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Global Warming Solutions News
For Immediate Release:
2006-02-07
For More Information:
Contact Erika Staaf (603) 229-3222 Long Commutes, Sprawling Development, Lack of Transportation Options Are “Driving Global Warming”
News Room
As the new home of NHPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Hampshire may be contacted regarding this release.
Quick summary: Commuting is responsible for more than a quarter of all vehicle travel and is a significant contributor to global warming. The "Driving Global Warming" reports released today in five New England states use US Census Bureau survey data to show that commuters living in far-away suburbs making long-distance commutes make a disproportionately large contribution to global warming. By contrast, cities and towns with compact development patterns and real transportation alternatives produce less global warming pollution per worker. The reports include state-specific recommendations for ways to reduce global warming pollution from commuting, including ways to improve public transportation, encourage carpooling and other low-emission transportation options, and promote more compact development. The reports are available online at www.newenglandclimate.org/drivingglobalwarming CONCORD – A research report released today highlights the daily commutes that New Hampshire residents make to and from work as a major contributor to the growing problem of global warming. Long distance drives to and from work, growing “ex-urban” sprawl development, and a lack of alternative transportation options for commuters are among the leading causes of this troubling statewide trend. Transportation contributes the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions among state energy sectors – 41 percent - and is the fastest growing sector as well. “This report gives us a revealing look at one of the most pressing environmental and public health problems of our generation,” said Erika Staaf of the New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group (NHPIRG). “The data clearly show that automobile commutes to and from work is directly contributing to rising global warming emissions in the state. In short, we need to reduce pollution from the transportation sector, and we need to start now.” The report uses recent US Census data to look, for the first time, at commuter global warming pollution on a town-by-town level. As the New England region’s governors enter the next phase of a two-year effort to cap global warming pollution from power plants, the report shines a spotlight on what is actually the biggest and fastest-growing contributor to global warming: the transportation sector. “It’s high time that New Hampshire offer our commuters other transit options besides just more and bigger roadways,” said Doug Bogen, NH Program Director for Clean Water Action. By expanding regional rail access, improving transit connectivity and promoting smart growth, we can provide commuters throughout our state easier options to cut down on driving, thus reducing their global warming emissions significantly.” The town-by-town rankings also underscore the long-standing concern that the rapid explosion of “exurban” residential development in formerly rural areas of the state poses major challenges to New Hampshire’s efforts to reduce global warming emissions from transportation. Other findings of the report include: *Two-thirds of New Hampshire’s commuting-related carbon dioxide emissions come from residents of the Concord-Manchester-Nashua corridor of southern New Hampshire. *Massachusetts-bound commuters produced about one-quarter of the carbon dioxide emissions from all New Hampshire commuters, and two to three times as much carbon dioxide as a commuter traveling within New Hampshire. *Shifting more commuting away from drive-alone trips, developing increased transit alternatives, and encouraging workers to live near their place of work can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transportation. Commuting is directly responsible for seven to nine percent of the state’s carbon dioxide emissions. And, the report points out that decisions that influence commuting—such as where to live and where to work—influence the trips people make for other purposes as well. “This review identifies which towns around the state are responsible for the greatest amount of commuting-related emissions of carbon dioxide, and suggests several achievable steps that the state can take to effectively reduce emissions,” added Staaf. The
report makes eight policy recommendations that will help the state and
region to get a handle on the transportation sector’s contribution to
global warming pollution. “If we follow all of these policy suggestions, and stay on track to cut global warming emissions from power plants through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, we will then be well on our way toward meeting our state’s global warming emission reduction goals,” said Bogen.
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