In the aughts, there was a backlash against the SUV. Then came the crossover vehicle.
Marina BolotnikovaMar 11, 2020
As a kid, I was furious about SUVs with a passion that now seems embarrassing, telling all the suburban adults I knew that their ugly, gas-guzzling tanks were going to end life on Earth. I didn’t come up with this idea myself: Anti-SUV discourse was everywhere. Mainstream organizations like the Sierra Club — which famously renamed the huge Ford Excursion “Ford Valdez” after the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill — helped create a cultural backlash against these hulking cars. A TV ad campaign run by the Evangelical Environmental Network — “What Would Jesus Drive?” — urged Midwesterners to rethink their addiction to big cars. New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher’s 2002 polemic High and Mighty sneered at the rise of “behemoths that guzzle gas, spew pollution, and endanger their occupants and other motorists.”
…and SUVs are the absolute worst – Taras Grescoe Twitter
Taras Grescoe @grescoe
…and SUVs are the absolute worst. “In 2010, there were 35 million SUVs in the world’s car fleet. Now there are over 200 million. SUVs were the second greatest contributor to the world’s increase in carbon emissions from 2010 to 2018.”
Billionaire Tory peer calls for removal of temporary cycle lanes in London | road.cc
Billionaire Tory peer calls for removal of temporary cycle lanes in London
by SIMON_MACMICHAEL THU, NOV 04, 2021
Last-mile delivery needs a sustainable rethink – transportxtra
Last-mile delivery needs a sustainable rethink
Delivery boom will become unmanageable unless radical new approaches are adopted, says Centre for London
04 November 2021
Worth the Weight: Making London’s deliveries greener and smarter
With the number of parcels delivered in London expected to double by 2030, a new report has set out an roadmap to make deliveries and freight journeys more sustainable and efficient.
The proposals include introducing 65,000 pick-up points and lockers for parcel deliveries, new mayoral powers to incentivise deliveries to pick-up points instead of homes, and prioritising…
Open letter to COP26 asks world leaders not to overlook transport emissions quick fix – Cycle Industry News
Mark Sutton3 November, 2021
COP26 has underwhelmed those in the cycling world with journalists on the inside of the Glasgow event highlighting that, in transport terms, the conference’s focus is squarely pitched at keeping the status quo of private car ownership; albeit with the combustion engine removed.
The Government still isn’t on course to meet its 2025 cycling targets. So what now? | Cycling UK
Thursday, 28 October 2021
The Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, its ‘Net Zero’ Strategy and its Budget and Spending Review have come and gone in quick succession. There have been plenty of fine words, not just on cycling and walking, but also on many other aspects of sustainability.
Secretive court system poses threat to Paris climate deal, says whistleblower | The Guardian
Treaty allows energy corporations to sue governments for billions over policies that could hurt their profits
Jennifer Rankin
A secretive investor court system poses a real threat to the Paris climate agreement, activists have said, as governments taking action to phase out fossil fuels face a slew of multimillion-dollar lawsuits for lost profits.
New data seen by the Guardian shows a surge in cases under the energy charter treaty (ECT), an obscure international agreement that allows energy corporations to sue governments over policies that could hurt their profits.
Coal and oil investors are already suing governments for several billions in compensation for lost profits over energy policy changes. For example, the German energy company RWE is suing the Netherlands for €1.4bn (£1.2bn) over its plans to phase out coal, while Rockhopper Exploration, based in the UK, is suing the Italian government after it banned new drilling near the coast.
Councillor who said she’d paint (now removed) bike lane black slams “ignorant” people who painted it back | road.cc
Councillor who said she’d paint (now removed) bike lane black slams “ignorant” people who painted it back
by Simon MacMichael
Nov 05, 2021
COP26: EVs Aren’t as Green as You Think. The Supply Chain Is Carbon-Intensive – Bloomberg
Amid all the hype around clean transport, many believers have overlooked a key issue: Manufacturing these cars is a carbon-intensive process.
Anjani Trivedi 3 November 2021
As the world focuses on the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow, the dawn of the electric vehicle era is sure to be touted as a major solution to a severe emissions problem. What few policy makers and business leaders seem to acknowledge, though, is just how dirty a process making these cars has become.
The transport sector is responsible for almost a quarter of direct carbon-dioxide emissions from burning fuel. Of that, passenger cars account for 45%. The challenge goes beyond what comes out of the tailpipe: Every step of making a vehicle’s 20,000 to 30,000 parts, which involves several thousands tons of aluminum, steel and other materials, produces emissions.
Petition · Protect our railway heritage from National Highways’ wrecking ball · Change.org
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Protect our railway heritage from National Highways’ wrecking ball
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