We must all stop driving immediately!

I think that on a basic level, we all realise that our traditional petrol or diesel powered cars really aren’t that good for the environment. Firstly, they rely on a non-renewable resource (oil) and secondly, they kick out some pretty nasty stuff in the form of emissions (Carbon Dioxide in particular).  

But let’s examine the issue more closely and see quite how much of a problem our vehicles are when it comes to their emissions. According to data released by the Committee on Climate Change surface transport accounts for 23% of total CO₂ emissions. 

Carbon Dioxide emissions by each mode of transport in the UK. As we can see, cars make up the majority of emissions. 

From examining the chart below, we can see that within ‘Surface Transport CO₂ emissions’, cars are responsible for 57% of CO₂ emissions. That’s quite a lot! When we put it back into the context of the country’s total CO₂ emissions it comes to 13%. Even without vans or HGVs, that’s a sizeable chunk of total CO₂ emissions (the blue section of the diagram below).  

With this diagram we can see that cars make up 13% of national Carbon emissions and the majority of surface transport (the coloured section).

 In the US it’s a similar story as this data by the Environmental Protection Agency reveals. Transportation (including aircraft) accounts for 34% and within that light duty vehicles (to all intents and purposes, cars) account for 60%.

Similar charts to the above, for the USA. The chart on the left shows that transportation accounts for 34% and within that, light vehicles make up 60% of that 34% - just over 20% of total national CO2 emissions. 

 If we can all agree that we need to reduce CO₂ emissions (if you disagree then feel free to express yourself in the comments!) then it seems pretty obvious that driving our cars less is one very individual and personal thing we can do so as a society.

 

Now let’s look at it on a more local level. 

Let’s use the example of London as it’s where I’ve grown up and gone to university. If you head over to the excellent London Air page by the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London, it becomes immediately obvious that there are increased pollution levels around roads. 

The darker areas indicate higher levels of pollution. It's immediately apparent that a lot of pollution must come from cars!

From a health point of view, inhaling the Carbon Dioxide emissions from cars isn’t that much of a worry. The real concern here are other gases and particulates such as Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone and PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ particulates which are known to have an effect on health within London.

This report by the Air Quality Expert Group does a great job of explaining the various health effects and origins of what we can refer to as ‘anthropogenic’ particles (particulate matter from human sources such as vehicles and factories). 

To summarise, the main mobile source of particulate matter is road transport and health effects include respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses as well as general ill health in more vulnerable members of society- those with pre-existing conditions as well as the elderly and children. 

Furthermore, this lengthy report by the Royal College of Physicians also mentions air pollution as playing a factor in obesity, infant mortality, pregnancy troubles, diabetes and cancer.

But we don’t even have to rely on this data and warnings about a rising pollution death toll in London such as this report by City hall that puts it at 9,000! I remember when I moved from a green suburb into the heart of London, I found the pollution so bad that I had to resort to going for runs in the middle of the night when pollution levels seemed to be slightly lower as I simply found it easier to breathe. (Spoiler: I was probably right).

So clearly, what comes out of our cars’ exhausts is nasty stuff! If we stopped driving our cars there would not only be environmental benefits for the planet as a whole but also more localised benefits to our personal health.

When we also consider that we are apparently going to run out of oil (or not, depending on who you believe) it becomes obvious that we must all stop driving immediately. End of blog.

Or maybe not...