Don't cut travel to save your footprint
Train travel and flying may produce similar amounts of carbon emissions.
Anyone reluctant to give up their annual summer break will be pleased to hear that the transport secretary has advised that people do not need to cut travel in order to help the planet.
During a visit to Beijing to review China's latest green transport developments, Lord Andrew Adonis said that a "hair-shirt" approach to combating global warming, which involves people making personal sacrifices, is not the best way to tackle climate change and suggested that greener technologies will help lower carbon emissions, reported the Daily Telegraph.
"If you can radically cut emissions as a result of new transport technology it is not necessary to face people with an 'either-or' choice between a low carbon future and big cuts in travel," the news provider quoted him as saying.
The transport secretary added that it is not realistic to expect people to alter their travel habits when developments such as low-carbon vehicles, low-emissions aircrafts and electrified rail lines can have a much more significant effect.
A recent study conducted at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at US university Berkeley highlighted the most environmentally-unfriendly modes of transport by looking at their entire lifecycle.
It was found that cars are the most polluting way to get about and also highlighted that train travel and flying may not be as far apart in terms of carbon emissions as many think.
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Comments
yes, a 'hairshirt' approach would only last so long - people can't keep it going, it's against human nature