Won’t electric vehicles save us?

Good news first: Yes, EVs are miles better for our climate than “regular” cars on a full life-cycle basis, even if they are charged on a grid that still has fossil fuels generating electricity. They pollute the air near power plants, not where the cars are being driven, they are cheaper to maintain, they are quiet and very fun to drive. But switching from internal combustion engines to EVs won’t fix all our climate & transportation problems ― here’s why:

• Cars last a long time, and it will take too long for all the gas cars on the road to be replaced with electric ones.

• “Cars take up the same amount of space, whether they’re electric or not. This means we won’t solve congestion in cities. Traffic will continue to get worse as our population grows.” ― Michael Schneider, Why Electric Cars aren’t a Panacea 

• Moving the largest number of people in the most efficient way requires investing in mass transit. 

• We can’t widen highways and roads forever! Perhaps counter-intuitively, widening roads does not solve congestion, due to the phenomenon of induced demand ― which is a fancy way of saying, “if you build it, they will drive.”

• Conversely, have you heard of “traffic evaporation?” Yep, it turns out that re-allocating space away from cars “ . . . seem[s] to ignite behavior changes and break habits of private car usage that may not have been broken otherwise.”

• The surging demand for the rare metals that go into EV batteries is creating the conditions for child labor and the violation of indigenous people’s land & water rights. Plus, there aren’t enough rare metals available on our planet.

• Particulate pollution from car tires and brakes are toxic to fish! They move into our streams and waterways and kill endangered salmon.

So, how *do* we get there from here?

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” ― Albert Einstein

We have the power to imagine something different. Our current transportation system didn’t just grow overnight ― human beings built it. And we can build something different, something better… if enough of us dream and demand it! We can make cleaner, healthier, more fun transportation choices for ourselves ―  and together, we can advocate for the infrastructure investments needed to give everyone more transportation options. 

To prime your imagination of what the future could look like, check out six ways cities can make the lives of their youngest residents safer and healthier. 

“If the only safe and reliable way to get around town is by a private car, it’s inherently discriminatory against people that can’t afford cars. People shouldn’t have to risk their lives to get around by bike or have to waste their time on a bus ride that takes twice as long as a private car, just because we refuse to re-allocate space away from cars.”  ― Michael Schneider

Consider the humble-but-mighty bike: transportation emissions would fall significantly even if only a small percentage of citizens chose two wheels over four!

Research has found that choosing a bike over a car just once per day reduces an average citizen’s carbon emissions from travel by 67%. This means that even if not all car trips can be swapped for bicycle trips, the potential for decreasing emissions is still very high.

Over the past year during the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, “hundreds of cities reconfigured their streets to make walking and cycling easier to aid social distancing and reduce air pollution. Now, with the end of the lock-downs in sight, the measures have proven so successful that cities across Europe are betting on the bicycle to lead the recovery. The pandemic revealed a latent demand for cycling and walking infrastructure and offered a chance to “build back better,” as politicians are fond of saying.”

In France, legislators granted preliminarily approval of a “cash-for-clunkers” program that would allow people to turn in their old vehicles for scrap and receive 2,500 euro ($2,975.00) to buy an electric bicycle.

And here in the U.S., Congressman Earl Blumenauer has introduced E-bike legislation that would create a tax credit that covers 30% of the cost of an electric bike, up to $1,500 (or $3,000 for joint returns). Stay tuned . . .

Tune-up your travel!

Here are some active transportation resources for folks in suburban and urban areas.

• Want to start biking, but maybe it’s been a while, or you’re feeling a bit intimidated? Check out this useful guide from NPR, How to start biking. "It's freedom . . . When you were a kid and you got a bike and you could go riding around and it was just freedom. And that's what it can be for adults, too."

• A Bike Train is a group of students (usually elementary age) riding their bikes to school with adult supervision. Not only is it great for children’s health and our environment, but research has found “that kids who cycled or walked to school, rather than traveling by car or public transportation, performed measurably better on tasks demanding concentration, such as solving puzzles, and that the effects lasted for up to four hours after they got to school.”

• Or how about a Walking School Bus? (From Safe Routes to School)

• To help teach little ones bike safety, try chalking a traffic garden where they can practice!

• Need more motivation to go by foot? Check out a range of fun apps that take you on virtual trips or raise money for good causes, like CharityMiles.

• Group rides are a great way to have fun, and be in community. In Portland, check out Pedalpalooza

• Save $$$ ― Going car-free could save you $5K per year!

Work with Others! This is too big for any of us to fix alone.

Transportation policies and infrastructure systems change require collective action. Wherever you live, there are transportation advocacy groups. Here are some organizations in and near Portland that are fighting for climate & transportation.

• No More Freeways is taking the federal government to court over the proposed Rose Quarter expansion of the I-5 freeway through Albina, a historically Black neighborhood. Join the freeway fight!

• Become an advocate for safe cycling and active transportation with Bike Loud! They are looking to Seattle Neighborhood Greenways for inspiration. 

• Oregon Walks is dedicated to promoting walking, and making it safe, convenient and attractive for everyone.

• Disability Mobility Initiative in Washington state is a coalition of people who lack access to cars from communities throughout Washington State. They are advocating for essential services in every community, safe ways to roll or walk everywhere, and reliable, free and accessible public transportation.

  “We know that Black, Indigenous and people of color (“BIPOC”), immigrants, poor people, elderly and disabled people are much less likely to have a driver license or access to cars, we are more likely to be transit reliant and more likely to walk or roll for transportation. . . . At the same time, BIPOC, disabled and elderly people, and people living in rural areas and on tribal lands face greater risks of being killed in traffic collisions because our communities lack accessible pedestrian and transit infrastructure. This is compounded by the suburbanization of poverty. People of color, immigrants and low-income disabled people are much more likely to live in areas with higher speed roads, fewer sidewalks, streetlights, or crosswalks and less frequent and reliable transit routes.”

• The Oregon Just Transition Alliance is fighting for transportation justice as part of an Oregon Green New Deal.

• OPAL centers frontline, BIPOC, and low-income communities organizing for environmental, racial, and economic justice at the local and state level.

Taking Action: Personal Infrastructure Survey

How does your household get where you need to go? 

We’ve created a active transportation worksheet for you to try out with your family! We’re asking you to try walking, biking, or taking transit to get somewhere you regularly go to with a car, and to notice infrastructure you use along the way.

Is your car-free trip easy, safe, and pleasant? If not, think about what would be needed to make it safe, easy, and pleasant. And be sure to share your feedback with your local transportation agencies and elected officials. (And we’d also love to hear about how it goes. You can email us at: info@familiesforclimate.org)

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.” ― Enrique Peñalosa 

Let’s take a virtual tour of inspiring streets around the world to help imagine a better future here, at home!

How Seville got its bike infrastructure (9 min.)
Cycling London’s Bicycling Superhighways (9 min.)
Human-scale infrastructure supporting kids’ independence in Delft (6) Montevideo, Uruguay (5 min.)
Barcelona montage (3 min.)
Buenos Aires: Building a people-friendly city (9 min.)
Amsterdam is removing 10,000 parking spaces: See What’s Possible! (4)

Climate Defender Kids, Let’s Get Moving!

Let’s celebrate Earth Day together using our Climate Defender superpowers to observe transportation in our neighborhoods. What could our neighborhoods look like if we had better, healthier choices in the ways we move around?  Imagine an ideal town where people don’t use cars to go from one place to another. What would it be like?

Take a picture, record an audio, make a video, or write a story about it . . . and please send it our way! You can reach the Climate Defender Kids team at CDK@familiesforclimate.org 

Pedaling farther

• Sightline Institute’s Transportation & Transit Articles

• BikePortland Blog - local news and information

• City Observatory - data-driven analysis of what shapes cities

• A brief history of how Racism Shaped Interstate Highways (NPR, Morning edition, 4/7/2021)

• How to Save a Planet Podcast:  Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Planet? 

  “The challenge is we need electric cars and we need better public transit and we need more bike lanes and we need to transform the grid off of fossil fuels, and we need more efficient buildings, and all of it at once. And . . . I don't say that to sort of overwhelm people, but to say, you know, how can we multitask or each pick one solution and contribute to it in some way? We don't all have to do everything, but we should each do something.” ― Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

• The War on Cars podcast: Right of Way with Angie Schmidt

” . . . one of the clearest and most passionate voices out there talking about the real price of automobile dependence in the United States. As the national editor for Streetsblog, Angie reported for years about how we design our communities to accommodate cars at the expense of human beings . . . and . . . [our] nation’s toxic mix of big vehicles, cheap gas, and utter disregard for human lives — especially when those lives belong to poor people, people of color, people without housing, older people, and people with disabilities.”

• “The climate change mitigation effects of daily active travel in cities”

• Watch the recording of Families for Climate’s recent webinar, Getting Around in a Low-Carbon Future, with Aaron Brown of No More Freeways, and Victoria Paykar of Climate Solutions.