By Elisheva Malomet – Travel is a huge part of our lives, whether it is our daily commute to work or school, a trip to the store, or a vacation that we have been planning for a year. However, our current methods of transportation are in no way sustainable as we are emitting tons of fossil fuels which directly contribute to global warming. The good news, however, is that there are many sustainable transport options for everyone!
Sustainable Transport Development
As we discussed in our blog on the three pillars of sustainability, “sustainable development is the assurance that the integrity of the present needs can be met without compromising resources in the future.” Transportation is an incredibly important cog in the wheel of sustainable development and must take into consideration the potential damage it is creating in the present and for the future.
The social, environmental, and economic pillars that define sustainable development can be applied to transport. The balance or imbalance of these pillars within the innerworkings of our current transport systems will help determine how sustainable they are.
Urban transport systems are primarily made up of privately registered vehicles and public transit systems that include buses and trains, passenger and freight, aircraft, and water vessels. These vehicles and their fuels are all factors in sustainable transportation as they are our known way of movement and mobility.
Relying on Un-Sustainable Transport
The most common form of transport in urban areas, based on the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics 2019 data, are passenger cars, light trucks, vans, and some sport utility vehicles. The widespread nature of these types of vehicles demonstrates that the US transport system relies heavily, if not primarily, on private transit instead of public transport. This also results in traffic congestion as a result of the ever-increasing number of cars on the road.
These vehicles, while essential to the daily lives of many, cause tremendous damage to the environment. It is imperative for us to work towards green ways to travel from city to city.
The Traffic Light System of Sustainable Transportation
While there are unfortunate consequences of gas-guzzling automobiles we cannot eradicate them from our lives entirely. As such, we must utilize the public transport systems in place such as car sharing, carpooling, walking or biking when available, as well as initiate solutions to prevent the emissions caused by the current system. Sustainable transportation not only revolves around our individual mobility, but also the mobility of our goods and services.
Red: Un-Sustainable Transport
Let’s talk about the problem – our current method of transportation is not sustainable. As discussed, the drastic number of cars in the world is overwhelming and ever-increasing. They increase greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change as well as lead to a depletion of nonrenewable resources.
The US Environmental Protection Agency classified transportation as one of the primary greenhouse gas emitters with 29% of emissions coming from transportation in 2019. This makes transportation the biggest emitting category in comparison to industry, commercial and residential electricity production, and even agriculture.
Emissions are so high in transportation because of the fuel. The fossil fuel that powers most transportation comes from petroleum which is a nonrenewable resource. Petroleum emits greenhouse gas emissions through the combustion processes.
With more cars on the road, there is more traffic congestion which in turn leads to cars idling for longer and thus emitting more carbon dioxide, and then needing even more fuel to continue the journey. Urban transport with crowded and tiny streets contributes to air pollution.
Emissions contribute to both air pollution globally and poor urban air quality.
Yellow: Sustainable Transport Systems
Let’s understand some small and easy changes we can make with our relationship to modes of transport which can include carpooling, public transit, and ride-sharing.
While maintaining lifestyles with private cars we can still ensure a lower environmental impact by initiating carpooling. Carpooling is important for limiting the number of cars going from the same area to the same location, and of course for energy efficiency. This small action can also unite the community by bringing people together in informal settings and can inspire more ecologically minded thinking.
Car sharing is a very good option for making ecological and economic choices. Car sharing is when a person will share a car with another driver. The car can be used by multiple drivers contributing to fewer cars in cities. The strategy causes us to realize that a private car is not essential to our quality of life.
Public transport has significant benefits when considering sustainability. Public infrastructure strategies support sustainability because their carbon footprint is lower than private vehicles. Utilizing the existing public transport systems is also an excellent option to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.
Green: The Best Sustainable Transport
Biking and walking are the ultimate sustainable mobility options for reducing our carbon footprint. While these options are limited by our mobility within our neighborhoods, they are essential options. Biking and walking are good for our health and they are free of costs.
Biking is not only an eco-friendly form of transportation but it also increases physical activity in those who are using it to commute. The prime benefits of this type of transport system include reduced vehicles, cleaner air quality, reduced impact on climate change, increased physical activity from exercise, and a more durable infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters better than cars.
Biblical Sustainable Transportation
A passage of text from the book “Eco Bible“, Volume 2 reads in Numbers 7:2-3 – “The chieftains of Israel, the heads of ancestral houses, namely, the chieftains of the tribes, those who were in charge of enrollment, drew near and brought their offering before the Lord: six full carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two chieftains and an ox for each one. When they had brought them before the Tabernacle”.
The Ramban understands the Hebrew word “tzav’ to mean full, that the wagons were full of items. Rabbi Yaakov Kagan said this meant that they were packed in a very intentional way, using up all the space and doing so in order to only bring six wagons with twelve oxen, despite the fact that they had the physical means to bring many more.d the physical means to bring many more.
In the Exodus, 600 Egyptian chariots, filled with soldiers and weapons, served as an instrument of violence and control. They pursued the Israelites at the splitting of the sea and were destroyed. In contrast, the Israelite tribal leaders brought six wagons to transport their material possessions as offerings to the Divine. On four of these wagons, the sons of Merari transported 59 wooden pillars and other heavy wooden parts of the Tabernacle. Each wagon had two horsepower (or two oxen, to be more precise). Since God owns everything, the material world should be used in service of the Divine Ideal, and humbly.
Sustainable Transport: Holy and Humble
During their 40 years in the desert, the Israelites were nomadic. Numbers chapter 33 in fact lists each of the 42 locations to which they travelled. Many verses in the Torah speak to how the Israelites were to break camp, travel, and set up camp.
In the Great Plains of the U.S., some Native Americans lived a nomadic lifestyle. They lived in and transported tipis, which were tents made of animal skins supported by wooden poles. Prior to the European introduction of horses, the tipis were transported by people and dogs.
In the past century, nations worldwide have embraced buying bigger and more cars, houses, garages and appliances such as refrigerators, computers and televisions. In recent decades a new self-storage industry has emerged, which now has 1.7 billion square feet and $39 billion in revenues in the U.S. Among passenger vehicles in America, larger crossover utility vehicles replaced cars as the most popular vehicles sold. High-end SUVs have between 500 and 707 horsepower.
The Bible in this verse here reveals a different orientation toward physical possessions. Since God owns everything, the material world should be used in service of the Divine Ideal, and humbly. The example of the tribal chiefs show us how less can be more.
Later another passage of text from the book “Eco Bible“, Volume 2 reads in Numbers 7:7-9 – “Two carts and four oxen he gave to the Gershonites, as required for their service and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the Merarites, as required for their service—under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. But to the Kohathites he did not give any; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder”.
Rashi explains that, because these were the holiest items (the ark, table, etc.), they had to be carried on people’s shoulders. An American study showed that walking or biking instead of driving on short trips of less than 5 miles (8 km) would prevent 1,295 deaths a year in an urban area of 31.3 million people by improving air quality and increasing exercise. The study estimated the related financial benefits at over $8 billion a year.
Cycling as Sustainable Transport
It’s clear why local governments across the Western world are investing heavily in bicycle lanes. Copenhagen is described as a veritable utopia for bikers — with a giant network of bike paths and lanes, and an extensive “Cycle Super Highway” that joins over 25 municipalities and the capital. In Denmark, nine out of 10 people own a bike and 25 percent of people opt to bike when the journey is less than 5 kilometers (just over 3 miles).
Since holiness involves thinking of others when we act, holy transportation is active transport with zero pollutants. This is beneficial to ourselves and at the same time not harmful to others.
* Featured image source
