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The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment last week released its latest report on the impact of climate change on the Golden State. As the above chart shows, the state is convinced that temperatures are rising and evidence now exists of their impacts.
This is a topic I try to harp on. Why? There has been several noteworthy reports that have found that one way to reduce your greenhouse gas footprint is to take transit. The gist of it: buses or trains carrying a lot of people at one time are more efficient than most cars carrying one or two passengers (hybrids and electric cars are only four percent of the vehicles on the road in the U.S.).
Here are two reports worth reading:
Public transportation’s role in responding to climate change (FTA)
While polls indicate a majority of Americans believe the Earth is warming, the same polls also show that far fewer Americans believe it’s a serious problem. Perhaps that’s one reason that transit agencies in the U.S. have failed to use climate change as an argument for taking buses and trains — although many agencies, such as Metro, are actively seeking to reduce their own greenhouse gases.
What do you think? Is that a missed opportunity or is it best for transit agencies to steer clear of the climate change issue at least in their marketing efforts? Comment please.
