Pucher and Bauman: Claims Disputed on
Transport and land use planners frequently cite reduction of greenhouse gases as a justification for reducing automobile use and imposing excessive land use regulation. In fact, there is little hope for materially reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing automobile use. At the same time, the small potential reductions could be achieved far more inexpensively through fuel economy measures. In Australia, personal automobiles account for approximately 8 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. If all automobile use were to cease in Canada, the nation would still fall short of meeting its Kyoto Accord targets. The Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece by John Pucher and Adrian Bauman cited at the bottom of this page could lead readers to conclude the automobile based greenhouse gas emissions are far greater than the actual. Our letter to the editor appears immediately below.
8 December 2005
To the Editor The Sydney Morning Herald (8 December) opinion piece by John Pucher and Adrian Bauman describes a world not confirmed by an examination of the facts. They say: " Europeans produce less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of Australians, and almost all the difference is due to greater car dependence in Australia." In fact, official 2003 emissions inventory data submitted to the International United Nations Convention on Climate Change ( www.unfccc.int) indicates that barely one-tenth of the per capita difference between Australia and Western Europe (EU-15) is attributable to road transport. The perception that Australians rely on cars substantially more than Western Europeans is a myth. The car is dominant in both. In large European urban areas 80 percent of travel is by car, compared to 88 percent in Sydney. Finally, the bicycling America Pucher and Bauman describe is fantasy. If bicycling were having a material impact in the United States, the increased usage would be evident in work trips. It is not. According to US Census data, there were 600 new work trips by car for every new work trip by bicycle between 1990 and 2000. Bicycling's market share dropped nearly 10 percent to under 0.4 percent. Pucher and Bauman are right about one thing, however. No one in North America is complaining about bicycling increasing traffic congestion. There is too little cycling to notice.
Sincerely,
Australian and European Union: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Per Capita Compared
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