Transportation is the top source of co2 emissions worldwide, and today we’ll talk about how we can decrease our carbon footprints after the pandemic, um, both on a day-to-day basis, as well as in the long-term security of our planet.
The panelists today are dr lucy mahoney, who is the walking and cycling network manager at c40 cities mark chambers, director of the new york city, mayor’s, office of sustainability and ashley renee, an environmental activist and influencer.
I’d, like to start out with dr lucy mahoney. Can you please frame the carbon challenge for transportation in cities around the world or frame the problem of um of climate and transportation for us, yeah and absolutely and first off just to say thank you so much for inviting me to speak today, and so i work For a climate action, ngo um as mentioned, and so let’s, let’s start by looking at the big picture.
Um the climate emergency. It is very real and its effects are already being felt across the globe and at one degree of overheating, our cities are already experiencing a new climate reality, and – and just this year we’ve witnessed wildfires across australia, floods across the uk, where i’m based, and this past month we’ve, had floods in china and india, and and in terms of droughts.
The economist in april ran a story stating that the american west’s. Drought is its worst second worst for 12 centuries, but we know we. We know what we need to do uh. We need to keep global warming below 1.
5 degrees, and we do this by focusing our attention and our action where greenhouse gas emissions are biggest. This is, namely areas such as transport, and so transport is the fastest growing source of global emissions and with people and goods moving faster and further than they ever have before, and and all of this movement comes at a climate cost, and especially with a growing global Population um, so we know that 72 percent of global transport emissions come from road vehicles um, and there are other emission increases in in other areas too, such as aviation and uh, and we know the biggest emitters as well.
The us, china, russia, india, brazil and so on, but globally we all have a role to play and so so very quickly. The problem is the energy source used to power, our modes of transport, so diesel and petrol, and they’re, the worst emitters and they’re.
The worst for climate electric vehicles are an important part of the solution and they eliminate tail pipe and there’s. Also, an interesting role for hydrogen as well, but the single biggest thing that we can do as individuals to tackle the carbon challenge in transport in cities is to travel by public transport or travel actively, so walk or cycle and and very v yeah very quickly, um.
It’s, it is a global challenge and it affects everything and and everyone, and from the global to the hyper local level. Uh, every country, every city, every town, we’re facing similar challenges and, as i say, people can play a really big part by transitioning away from fossil fuel powered vehicles.
And but this needs to be paired with commitments and action at the city and national government level uh, so people your votes are really important. Now more than ever and and finally, active and and public transport are extra awesome because they are the most efficient way for moving lots and lots of people around cities.
They are safe, they are healthy, they are equitable, affordable, accessible, they support economic activity and they help create resilient societies. This is, these are exactly the outcomes that we want to see baked into city living so that high quality, walking, cycling and public transport go hand in hand with the just and resilient society, and then my final point.
I i think that that this year 2020 is turning out to be the year for collective action and from individual, but also community-led responses throughout the covert 19 pandemic and to black lives matter protests across the globe.
We we know that our cities need to be inclusive and resilient, and we know that our transport systems and our streets need to be attractive to people from all walks of life. And so they’re welcoming for all ages, genders ethnicities, incomes abilities and we’re waking.
We’re. Finally, waking up to the fact that they also need to be adapted for extreme weather events and an uncertain future climate. So, in a nutshell, it’s, a major challenge, but it’s, a challenge that we can definitely navigate together.
Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pAvDxsfejrs