Starting last week, the elementary school students of Louisiana will all face mandatory postings of the biblical Ten Commandments in all their classrooms. Apart from the probable illegality, of abandoning the founding principle of the separation of Church and State (guaranteed by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”), the misguided legislators of that state were correct in wanting to shape the adults of the future when they are young and malleable.
In that same week, your City had a heat wave in the high nineties, just ten miles away our neighbor, Woodland Hills, hit 119 degrees, while Phoenix has already had 100 days over 100 degrees and simultaneously, the Midwest is being crushed by a relentless heat wave. These heat waves, with their attendant power outages, are the new normal that today’s elementary students will face in the immediate future. While no one can individually control the weather, the individual decisions of millions of people can collectively mitigate or accelerate the impacts of global warming. The power of individual choices and decisions, when done collectively is a lesson all young people should have as part of their education.
So we should start early by providing them ecological habits to mitigate the global warming train wreck that is bearing down on us all. One area where any individual can make an effective choice to mitigate global warming is in the selection of different modes of transportation. About 40% of global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels for transportation, so SMa.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) would propose that today’s elementary school students be exposed early to the Ten Urban Mobility Commandments:
1. If you can walk use your shoes (or a walking bus:
http://www.walkingschoolbus.org).
2. If you do not have time to walk use a skateboard or its electric cousin.
3. If your path is too hilly, or you are too old, or have other constraints precluding a skateboard, use an electric scooter.
4. If it’s too far to scooter, use a bicycle (the most efficient form of human transportation ) or its electric cousin.
5, If it’s too far or unsafe to bike, use a motorcycle or motor scooter.
6. If it’s too far or unsafe to use a motorcycle, use the metro.
7. If the metro does not go where you need to go or feels unsafe, use the bus.
8. If the bus is not timely or doesn’t go by your destination use a self-driving taxi or its cousins like Uber or Lyft.
9. If you have to use a private car be sure it’s all electric.
10. If you absolutely need a car and can’t afford an all-electric car or all the power for recharging it comes from fossil fuels, use a hybrid car.
We can certainly debate the countless trade off’s in the positioning of these choices along an eco-cost gradient. Is a self-driving taxi better than an Uber-driven “taxi”? Is the weight of the taxi driver a variable that exceeds the weight and efficiency of the self-driving mechanisms? What is the eco cost (including parking) of a car that’s used 10% of the time versus one that is continuously in service? What are the safety trade-offs of micro-mobility devices (skateboards, scooters, biles, etc)? How do we value time of travel for the different options? We could do countless iterations and refinements which would be a valuable exercise for everyone. But the point is, that there is a gradient of eco impacts of the transportation you select and that everyone, young and old, understands this gradient intuitively if not scientifically.
This is not a critique unique to the private car only, since in all scenarios, a car in some form (probably a glorified golf cart), will still be needed in the ecological urban mobility mix of the future, particularly as other transit options will take time to become more abundant and efficient. The reason is that car ownership gives you access to many more jobs in a timely manner, is often essential for moving seniors or raising children, and is one of the predictors of an individual’s ability to overcome homelessness. But the type and size of your car is a choice that everyone can view through an ecological lens. The point is that the car should not be the automatic default or only choice for your mobility.
Fortunately, we do not have to wait for elementary school children to become adults before this gradient can be put to use, Today, you can test yourself and see for yourself how far up these eco Commandments you can get by your own personal transportation choices. You may find you have more transportation choices of increasing positive impact than you realized. Remember the actual choices you model today, will have much more impact on the children nearby, than any list of Commandments on their classroom wall.
By Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA
S.M.a.r.t Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Thane Roberts, Architect, Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA, Robert H. Taylor AIA, Architect, Dan Jansenson, Architect & Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission, Samuel Tolkin Architect & Planning Commissioner, Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE Marie Standing. Jack Hillbrand AIA
For previous articles see www.santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing
