by Dennis Markatos-Soriano

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen to negotiate international strategy to lower global greenhouse emissions, I’d like to share a vision for part of the solution. Greenways and other improvements in bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure can make make a huge impact lowering emissions in the coming decade. Some economists and politicians who drag their feet regarding climate action complain that lowering emissions could come with a difficult price tag. But at least half of Obama’s 2020 goal can be achieved alongside large savings if we seize the opportunity to increase our use of renewable human power for transportation.

In 2009, US greenhouse gas emissions are ~10% above the goal Obama and the House have set for US emissions in 2020 (17% below 2005 levels). So, how do we lower pollution levels in the 2010s?

Transforming our Transportation System from Polluter to Solution

Transportation is currently one of the biggest polluting sectors, accounting for ~28% of US greenhouse gas emissions (US EIA, 2008). Carbon dioxide-spewing cars, trucks, and planes make up most of our national means of transportation. According to a recent study, only ~12% of Americans utilize active transportation regularly today (9% walk, 1% bike, and 2% take the bus or train). By increasing the bicycling and walking share by just 12.5% per year in the decade to come, we can achieve an active transportation share of more than 36% in 2020.

Such an increase in walking and cycling would cut transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions by over 20%, translating into a >5% drop in total US emissions. That’s more than half the goal Obama is aiming for over the next 11 years, and it comes with serious savings rather than costs. The shift would lower our need to import expensive oil by 25% or more than $60 billion per year (based on $70/barrel oil this would cut our trade deficit by more than 10% from 2009 levels). And by reducing demand for oil, it could help prevent a huge spike in oil prices in the 2010s as oil production becomes more difficult from hard-to-reach sites such as deep offshore fields and polar regions.

A 36% share for active transportation is not far-fetched, since countries such as The Netherlands and Sweden already enjoy 50-65% shares. And the health benefits from more active transportation would help keep health care costs from rising so quickly in the future.

There are some investments necessary to make this transition a smooth one. We need to foster more respect between drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. And we need to improve cycling and walking infrastructure — building greenways so that non-motorized users have a safe, accessible route without competition with dangerous cars and trucks.

The East Coast Greenway is a perfect example of a transportation corridor that is vital to achieving a 36% active transport share. By connecting neighborhoods to schools, work, and play within cities and between cities, this developing 3,000-mile greenway makes everyday use and long-distance travel achievable by everyone from children to seniors. Where financing is lacking for greenways, we are incorporating low-cost but high-impact improvements in bicycling infrastructure such as bike lanes and signage to achieve the safest route possible in the near-term. And we look forward to working with our friends at the Alliance for Biking & Walking and elsewhere to make this vision one that communities and regions all over the US and beyond can embrace.

While efficiency, solar, and wind power are poised to provide the remaining emissions reduction, an increase in the use of our own renewable muscles can help stabilize our global climate in the decade to come. Achieving emissions reductions never felt so good!

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

Bicyclists ready for a greenway

Thank you for reading the Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) blogs and being involved in our initiatives over the past 13 months!  The experience I gained working on SET efforts has been essential for me as I stayed abreast of recent changes in our energy system and their effects on climate change. After ~35,000 visits, more than 250 blogs, and scores of endorsements for our campaigns – I have found an amazing opportunity that I can’t pass up. I will be the next Executive Director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA).

A Tangible Project to Reduce Emissions and Drive Economic Recovery

I’ve been writing about the importance of addressing climate change and oil supply insecurity for years now. Finally, I found a project to commit the next several years to do just that. I will still blog every now and then on developments in solar, wind, and energy efficiency, but my focus will be building relationships with allies up and down the east coast to deploy a bike/ped corridor that gives people a local and long-distance option for green travel that lowers transportation costs and thus supports American economic recovery.

Building on a Solid Foundation

The ECGA was founded in 1991 by 10 committed cyclists who had a vision of a bikeway/trail to connect cities up and down the East Coast. Within a few years, a growing nonprofit emerged from this interest under the leadership of co-founder Karen Votava. Karen, the other seven that came on staff, and scores of committed volunteers transformed the ECG from an idea into 600+ miles of greenway that now make up 21% of the eventual trail. A number of people have already biked this urban sister to the Appalachian trail, as on-road portions are mapped out connecting the current greenways.

It is now my task to build on the solid foundation laid out by the ECGA and its 5,000 members. By 2025, I aim for a complete off-road greenway to be a commuting and recreational path for millions of people from Florida to Maine.

We’ll Need Your Help

By 2015, we plan to have a smooth ride available for travelers from New York City to Wilmington, Delaware. And by 2020, the path from Washington, DC, to Boston should be accessible to all – while still making tremendous progress on our trail sections to the South and North of this route. To meet our ambitious goals of trail growth, we will need you to support the East Coast Greenway Alliance as a member or an ally.

Please check out our ECGA daily blog, twitter stream, and facebook page which will go live in September to keep our members and the public up-to-date on progress. If you like SET and care about global warming and the American economy, you’ll love the East Coast Greenway.

Let’s complete it together!

The report was the product of a partnership between groups, including PolicyLink and the Prevention Institute and was supported by leading foundations such as Kresge, Robert Wood Johnson, and Kellogg. The most encouraging aspect of the report to me was that its foreword was written by none other than Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He put a strong stamp of approval on the report’s priority to make transportation policy a means to solving interrelated challenges that our country faces from climate change to spiraling health care costs to foreign oil dependence.

I recommend the 26-page report for those interested in contributing to just and environmentally responsible federal transportation policy in the months and years ahead. Now is the time to get involved in the process. The next six-year transportation bill is under development, so your federal leaders need to hear that you want a greater percentage of transportation dollars to flow to pedestrian paths, bike lanes, multi-use greenways, and public transit that help our communities get healthier and more economically prosperous.

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

As Michael Oliva of the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA) staff recalled, the ECGA got involved in local bike-ped advocacy efforts years ago to complete the region’s section of a 3,000 mile long greenway route from Key West to Canada. The ECG brought attention and awareness to making all areas surrounding the ECG a safer place to bike and walk. From their work sprang the Westchester-Putnam Biking and Walking Alliance — a group dedicated to making cycling and walking safer in the County.

Their recent accomplishment was the passage of a law that requires all new developments to provide bicycle racks. For every 10 car parking spaces, one bicycle parking space must be provided. Mayor Noam Bramson celebrated the measure as one of many to help lower greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health in his New Rochelle community. Other initiatives include bike parking in public spaces and a growing bike lane infrastructure to increase the safety of riders.

It will take much more work to help a majority of New Rochelle’s ~70,000 residents embrace bicycling and walking as a legitimate means of transportation. But the effort of local citizens (the Biking and Walking Alliance) in collaboration with regional organizations (such as the East Coast Greenway Alliance) is already making great progress and is a model for bike-ped advocacy in other communities.

Here’s to much more progress in New Rochelle that breeds progress here in NYC during the months and years ahead!

Photo by David Tulloch

Unfortunate news just came out of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded report: Americans are losing the battle against obesity. This problem of growing obesity is related to many of our country’s greatest challenges. Luckily for us, there is a solution that can tackle obesity as well as many related difficulties simultaneously.

Sitting around in our cars, our cubicles, and on our couches is taking its toll. To paraphrase Trust for America’s Health director Jeff Levi: when our waistlines grow, so do our health care costs. The fact that two thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese has contributed significantly to the doubling in health premiums for workers over the last decade — fueling big increases in serious illnesses like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Habits that induce and perpetuate obesity don’t just affect health care costs. The same decision to drive instead of walk or bicycle increases the price of oil and gasoline, hurting all our checkbooks and threatening to make the dollar even weaker than it is today. Our addiction to oil for transportation makes the fuel our biggest contributor to global warming, even bigger than coal. And our drive to secure the flow of foreign oil from the Middle East has led us to spend trillions of dollars on military misadventures and undemocratic alliances throughout the region.

The Promise of Active Transportation

If instead of jumping in the car for short trips, we instead hop on our bicycles or walk – we could save precious dollars, feel better physically, and be good stewards to the natural ecosystems we depend on for clean air, clean water, and a stable climate.

Since changing the infrastructure of a huge country like ours takes time, I will first focus on the change possible over the next decade. Currently ~12% of Americans use active transportation — 9% walk, 1% bike, and 2% take the bus or train. An active transportation shift to 33% of commuters (moving 21% from their cars) by 2020 would lower our consumption of oil by ~2 million barrels of oil per day. This is definitely doable, as more than 50% of commuters in the Netherlands and Sweden enjoy active transportation commutes (and their obesity rates are less than half ours as a result).

Such a move would save Americans over $40 billion every year on their fuel bills (based on current prices above $55/barrel) that we could instead put into paying off our credit card debt and improve the quality of life in our communities. The reduced demand for oil would help keep a lid on gasoline prices for those longer trips to family and friends around holidays. It would also cut our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by more than two thirds. The move would send total US greenhouse gas emissions down ~5% in one fell swoop, getting us close to the 2020 goal passed by the US House of Representatives.

To make this transition to walkable, bikable communities possible, we must have an infrastructure shift to support the necessary sidewalks, bike lanes, and greenways. While some of us in our physical prime can ride through the busy streets of Manhattan or on the sides of country roads, a safer environment is necessary to make active transportation accessible to all Americans.

Greenways, usually paved pathways to facilitate a safe route for non-motorized vehicles and walkers, are already growing in communities throughout the country. And building this new infrastructure can help provide jobs for some of the millions out of work right now. The cost for greenway construction is less than a quarter of the cost of building new roads (at $500,000 or less vs. $2+ million per mile, estimates the Florida DOT) and they require fewer maintenance dollars. So a focus on greenways rather than roadways in future Transportation Bills can help lower current government budget deficits.

And greenways can even be used for long-distance travel as long as we close current gaps along major corridors. For instance, the emerging East Coast Greenway from Key West, Florida, all the way up to the Maine border with Canada needs the support of local, state and federal transportation officials to become a completed urban counterpart to the Appalachian Trail. Such corridors can attract tourism to connected communities and even increase the home prices of people who live alongside it.

Greenways Empower Fitness, Financial Well-being, and Green Travel

The clean energy revolution is often characterized by technological innovations in solar panels, wind turbines, and fuel efficient vehicles. But we can’t forget the great opportunity of utilizing the renewable energy in our muscles to help us travel from home to work and play. In fact, this transition to an active transportation system throughout the country can reduce our obesity rate, lower our health care and fuel costs, free us from our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and help us achieve the greenhouse gas emissions our Earth so desperately needs to restore balance in our climate.

Let’s make it happen!