increase by 2035” 

“Current efforts to enable the car to continue to be the mainstay of personal travel .. more energy-efficient vehicles enabling less fuel to be needed; to encouraging car sharing and car clubs;economical ways of driving; and research on alternative fuels such as electricity generated from shale gas and bioenergy…. carbon emissions from the transport sector overall are still rising alarmingly”  

it is judged perfectly reasonable to decide where and how to travel entirely from a self interest perspective and with little regard to the effects on other people's quality of life on community health and on the physical environment, not least, on accelerating climate change” 

“it is not possible to respond sufficiently effectively to climate change in the absence of a world agreement. Based on the principles of precaution and equity set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this is the Global Commons Institute’s (GCI) proposal.. It requires the imposition of a global cap on greenhouse gases and, given the finite capacity of the planet to safely absorb further gases and share them on an equal per capita basis between the world’s populations” 

“The process will act in a way that encourages individuals to adopt green practices far more effectively than they would through regulation, pricing, exhortation or appeals to conscience”
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