The word ‘Green’ is being overused and isn’t very specific, but it’s a widely used adjective seeming to mean cleaner ways or products. This web site is about exploring the intersection of “Green” and “Transportation” but goes beyond simply cleaner ways to transport ourselves around.
A better phrase than ‘Green Transportation’ would be ‘Sustainable Transportation’. The word ‘Sustainable’ clearly means activities that support the long term livelihood of our society.
The negative effects of our transportation system is large and the “greening” of the transportation system is very important. Unfortunately “Green such-and-so” is widely used in many areas, without a precise meaning. That leaves us lacking precision for “Green Transportation”. Even the phrase Sustainable Transportation is not very clear. Basically, sustainable means something that can survive for a very very long time. For example sustainable farming practices would produce food for several generations without applying external inputs like fertilizers.
There are a lot of issues with the current transportation system, it causes not just environmental harm, but bad land use practices, many sorts of economic problems, resource supply problems, health problems (both physical and emotional), and is contributing to fears that our society is not viable over the have long term. For a lot of people ‘Green Transportation’ would focus simply on decreasing negative environmental impact such as greenhouse gas emissions. What about all the other issues that are not greenhouse gas emissions? Should they be left unresolved in the rush to quell the fears raised by Al Gore’s movie?
How deep should “we” go with greening the transportation system? Should we only reduce carbon footprint?
For many, greening the transportation system is all about reducing carbon footprint. Why? High carbon levels have been identified as the culprit in climate change / warming. Therefore the policy makers have latched onto carbon reduction as the goal. But that leaves all the other problems unaddressed because we’re seeking to solely solve for carbon footprint.