Can We Change Car Culture?
By: Tanya Kumar
December 1, 2022
Canadians go everywhere in cars. We have plenty of excuses for it as well - it's cold for most of the year, it's a big country, it's our own comfortable, private form of transportation, etc, etc. We've heard them all!
But are those reasons enough to justify our transportation habits?
Electric Vehicles are the solution we WANT... but are they the solution we NEED?
With COP27 creeping past and resolutions being made, we will inevitably start hearing more about the future of the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act and Canada’s plan to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles. In fact, Canada has already vowed to limit the sale of vehicles to solely electric vehicles by 2035. All of this indicates big changes in how Canada plans to combat carbon emissions through our transportation culture, but with things going back to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to shift with the requirements of our environmental pledge seems to be falling short as emissions continue to grow.
The harsh fact is that while electric vehicles are an improvement on our current gas engine cars, they are not necessarily a solution. Sure, they won't emit carbon while we drive and idle to our hearts content - we can consider this a big win. But hybrid model have been shown to be less efficient than we might hope, and even with the renewable nature of powering electric cars, they do come with their own drawbacks.
What about the environmental impact of mining the lithium needed for their batteries? And what about the disposal of those batteries? And what about the fossil fuels needed to charge those batteries? We're not trying to be Debbie Downers, it's just that electric vehicles are not the miracle product people will try to tell you they are. They're great, but they aren't without fault.
The fact of the matter is, cars will always be a problem
It's not just about getting rid of carbon emissions. Truly, there are more reasons why centering our entire transportation system around single-user vehicles is counterproductive. You might have heard people say that expanding roads actually increases congestion, and it is true. Study after study prove the same result: it doesn't matter how many lanes you provide, cars will occupy any space you give them.
The simple truth is that cars are an inefficient use of road space and make the road more difficult to use for every other type of transportation. Not only is it awful for the environment for every person making their commute downtown to do so in their own vehicle, but it takes up so much space.
How much road space do cars take?!
And it’s not just about road space either – parking infrastructure eats into our land as well. Vox reported on the amount of space cars take up in our cities and potential solutions, with the solutions ranging from complex to surprisingly simple. The simplest solution? Less parking. When the population of a city can change its transportation culture to rely more on public transit, carpooling, and active transportation, we might see the switch from cities of grey concrete to lush green grass.
No one LOVES transit, but we NEED transit
Everyone say it together now: taking transit can be rough. We know, you had to get it out of your system. But as much as we all love to hate it, it really is the best way to get around. We agree - Canada is cold, it takes forever to get anywhere, and we want to be comfortable while we do it.
But there are countries that have proven that taking transit can be an insanely efficient, cost friendly, and environmentally beneficial tool to combat traffic and carbon emissions. Canada's transit systems are improving, we promise. Have you taken transit lately? You might just be surprised to find out, it's not actually that bad!
Everything About Toronto's MASSIVE Transit Transformation: