Quality of place - vibrant and verdant!

Healthy communities > Quality of place

New housing with neighborhood character, in walking distance to transit (South Pasadena)

Walk to neighborhood restaurants and movies (Pasadena)

Streets for people (CycLAvia, Los Angeles)

Streets for people (San Francisco)

Inviting places for people (Santa Monica)

U.S. light rail

Healthy communities > U.S. light rail

Seattle

Portland

Sacramento

Los Angeles

San Diego

Denver

Houston

French trams

Healthy communities > French trams

Angers

Many French cities have built new electric tram lines in the last decade or two. Not only do they provide convenient zero-emissions mobility, they have added wonderful artistic flair to the urban design of both historic and modern areas. Here are four of my favorite examples. Also see Trams in France, Wikipedia, and Oil Free Transportation.

Bordeaux

Montpellier

Strasbourg

Sources: Special thanks to Flickr Creative Commons users Alain Rouiller 1 and 2, David McKelvey 3, Ian Fisher 4 and 5, James-In-Transit 6, rosipaw 7, and Kris Duda 8!

Transit case studies

Healthy communities > Transit case studies

Expo Line light rail approvals – 2001 and 2010

• Opportunity for light rail from downtown Los Angeles west to Santa Monica along existing railroad right-of-way
• Opposition by NIMBYs and rail transit opponents
• Formed volunteer group Friends 4 Expo Transit, including SC Angeles Chapter
• Presented opportunity and need for light rail’s speed, comport, and capacity in this high-density corridor to many neighborhood groups
• Gathered endorsements and signatures and mobilized supporters via email and website to public meetings
• Achieved support of city councils and MTA board approval
• Created constituency for larger transit network that led to Move LA

Measure R, Los Angeles County 2008 1/2-cent sales tax – Move LA coalition

• Organized conference on how to fund L.A.’s transit network
• Built coalition of labor, business, environmentalists, transit agency, and elected officials to create and support county sales tax ballot measure
• Achieved passage over necessary 2/3 majority
• Continuing as leading voice for transit funding (America Fast Forward) and smart growth planning (MPO SCAG’s Regional Plan)

When we urgently saved oil

The U.S. showed how we could save oil in a national emergency during World War II. Here are five propaganda posters promoting saving oil – especially by car-pooling – to complement gasoline’s ration coupons (sixth image). Yes, that is an early Dr. Seuss drawing!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Climate facts

Oil poisons our air, water, land ...

and climate.

Heat-trapping CO2, the largest driver of global warming, has doubled from human fossil fuel use to levels not seen in over 400,000 years. Impacts already experienced include:

• Heating the atmosphere and ocean (over 90% of excess heat is going into the ocean);
• Melting sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers;
• Rising sea level;
• Extreme weather including more powerful storms, drought, record heat, and wildfires.

Sources: IPCC, 2013: Summary for Policymakers, page 4; NOAA Vostok ice core and Mauna Loa data; NASA photo.

Over 90% of excess heat is going into the ocean.

Sources: NOAA NODC data; NOAA-NASA GOES Project photo of Hurricane Sandy 10/29/12.

Summer Arctic sea ice volume has dropped by over 2/3 since 1979.

Sources: Polar Science Center data; U.S. FWS photo.


The CO2 emissions path the world is on (red line) is heading far beyond the critical 2 degrees C rise (blue line) and must peak and begin falling soon.

U.S. (15% of world in 2012) and European CO2 emissions are falling slightly, but Chinese (29%), Indian (6%), and other emissions are still rising rapidly. Although second now, the U.S. has the greatest cumulative and per-capita emissions.

Sources: Global Carbon Project 2013, figures 21 and 12.

Transportation is the second-highest U.S. emissions sector, and largest in states like California with less coal-fired electricity.

Source: U.S. EPA data.

Climate Disruption resources

• IPCC
• NASA Global Climate Change
• California Climate Change Just the Facts
• Skeptical Science
• Climate Progress

Oil facts

Fighting the Keystone XL pipeline has been a vital battle against the dirtiest source of oil, but to win the war we must cut demand for oil. Here's how.

World oil production has been relatively flat since 2005. Although the U.S. has been using less and producing more oil, with China and India importing more plus the rest of the world's demand and big old fields depleting there's reason to expect prices continue higher. (mbpd = million barrels per day)

Source: U.S. EIA production, imports, and world production and consumption data.

About half of U.S. oil is used for gasoline, another quarter for distillate (mostly diesel for trucks), and a smaller slice for jet fuel. That's why our focus is on cars and trucks.

Source: U.S. EPA data.

Ethanol from corn takes about as much fossil fuel energy to produce as it yields in energy – not to mention its use of water and fertilizer and land impacts – so it is no solution to oil use, and the reason I've deducted ethanol from motor gasoline in the chart above. Cellulosic ethanol from woody plants has been a hoped-for next step, but has not reached production scale. Future biofuels from algae are a possibility, but will have highest priority for applications like jet fuel.

Nationally over 3/4 of Americans drive alone to work, but some cities did much better. We seek more Healthy Communities where more can bike, walk, and ride transit, but with so much of the U.S. in auto-oriented suburbia, Electric Vehicles are a crucial second lever to reduce oil use.

Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey.


Here is a scenario of how the U.S. could cut oil use in half from 2005-2030. Its baseline already includes savings from the new federal MPG standards for cars and light trucks through 2025. In short, we drive less, drive electric, and/or drive highest MPG.

Source: U.S. EIA actual and Annual Energy Outlook data; Excel model.

Some other oil-saving scenarios:

• Union of Concerned Scientists – Half the Oil: A Plan to Cut Projected U.S. Oil Use in Half in 20 Years
• Rocky Mountain Institute – Reinventing Fire
• Transport Revolutions – Moving People and Freight Without Oil, Gilbert and Perl
• Transport Beyond Oil, Rene and Fields

We're up against huge economic and political power....

But we have the truth about climate and the momentum!