MoveNews #104 for the week of June 6, 2010

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UC San Diego climate researchers have outlined three steps countries should take in order to avoid the global warming threshold. In a paper appearing May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Yangyang Xu, climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have identified three avenues by which those countries can avoid reaching the warming threshold, a point beyond which many scientists believe climate change will present unmanageable negative consequences for society.

"By taking a comprehensive look at human induced climate change, this paper clearly separates the global actions which must be undertaken simultaneously - and how quickly these actions must be taken," said Larry Smarr, founding Director of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) and a collaborator with Ramanathan on CO2 reduction strategies. "This paper should be required reading for all policy makers."

Recommended steps include stabilizing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, and fashioning warming-neutral pollution laws that will balance the removal of aerosols that have an atmospheric cooling effect with the removal of warming agents such as soot and ozone. Finally, the authors advocate achieving reductions in methane, hydrofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases that remain in the atmosphere for short periods of time. The authors write that aggressive simultaneous pursuit of these strategies could reduce the probability of reaching the temperature threshold to less than 10 percent before the year 2050.

SIO News Release: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=1063

L.A. mass transit agencies make only a token effort
Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2010

Los Angeles marked Transportation Freedom Day last week. What's that? It's the day when the typical median-income family has earned enough money to cover transportation costs for the entire year. Your basic middle-class L.A. household spends about $8,600 a year on gas, insurance, parking and vehicle maintenance, according to the California Public Interest Research Group, a watchdog organization. That compares with about $8,000 for the average U.S. family and represents more than 20% of most people's annual expenditures.

"It's an eye-opener how burdensome transportation is for most families," said Erin Steva, transportation advocate for CalPIRG. "People are spending more for this than they do for food, clothing and healthcare."

Yet what are we doing to make public transportation a more convenient and practical alternative for people? Not enough. ... it's almost as if the dozens of entities that constitute the region's public-transit network are conspiring to make the system as unwelcoming as possible.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to secure federal funds for fast-track expansion of the Los Angeles region's transit system is gaining support from Washington officials who say it could serve as a national model for speeding economic recovery and reducing pollution and traffic congestion.

The Obama administration and influential members of Congress are exploring ways to aid the car-clogged city with a federal loan, economic stimulus funds or other assistance so it can build 12 transit lines in 10 years instead of 30.

"Everyone who has ever driven in L.A. knows that more and better transit in that region is a must, and the sooner it's in place, the better," said Roy Kienitz, the undersecretary for policy in the U.S. Department of Transportation.

National

EPA Report: Redevelopment Continues in Urban Neighborhoods

An updated U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report shows a continuing shift in development toward urban neighborhoods in the United States, despite a slow a real estate market.

This trend, described in EPA's 2010 report, Residential Construction Trends in America's Metropolitan Regions, shows that redevelopment continues in many urban neighborhoods. Taking advantage of opportunities to reuse land and to redevelop underused sites is a key smart growth strategy. It helps communities protect natural lands from being developed, strengthens the local economy, and puts new homes, stores, and jobs within easy reach of surrounding neighborhoods.

More information on the report: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/construction_trends.htm

Innovation

Are Vehicle Travel Reduction Targets Justified?
Victoria Transport Policy Institute, December 16, 2009

This report investigates whether transportation policies should include targets to reduce vehicle travel and encourage use of alternative modes, called mobility management objectives. Such objectives may be justified on several grounds: they help insure that individual short-term decisions support strategic goals, they provide numerous benefits, and they help prepare for future travel demands. Many mobility management strategies are market and planning reforms that increase transport system efficiency and equity.

Mobility management criticism tends to reflect an older, automobile-oriented planning paradigm which considers a limited range of objectives, impacts and options. More comprehensive analysis tends to favor mobility management. Appropriate mobility management can reduce vehicle travel in ways that minimize costs and maximize benefits to consumers and society.

Fast Facts

Automobiles dominate total regional performance accounting for 86-96% of energy consumption and emissions. Comparing system-wide averages, New York City shows the lowest end-use energy and greenhouse gas footprint compared to San Francisco and Chicago and is influenced by the larger share of transit ridership.
      Source: Atmospheric Environment Volume 44, Issue 8, Comparison of life-cycle energy and emissions footprints of passenger transportation in metropolitan regionse

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