Sustainable Transportation Today
By: Garrett Moreland
What is Sustainable Transportation?
Sustainable transport refers to the broad subject of transport that is or approaches being sustainable. It includes vehicles, energy, infrastructure, roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals, pipelines, and terminals. Transport operations and logistics as well as transit-oriented development are involved. Transportation sustainability is largely being measured by transportation system effectiveness and efficiency as well as the environmental impacts of the system. When it comes to sustainable transport there is short-term and long-term principles. Short-term we can improve fuel efficiency and vehicle emissions controls while long-term goals include migrating transportation from fossil-based energy to other alternatives such as renewable energy and use of other renewable resources. Even though short-term solutions are available, as a population we really need to focus on the long-term. All transportation worldwide consumes astronomical amounts of non-renewable resources and is one of the largest air pollutant sources worldwide. If we dont find long-term solutions we will eventually run out of our valuable resources and pollute our environment to dangerous levels.
Solutions For More Sustainability
What Can We Do?
It really comes down to how committed we are and to what extent we are willing to solve this problem. If we work together this problem can be solved. First off we need to reduce our emissions by carpooling, driving less, driving and purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles, and using bikes and other forms of transportation that dont require any fossil fuels to get around. We need to develop more advanced systems of public transportation in our cities to reduce the pollutant levels. Cities are the most dense and heavily populated so this concept is not far off. If we could find a way to power these public resources with only solar power or another form of renewable energy the emissions in these places would be reduced drastically. The more renewable energy resources we can implement the better and more efficient our transportation systems will become. Not only that but the reduction in the use of fossil fuels will aid in the ending of many conflicts over these resources. Sustainable transportation is a win win for everyone and everything. As long as we work together a more sustainable and healthy future is inevitable.