Intersections -- Transportation
and your health 

Part 3 -- Climate change and your car 

While the main sources of climate change are production and consumption of energy, our transportation system makes a significant contribution.

Two principal greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide and water vapor -- come out of the tailpipes of our cars and trucks. Passenger cars, light trucks and SUVs contribute about 17.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.S. EPA. Medium heavy trucks contribute an additional 5.7%. In the Northeast the percentage contributed by the transportation sector is even higher.

The Union of Concerned Scientists suggests that the transportation sector represents the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the Northeast; roughly 30-40% of New England's total contribution to global warming pollution.

In short, our current transportation system -- which prioritizes cars and trucks over mass transit -- is a major source of the global warming pollution that threatens our health.

Our climate is changing
There is a solid scientific consensus that the earth's climate is changing due to emissions from human activity. These changes include rising surface temperatures, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and increasing weather variability, each of which is expected to have a dramatic impact on human health.

Consider the following recent events and data: 

In 1998 a hurricane dropped six feet of rain in three days in Central America. In its wake the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, cholera and leptospirosis soared. A summer heat wave in Europe in 2003 lead to the deaths of tens of thousands, withered crops, and melted 10% of the Alpine glacial mass. The 2006 California heat wave was responsible for 655 excess heat fatalities, 140 coroner-confirmed heat deaths and more than 12,000 emergency hospitalizations.

And we have clear evidence that climate change is already happening in the Narragansett Bay region and will intensify in the years to come.

Based on information from buoys and other monitoring sites throughout the bay, significant increases in bay water temperature have been observed over the past decades, with a change in the annual bay surface temperature of almost 3° F since 1960. Winter bay temperatures have increased by about 4° F, which is expected to cause major ecosystem shifts, affecting the bay's fish populations.  

Sea level has risen over 8 inches at the Newport tide gauge since 1930, and although 8 inches may not sound like much, this trend will accelerate causing widespread shoreline flooding during high tides and coastal storms, especially during hurricanes and Nor'easters.     

Climate models predict that North American heat waves will increase in frequency, intensity, and duration as global mean temperatures rise throughout the century. Some models suggest European style heat waves may be common by 2040.

The impacts on our health
Worldwide, experts are concerned about a range of health impacts from climate change:

* Heat stress induced illness and death;
* Air pollution health effects;

* Infectious disease;

* Malnutrition due to drought and failed crops;

* Extreme weather-related health effects;

* Storm surge related injuries; and
* Health problems associated with displaced and refugee populations.

Everyone is vulnerable, but the health effects of climate change will act as a stress multiplier for the world's poor and for at-risk populations like infants and children. 

Less frequent but more intense precipitation events will have dire consequences for food supply and play an ever-increasing role in the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases.   

Most vector-borne disease (mosquito, tick, and flea) are intimately connected to seasonal weather patterns. Take the mosquito. Higher temperatures increase their rate of reproduction, the number of meals they take, lengthen their breeding season and shorten the maturation period for the pathogens they carry.  

Since 1976, 30 new infectious diseases have added to the surging rates of long-established diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and cholera. Malaria and TB account for 4-7 million deaths a year, worldwide.

Transportation choices can help 

An average private vehicle emits about 1 pound of carbon dioxide per mile. An automobile driven by a single person 20 miles round trip will emit 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. Currently, there are 1,148 personal vehicles for every 1000 eligible drivers in US. Over the course of a year, each vehicle releases more than 4,800 pounds (4 metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

That's why public health advocates see support for public transit as a fundamental strategy to reduce the impacts of global climate change.   

Mass transit agencies could reduce greenhouse gas emissions considerably by increasing ridership and making efficiency gains. Households could reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 30 percent, or 2 metric tons, by forgoing a second vehicle in favor of public transportation, according to the American Public Transportation Association.  

By comparison, improving a house's insulation and adjusting the thermostat would save about 1.25 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

By making the link between transportation and land use, investments in public transportation would also have the benefit of supporting higher density land uses that allow for fewer vehicle miles traveled. If 60% of new development were to be designed to minimize driving and encourage walking biking and public transit up to 85 million metric tons of carbon gas emissions could be saved each year, according to the Urban Land Institute.

Investing in safe, reliable, and efficient public transportation options is an important step in helping Rhode Islanders do their part to reduce the climate change emissions that threaten our health.