Why We Need a World Without Cars

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In this Our Changing Climate climate change video essay, I look at the future of transportation. Specifically, I uncover why we need a world without cars. Instead, we need a future of dense interconnected public transit that is anti-racist, anti-ableist, and anti-capitalist. A transportation system that prioritizes people through pedestrian, bike, and public transit-centered design.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Ever since the turn of the 20th century, cars have been the lifeblood of an industrialized world. Farrying people to and from jobs, houses, and cities, the car has, for many, become a necessity to live. And for others, it seems as if it has grown into something a little bit more than that. And now the eight-pack bat flip ramp! We in the Imperial Corps have built our lives around a contraption that guzzles fossil fuels. That is, up until recently, when the electric car seems to have become a viable alternative. Indeed, drivers are now clambering to own an electric car. Just a decade ago, in 2012, 130,000 electric cars were sold worldwide, representing 0.17% of the car market. Nine years later, the world bought 6.6 million electric cars, or 8.5% of the global car sales for that year. Charging stations are springing up across Europe, the United States, and China, and the quiet hum of electric engines are blessing streets with their silence. In theory, this is exciting. Drivers are lining up to switch from emissions-heavy gas guzzlers to clean electrified cars. While major car companies have all but declared the end of the internal combustion engine. But throughout this narrative, I can't help but think there's something missing. Is this the path we want to go down? Are electric cars the most effective solution to zero carbon transportation? Is there maybe a better path forward? If you watch most videos about Teslas, you're bound to start believing they're a miracle car. Clean, green, and chic. Tesla has successfully built a brand that melds exclusivity with an eco-superiority complex. My Tesla finally came. I, my friend, am now part of the Green Revolution. But as much as Tesla owners and electric vehicle owners in general want to believe that their vehicles are guilt-free, they're sadly wrong. The electric car not only still causes emissions across its lifetime, but the expansion of the electric vehicle industry could keep imperialist extraction in the global south entrenched for decades to come. In terms of emissions, life cycle assessment after life cycle assessment has made one thing clear. The electric car is significantly cleaner than its gas-powered cousin. That being said, the extraction of materials, manufacturing, and charging that are required to put electric vehicles on the road still create a fair amount of emissions. A medium-sized electric car in Europe, for example, creates around 76 to 83 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent for every kilometer driven across its lifetime. For comparison, a similar-sized car with a conventional engine emits the equivalent of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. Right now, life cycle emissions of electric cars in Europe are 66 to 69% lower than gas-powered cars, with that range dropping a little lower to 60 to 68% in the United States and 37 to 45% in China. And those numbers will continue to drop as electricity grids decarbonize. But a dark reality underlies some of these promising numbers. The material consequences of completely switching to electric cars are immense. Professor of technology at the University of Cambridge, Michael Kelly, conservatively estimates that if all of the UK switched over to electric vehicles, they would need just under twice the annual production of cobalt, three-quarters of the world's production of lithium carbonate, and more than half of the world's annual production of copper. And that's just for the UK. There are an estimated 1.4 billion cars on the road right now. So the resource demand of switching to electric motors will put immense pressure on countries in the Imperial Periphery who already provide the majority of the precious metals and materials for electric cars. This extractivist relationship has led to exploitative mining conditions in the global south, so that the global north can glide around emissions-free and enjoy luxury tech items. In some ways, we might be replacing oil for precious metals and raw materials. And looking towards the future, it's not too far of a leap to imagine the US going to war to protect lithium deposits instead of oil interests. Electric cars embody imperialist relationships. But even if EVs were a perfect transportation option, the most optimistic projections suggest that the US fleet will only be about 50% electrified by 2050. A number well below what we need to keep within 2 degrees Celsius of warming. All this is to say electric cars emit less than gas-powered vehicles across their lifetime. But they're still not the cleanest or most ethical transportation option. They are a stopgap solution. A truly carbon-free and anti-extractivist, anti-imperialist transportation system looks much different than the sprawling US streets and extensive highway systems of the world. So in order to understand what's needed, we must walk out of our garage, down the street, into city centers, and hop onto a bus. In Marvel's blockbuster hit Black Panther, there's a brief shot that gives a glimpse of what clean and accessible transportation looks like. Here we see the bustling Wakandan market with a high-tech tram floating through the masses of people. Not a single car in sight. While the electric car might be greener than the gas-powered car, we need to be asking ourselves larger questions like what is the most accessible, most just form of transportation? How can we get the most people from A to B without significant extraction and electricity demand? Most often, the answer to those questions is free, electrified, and most importantly, extensive public transportation systems. Public transportation can fundamentally change a city and ultimately our relationship with cars. And if done well, it has the potential to transport millions of people with a significantly smaller carbon footprint, reduce air pollution, increase the mobility of low-income folks, and decrease traffic and traffic-related deaths. In Tokyo, the subway is king. Every day, over 8 million people ride their extensive public rail system. For a massive city like Tokyo, this is a significant achievement, especially because electrified subway systems have a small carbon footprint per passenger compared to single passenger cars. One 2013 lifecycle assessment of the Los Angeles light rail lines found that they emit significantly less carbon dioxide per passenger over their lifetime, with the bulk of emissions stemming from the concrete needed to construct such a system. While another study found that a fully packed diesel bus might emit just over 50 grams of carbon dioxide per passenger mile. And what's important to note is that these numbers drop when more people take public transportation and when the electric grid moves towards cleaner energy. Indeed, a recent study of electric buses in Trondheim, Norway found that electrifying buses can reduce their carbon footprint by 52%. In addition, the material demands are much less per person for buses and trains. So if instead of switching to electric cars, we embrace electrified public transportation, our demand for energy and materials would significantly decrease. But it's not as simple as just getting rid of your car and taking the bus instead. There are a number of obstacles that make public transportation unappealing for many. Cost is a large one. Many metros and bus fares are priced in the $2 to $5 range for a single trip, which, if you occasionally use the metro, is not too bad. But if you commute on the train multiple times a day, it certainly adds up. There are already cities that have done away with metro fares. When the city of Tallinn in Estonia made all public transportation rides free, they saw a 14% increase in ridership after one year, with evidence that low-income folks were more mobile. Unfortunately, traffic congestion didn't budge, and the increase in ridership mainly came from people who would have biked or walked otherwise. So making public transportation free is just one part of the puzzle. In order to foster a transition away from cars, train and bus lines must also be convenient and extensive. This means buses and trains that actually run on time and extremely often, like every five minutes. It means paying transit jobs well so that there are plenty of people running and maintaining the system. It means public transportation in all neighborhoods, not just one line connecting rich white neighborhoods to a downtown business district. It means reimagining zoning laws so that shops and homes are side by side instead of miles away from each other. It means making sure that bus stops, train stations, and vehicles themselves are accessible to people with disabilities. And it means encouraging walking and biking through safer bike lanes and pedestrian-only zones. These actions will all require significant changes in the way we navigate and indeed envision our communities. But considering that the very fate of the world is at stake, it's certainly worth doing. When it comes to transportation, degrowth, rather than an electric car boom, must be top of mind. Building a fleet of hundreds of million new electric cars will only just lock in decades more of imperialist exploitation of the periphery and fail to solve the root causes of climate change. Electric vehicles would put immense stress on an already stressed grid and would require significantly more renewables to make up for added electricity demand. If we're already struggling to meet current electricity demand with clean energy, think about what would happen if every internal combustion engine was switched with an electric one. So we need to envision cities and towns that are built around people, not cars. But this type of degrowth won't just happen overnight. It needs to be facilitated by massive infrastructural changes that deincentivize cars and make public transportation more appealing. This can be as simple as making buses free, but must eventually end up in a highly connected transportation web. So it's not only convenient but appealing to hop on the rail car or the bus to get to your friend's house. When it comes to transportation, our priority should be to envision a carless world. One where cities are walkable, bikeable, and disability friendly. One where rapid electric public transportation is the primary mode of getting around. A world with cities that look a lot more like Wakanda than Los Angeles. While exploring the possibilities of a future without cars is exciting, it's easy to get lost in the world of dreams. So I think it's important to look at examples of cities and towns already well on their way to electrified, accessible, and carless transportation. There are, of course, many cities in the Netherlands that have put the bike in front of the car and established a vast infrastructure of bike storage and lanes leading to thousands upon thousands of people riding bikes for their commute instead of cars. And there's the workhorse subway systems of Tokyo and New York City, which transport millions of people throughout the surrounding area every day. But there's a city that has built an extensive electrified bus system that, when compared to other cities around the world creating renewable fleets, has accomplished something remarkable. That city is Shenzhen, a metropolis located in southern China that is home to over 17 million people. In 2012, Shenzhen had 257 electric buses. Five years later, the city replaced its entire diesel fleet with fully electric buses, numbering over 16,000. But of course, switching out a city's entire bus fleet for electric ones is not as simple as flicking a switch. It was only possible through extensive federal funding, as well as completely retooling bus stations and completely replanning routes. In Shenzhen, bus routes now not only factor in popular destinations, but are also planned out so each bus can complete its route with sufficient charge, as well as arrive back at the bus depot in time for a charging station to be available. Part of this system requires extensive real-time tracking and monitoring of buses to make sure everything is running smoothly, much like the control tower of an airport. Shenzhen has accomplished a remarkable feat. They've shown the world that it's not only possible to have a fully electric bus fleet, but also possible to do it quickly given the right resources and political will.