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What if commuters were to cut back on driving for just one day? That’s not the kind of sweeping change environmental advocates urge. But it seems doable. And there is an ongoing effort to encourage one-day vacations from Earth-unfriendly activities. The big question: Would a day of less driving make any significant difference? To find out, National Geographic asked Luke Tonachel, vehicles analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, to crunch numbers for a big American city. He picked Pittsburgh, which has good commuting data, and projected modest changes. He filled empty mass-transit seats but added no new buses to the fleet and doubled carpooling from 9 to 18 percent of commuters, with a carpool defined as two people. He also factored in a jump in “eco-driving.” The stats are in. The drop in greenhouse gases for the “what if” day in Pittsburgh would equal taking 370 cars off the world’s roads for a year. And cars would burn 213,700 fewer gallons of gas. At $2.50 a gallon, that’s $534,250 in Pittsburghers’ pockets. —Marc Silver
Graphic: Mindy Nichamin. Sources: Luke Tonachel, Natural Resources Defense Council; Moving Cooler Study, Cambridge Systematics; 2007 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, Analysis By Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. Photo: Richard Drdul
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Jun 7, 2010 4PM #
As a Pittsburgher with an interest in sustainable development, I was excited to see your article “A Day With Less Driving: One Day in the City of Pittsburgh” by Marc Silver. The promotion of telecommuting, self-propelled vehicles, carpooling, and mass transit would significantly reduce fuel consumption; however, your article seems a little naive. The City of Pittsburgh has already been promoting these with limited success due to our current infrastructure. Also, I’m confused with the input of eco-driving. How do you intend on convincing people to obey speed limits and how should Pittsburghers ‘roll to a stop’ when considering our hilly topography? Our extensive highways are great for car owners living on the cities peripheral, but act like an arterial blockage for eco-friendly commuting. A much more effective way to cut fuel consumption would be to transform Pittsburghers from an automobile dependent, suburban population into high density living with multiple use zoning. Such a transformation would promote mass transit and would make eco-friendly commuting a reality for everyday people who simply want to get to work as fast as possible.
Jun 7, 2010 4PM #
That is a good idea, but the most difficult is to make people not to use their cars. Agree with previous comment. For example, it takes 3 minutes for me to get to work by car, and 35-40 without it. Unfortunately there are no other ways of getting there.
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