Driving Toward Disaster

Electric cars are great, but we also need alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle if we’re going to put the brakes on our drive to climate disaster.

“More than a third of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions are emitted by cars, trucks, planes, trains, buses, and ferries. But the main villain is the single-car trip, millions of which we in North Carolina take each year. In that sense, every time we drive a gas-fueled car or truck, especially if we’re solo, we’re contributing to climate change and to the overarching problem of air pollution,” wrote environmental reporter Lisa Sorg for N.C. Policy Watch. 

Speaking of the NC Department of Transportation’s draft Clean Transportation Plan, Sorg noted, “The draft plan contains ideas to increase the number of electric vehicles and charging stations, but acknowledges that this measure alone is insufficient. North Carolina has to get people out of their cars and onto mass transit, reducing “vehicle miles traveled.” (The strategies for reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled per person are required under a settlement agreement over the construction of the I-540 toll road. The agreement was brokered after the Southern Environmental Law Center sued DOT on behalf of Sound Rivers, CleanAire NC and the Center for Biological Diversity.)” See Sorg’s full article here. 

The draft Clean Transportation Plan remains open for public comment through March 15. See more details, including how to submit comments, here.