Category: Travel & commuting

Better buses & trains – lobby for a sustainable transport policy

blue and white electric tram on an american street lined with red brick buildings

Why do we need sustainable public transport?

Road transport causes 11.9% of global greenhouse emissions[1], so developing sustainable public transport systems is essential if we are to prevent climate change.

While electric and (eventually) hydrogen-powered vehicles are better than petrol and diesel, they still encourage individual travel, which causes microplastic pollution from tyre wear and creates congestion. We need mass public transport systems that are fit for the future.

Imagine a public transport system that:

  • regularly connects all our villages and housing estates with town centres, employment areas and transport hubs
  • is affordable, maybe even free
  • is powered by renewable energy
  • is reliable
  • is regular enough that you can get rid of your car altogether and still get everything done

It could happen, with political will and significant investment, and it could create a lot of “green” jobs.

How can I help get a sustainable public transport system?

  • Write to your political representative asking for more routes, more frequent services and higher subsidies. (Feel free to use the text above to help compose your email.)
    While one letter won’t change anything, trust that your letter will eventually be one of thousands, evidence of a groundswell of public opinion that they can’t ignore.
  • Encourage other people to write as well.
  • Find out what bus services people in your area want, get actual numbers, and write to your local bus company asking for that route.
  • Set up or join a local on-demand bus service like HertsLynx, which allows anyone to travel anywhere they want to go in North & East Hertfordshire for very little cost.
  • Use it! Public transport routes are closing all the time because the government cut subsidies, so the routes aren’t profitable any more. Nearly-empty buses are loss-making, but full ones can still make a profit, so those routes stay open.
  • Encourage your teens to use the bus instead of Mum/Dad’s taxi service.
  • Encourage anyone with time on their hands to use the bus, to help keep the route open.
  • Find out if your local bus or train company has a user group and join it so you can influence local decision-making.

How can I contact my MP or political representative?

In the UK, you can find out who your MP is and how to contact them on They Work For You.

In the US, you can find out who your representative in Congress is here.

Reference:
[1] Ritchie, H., Roser, M. and Rosado, P. (2020) Emissions by sector. Our World in Data. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector (Accessed: March 22, 2023).

Image credit: photo by Flor Nájera on Unsplash

Categories: High impact, Influence, Travel & commuting

Build a cycle route as part of every new development

Top 10 climate change actions - change how you travel

Why do we need new cycle routes?

Every new housing development brings thousands of new people to an area, and most of them will leave every day for work, school or household tasks. These activities add thousands of daily journeys to local roads, most of which are done in petrol or diesel cars, creating pollution at the local level and contributing to climate change globally.

Developers and landowners make millions from new edge-of-town developments, and councils quite rightly make them contribute significant amounts of money to help fund local infrastructure that will be stretched as a result of the new housing.

We think that, as part of planning permission, some of that money should be set aside to build cycle routes. The cycle routes should run from each new development to the centre of town, the bus station and the train station, and from the centre of town to the retail parks, industrial estates and business parks. This would effectively connect people to everything they need, reducing car use, reducing local and global pollution, and improving health.

How can I help get more cycle routes built?

  • Write to your local council and your political representative to demand that new developments are only granted planning permission if they add to the sustainability of the local transport system. While one letter won’t change anything, trust that your letter will eventually be one of thousands, evidence of a groundswell of public opinion that they can’t ignore
  • Encourage other people to write as well
  • Comment on planning applications for major developments
  • Encourage other people to comment too. Share the link to the planning application, your suggestion for a cycle path, and the reasons why, in relevant social media groups. (Feel free to use the wording above.)
  • To help promote cycle paths in your area and nationwide, join and support Sustrans. Sustrans delivers and manages the National Cycle Network, a UK-wide network of traffic-free paths connecting cities, towns and countryside

How can I contact my MP or political representative?

In the UK, you can find out who your MP is and how to contact them on They Work For You.

In the US, you can find out who your representative in Congress is here.

Image credit: photo by Mitchel Boot on Unsplash

Categories: Building, Influence, Travel & commuting

How to stop unnecessary flights – campaign for a frequent flyer tax

sad business people on plane

What is a frequent flyer tax?

A frequent flyer tax (also known as a frequent flyer levy) is an additional tax on people who take a lot of flights (or the businesses that make them take the flights). This makes the flights more expensive, which discourages unnecessary travel.

A frequent flier tax wouldn’t have any effect on people taking an occasional holiday or making infrequent trips to visit loved ones in other countries (although we would encourage you to think about taking more sustainable holidays instead of flying – see our travel page for ideas).

How would a frequent flyer tax help reduce emissions?

Flying is expected to be the biggest source of the UK’s emissions by 2050 [1], and just 15% of people are responsible for 70% of UK flights [2]. A frequent flyer tax could therefore significantly reduce emissions by discouraging a small-ish number of people (or the people who tell them what to do) from flying as often.

An important point is that the frequent flyer tax would need to be levied on businesses, not just individuals. That’s to prevent companies from avoiding the tax by sending a different person each time.

What can I do to help get a frequent flier tax introduced?

Lobby your political representative to introduce a frequent flyer tax. While one letter won’t change anything, trust that your letter will eventually be one of thousands, evidence of a change in public opinion that they can’t ignore.

Here are some useful facts from GreenWorld, the Green Party’s membership publication:

  • Introducing a frequent flyer tax would force frequent fliers to think more about their aerial carbon footprint and give them a financial incentive to lower it
  • Aviation contributes to about 2.5 per cent of global carbon emissions; this rises to 5% when all greenhouse gases, not just carbon, are taken into account
  • As more people reach the global middle class more people want to fly, so passenger numbers are expected to increase substantially in the coming decades
  • In the UK, just 15% of people take 70% of flights.
    1% of people in the UK are responsible for about 20% of flights!
    Meanwhile, more than half of the people in the UK don’t fly at all
  • The Green Party’s proposals would allow people to take one return flight a year, with no extra tax, so people could go on annual holidays and visit any family they may have abroad
  • Businesses and frequent fliers can and will have to adapt – trains can be used to get to Continental Europe instead of planes. Video conferencing can be done online. Longer stays at destinations can be arranged so multiple visits aren’t necessary
  • When properly explained, the public should be fully behind a frequent flyer tax because voters are keen on policies which follow well-established climate science but don’t make them change their own behaviour! 

How can I contact my MP or political representative?

In the UK, you can find out who your MP is and how to contact them on They Work For You.

In the US, you can find out who your representative in Congress is here.

[1] BBC News. 2019. Introduce frequent flyer levy to fight emissions, government told. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49808258> [Accessed 7 February 2021].

[2] Full Fact. 2016. Do 15% of people take 70% of flights?. [online] Available at: <https://fullfact.org/economy/do-15-people-take-70-flights/> [Accessed 7 February 2021].

Photo credit:  Hanson Lu on Unsplash

Categories: Free, High impact, Influence, Quick & easy, Travel & commuting

How to cut your climate impact – eat seasonally

butternut squash soup with chilli and parsley

There’s a cost to eating whatever we want, whenever we want it – our food has to travel further, often from different continents, or it’s grown locally in industrial heated greenhouses. Both of these options increase the greenhouse gas emissions generated to bring your food to your table.

It’s hard to justify eating our favourite fruit and vegetables fresh all year round. The alternatives are buying local and growing your own – which means eating seasonally.

How do I start eating seasonally if I’m not a good cook?

If you’re not used to cooking from scratch, there’s still plenty you can do to eat seasonally:

  • Think about what vegetables you’re eating with your meal. For example, in winter and early spring, you could roast squash, carrots, parsnips or beetroot instead of summer vegetables that have been grown in heated industrial greenhouses or flown thousands of miles
  • Check Riverford or Abel & Cole’s websites to see what fruit and vegetables they’re currently selling in their seasonal boxes (then buy the same items from the supermarket if that suits your budget better)
  • Learn to cook some simple meals (using whatever you like) to build your confidence, and then move on to more challenging recipes with seasonal ingredients
  • Alternatively, use fruit and vegetables that have been frozen in season (e.g. peas), preserved in oil (e.g. sun-dried tomatoes or peppers), or buy cans (e.g. pears, potatoes, or tomatoes)

How do I start eating seasonally if I’m a confident cook?

Eating seasonally can be a fun and interesting challenge for confident cooks.

  • Think about what sorts of fruit and vegetables your grandparents or great-grandparents might have eaten at this time of year, and use that as a guide
  • If you need to use a non-seasonal ingredient, buy it frozen, canned, dried or preserved
  • Check Abel & Cole or Riverford for seasonal boxes, either to start you off or get you through the winter and spring when there isn’t much to be harvested. Both companies can supply your choice of familiar or unfamiliar fruit and vegetables, and also provide recipes showing you how to use them
  • Search Pinterest for ideas and BBC Good Food for recipes featuring your main seasonal ingredient
  • Experiment and create new meals by swapping out an ingredient in a favourite recipe and using a seasonal ingredient instead

How do I start eating seasonally if I want to grow my own food?

Eating seasonally is most rewarding if you grow some of your own food. The pride you get from finally eating vegetables you’ve grown from seed and tended through the summer heat is amazing!

  • Remember you don’t have to do it all at once – if you want to start growing your own, it’s best to start with fruit and vegetables that you know you’ll eat, so your effort doesn’t go to waste. We started with tomatoes, peppers, squash and courgettes because we eat a lot of them and they can be grown without a greenhouse. You might be able to grow some salad items on a windowsill in winter too
  • Join a local gardening club or Facebook group to get advice on when to plant and what’s going wrong with your plants
  • To give yourself the best chance of success, find out:
    – the best planting times in your country or zone
    – the first and last frost dates for your area
    – what type of soil you have
    – which areas of your garden get full or partial sun, and what grows best in each area
  • Learn about companion planting and crop rotation to help your plants thrive
  • Make the most of all the space in your garden. Consider pots, raised beds, vegetables planted amongst flowers, hanging baskets, vertical space (trellis, poles, fences), cold frames to extend the growing season, vines and fruit trees grown against warm house walls, a fruit cage or a greenhouse
  • Get an allotment
  • Arrange to tend someone else’s garden in exchange for giving them a share of the produce (try Lend and Tend (UK), AllotMe (UK) or Shared Earth (US))
  • If you’re really going for it and want to be entirely self-sufficient, estimates for the amount of land needed range from 0.75 to 1.25 acres per person for a vegetarian diet. Check out this Grand Designs episode for the story of an inspirational couple who feed not just themselves and their family, but also support their catering business, on five acres of land in Somerset (season 22, episode 9)
  • See our gardening page for more ideas

Image credit: photo by Sara Dubler on Unsplash

Categories: Food, Gardening, Travel & commuting, Uncategorized

Cutting your food miles or cutting out meat – which is better?

bunches of yellow bananas

What are food miles?

Food miles are the distance your food travels, from where it’s produced to your plate. Every mile travelled increases the greenhouse gases emitted.

However, it’s not as simple as it first appears.

Is it better to eat locally-reared meat, or fruit and vegetables that have travelled a long way?

The short answer, according to a study by researchers at the University of Oxford, is:

It’s better for the environment if you eat plant-based food, no matter how far it’s travelled.

The study, by Poore and Nemecek of the University of Oxford[1], acknowledges that there is a lot of variability between producers, and therefore scope for many meat producers to improve, which should be encouraged. But as a general rule to live by, it’s better for the environment if you eat plant-based food, no matter how far it’s travelled. (What they actually said was “The impact of even the lowest-impact animal products is typically worse than the impact of vegetable substitutes.“

That’s because the emissions from producing food far outweigh the emissions caused by transporting it. (A different study [2] showed that just 5% of American households’ food-related emissions were generated at the transport stage.)

So your priority should be:

  • first cut out beef, other meats and dairy transported from far away, e.g. beef from cattle reared in the Amazon, replacing them with plant-based protein or smaller quantities of animal protein produced in your own country
  • then cut out beef, other meat and dairy that have been produced closer to home, replacing them with plant-based protein
  • finally, choose seasonal fruit and vegetables, or at least ones grown in warmer areas of your own continent. (This avoids wasting the energy used to heat industrial greenhouses in winter, or high-altitude air freight.)

So what is plant-based protein?

Protein is a basic building block of life, so all plants contain some protein – but some plants contain more, or more complete, protein than others.

Some of the best sources of plant-based protein are quinoa, seitan (vital wheat gluten), soy-based foods like TVP (textured vegetable protein), peas, beans (including baked beans from a can!), lentils, chickpeas (and anything made from them, like hummus or falafels), tofu, oats, rice, nuts and seeds.

[1] Poore, J. and Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), pp.987-992.
After researching five environmental indicators, 38,700 farms, and 1600 processors, packaging types, and retailers, the researchers found that “Most strikingly, impacts of the lowest-impact animal products typically exceed those of vegetable substitutes, providing new evidence for the importance of dietary change.”

[2] Weber, C and Scott Matthew, H (2008) Food-Miles And The Relative Climate Impacts Of Food Choices In The United States. [online] Available at: <https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es702969f> [Accessed 25 January 2021].

Photo credit: Matthew T Rader on Unsplash

Categories: High impact, Food, Travel & commuting