Sustainable Transportation

The movement of people and their possessions from one place to another has always left its environmental footprints on the land, but, as we learned, the modernization and mechanization of transportation had much grander effects on the land than any seemingly ancient transportation methods ever did. As David Suzuki points out in his Green Guide, America and Canada currently boast the largest transportation footprints. With more cars than drivers in the U.S., a 6-ton carbon dioxide emission quota per person on average in both Canada and the U.S., and a looming environmental problem that’s largely anthropogenic, it’s clear that our present-day transportation habits and patterns are causing us more harm than convenience.

When the awareness of our detrimental transportation habits is met with our desire to continue living lives filled with things, and travels, we create a transportation compromise. There’s a lot going on right now regarding sustainable transport, which, by definition, is any kind of transportation that produces a low impact on the environment or is attempting to progressively decrease it’s impact on the environment. Examples of sustainable transportation obviously include the basics, like walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, paddling, or skateboarding (a personal favorite). Other methods include public and mass transit, as well as transit-oriented development, which seeks to encourage and develop more ecologically friendly cities based on mixed-use residential and commercial designs with a transit station at the center. Environmentally friendly vehicles, or green vehicles, have experienced an outburst in popularity recently, which is good news; these cars, whether electric, hybrid, hydrogen powered, solar powered, biodiesel powered, or fuel cell powered, all produce significantly less harmful impacts to the environment than traditional vehicles.

Other methods of sustainable transport include, as mentioned by Suzuki, “better planning ... car sharing, carpooling, home delivery of groceries, videoconferencing, and telecommuting.” Suzuki also recommends buying the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible within your means, improving - and lessening - your driving habits, and switching to cleaner fuels. I especially took Through a bit of research, I’ve also discovered that there are numerous organizations dedicated to assisting people in the planning and execution of a sustainable travel experience, also known as sustainable tourism or eco-tourism. Though not exactly a method of transportation, the sustainable building and upkeep of the infrastructures that propel and connect our transportation systems is also prevalent in modern discussions. Such sustainable building and planning can help to ensure a more seamless, space-saving, waste-erasing and efficient way to move from point A to point B.