The Race to Net Zero: building a car-free future

Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation. 

But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians every year in the US. 

That’s why transit activists say we need to rethink the way we get around. Because learning to drive less isn’t just about safer streets and better quality of life – it’s also key to winning the race to net zero. 

Featuring: Effie Kong, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, LaShea Johnson, Alex Hudson, Edwin Lindo, Thea Riofrancos.

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LINKS

Read more about Boston’s 3-year plan to expand the city’s biking infrastructure, make crosswalks safer for pedestrians, and offer biking classes to women and gender-diverse adults.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is in the middle of getting feedback on the Seattle Transportation Plan on how to build a safer and more efficient transportation system.

Read about Cul De Sac Tempe, a new car-free community in Arizona, where residents are contractually forbidden from parking within a quarter-mile radius of the site. (Bloomberg)

According to studies in Cambridge, MA and Toronto, Canada, bike lanes have a neutral or even positive impact on local businesses, even if some parking spaces are taken away.

A paper in the journal Energy Research & Social Science describes the EV transition  as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and argues that private vehicle electrification is neither effective, nor equitable.

This LA Times Op-ed argues that switching  to electric cars isn’t enough to solve climate change.

Studies say pedestrians and bikers are more likely to be hit by EVs and cause more damage because they’re quieter and heavier than gas cars.

Archival audio in this episode come from the 1953 film The American Road funded by Ford Motor Company, and Futurama at the 1939 NY World’s Fair.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Felix Poon

Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Editing help from Rebecca lavoie, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Mara Haplamazian

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Roy Edwin Williams

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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