planted city

Young Folks, Technology & Sustainability: Shift happens…

From The Huffington Post:

Millennials would rather give up driving than their smartphone or laptop, a survey commissioned by the car rental company Zipcar finds.

…

More than any other age group, millennials said they make a conscious attempt to reduce the amount of time they drive by carpooling, taking public transportation, riding a bike or walking, according to the study. Millennials were more likely to communicate with friends online than to see them in person, and more likely to order online than to drive somewhere to buy something.

More here.

Chart via: ‘Millennials Say They’d Give Up Their Cars Before Their Computers or Cell Phones’ (Atlantic Cities)

Seen around town: Three of the signs posted on BC Premier Christy Clark’s constituency office earlier this spring by about 200 university and high school students rallying to oppose the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. The pipeline is intended to transport bitumen (i.e. heavy oil) west from Alberta’s tar sands through British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest to the province’s ecologically rich coast before being shipped to Asian markets.

The pipeline is currently going through a federally mandated joint review panel process, but there is an incredibly diverse movement growing here in BC to stop the pipeline and speed the transition to a climate resilient, clean energy economy. Here are two recent examples: Yesterday, green groups sued the federal government to protect four endangered species living along the proposed pipeline and shipping route. Today, the province’s local governments passed a resolution opposing oil tanker expansion on the BC coast. Interesting times in BC, Canada, and on this planet we call Earth.

Related:

• ‘Pipeline to prosperity or channel to catastrophe?’ (Globe & Mail)
• ‘Great Bear Rainforest: Pipeline through paradise’ (National Geographic)
• Dr. David Schindler: ‘The Canadian oil sands: economic saviour or environmental disaster?’ (key points) (YouTube)
• ‘First Nations warn of civil disobedience if Northern Gateway pipeline goes ahead’ (Times-Colonist)

Related:

• ‘America’s Generation Y not driven to drive’ (Reuters)
• ‘For today’s youth, cars no longer represent freedom’ (Macleans Magazine)
• ‘We are approaching peak car use’ (FastCoExist)

From Atlantic Cities:

“Unfortunately for car companies,” Jordan Weissmann noted at TheAtlantic.com a couple weeks back, “today’s teens and twenty-somethings don’t seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They’re not even particularly keen on driving.”

Now a major new report from Benjamin Davis and Tony Dutzik at the Frontier Group and Phineas Baxandall, at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, documents this unprecedented trend across a wide variety of indicators.

Their two big findings about young people and driving:

• The average annual number of vehicle miles traveled by young people (16 to 34-year-olds) in the U.S. decreased by 23 percent between 2001 and 2009, falling from 10,300 miles per capita to just 7,900 miles per capita in 2009.
• The share of 14 to 34-year-olds without a driver’s license increased by 5 percentage points, rising from 21 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2010, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to get around. In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24 percent more bike trips than they took in 2001. They walked to their destinations 16 percent more often, while their passenger miles on transit jumped by 40 percent.

Check out the rest of the article to read about the factors driving this shift in getting around. 

(Photo credit: Atlantic Cities)

Food with a Smile: ‘1 in 5 Teenagers Will Experiment With Farming’

(Source: Face Your Farmer via FarmFolkCityFolk)

Kids & Climate Change: The Legal Route

From iMatter via Vimeo:

In an unprecedented legal filing, seven iMatter youth who sued the US government earlier this year, filed a “Preliminary Injunction” requiring the EPA to take immediate action to protect our nation’s youth who are in imminent danger because of climate change. 
They are calling upon the Courts to to compel the U.S. government to put in place “Climate Recovery Plans” that will protect the atmosphere for their future. This video was submitted to the courts to tell the story of one of the plaintiffs, 17 year old Alec Loorz, who introduces himself and his fears about the effect climate change will have on his future.

More here and here.

Bill McKibben: ‘Notes on the Climate Fight’ 

From The Terry Global Speaker Series @ UBC:

Though many have come to accept the scientific consensus around climate change, political realities still stifle the hope of real climate action. To help address this political impasse, Bill McKibben will share his invaluable experience mobilizing global grassroots activism. He will share stories from the front lines of the climate fight – from every corner of planet, including our own backyard. Of particular interest to Canadian university students, he will address the Keystone XL pipeline and Alberta Tar Sands development. Some stories are hopeful, some are not, but one thing is certain: we finally have a movement, and Bill would like you to be a part of it.

You can read about his UBC talk and visit to Vancouver here.

From The City Fix:

The “Millennial” generation is quickly adopting car sharing as a mainstream transportation solution, according to results from Zipcar’s second annual study of the personal transportation and car ownership behavior of 18- to 34-year-olds. The study found that 55 percent of this influential generation have made an effort to drive less, which is a 10 percent rise from 2010. “Millennials are increasingly embracing access over ownership,” Zipcar explained. This is an interesting development, especially since vehicle ownership has been viewed as a “rite of passage” for many Americans.

Among the factors persuading Millennials to refuse car ownership are environmental concerns, which have led this generation to consciously reduce road travel. Other concerns include the total cost of vehicle ownership and the perceived advantages of “collaborative consumption“ programs. “Compared to older generations, Millennials participate in and are more open to collaborative consumption programs, such as media, car and home or vacation sharing,” Zipcar explained. “More than half of Millennials, or 53 percent, indicated they would likely partake in a car-sharing service, like Zipcar.”’

Here are some key findings from the study:

• 55 percent have actively made an effort to drive less, compared to 45 percent in the same 2010 study
• 78 percent say owning a car is difficult due to high costs of gas and maintenance
• 53 percent would participate in a car-sharing service, like Zipcar – mobility and convenience is still important
• Millennials are the most likely age group to participate in the “sharing economy” (67 percent would participate in media sharing and 49 percent in home/vacation sharing)
• 40 percent  say they would participate to save more money for retirement or buying a home

Check out the rest of the article here. Related articles on the topic include:

• ‘Driving has lost its cool for young Americans’ (Grist)
• ‘Why are US teenagers driving less (BBC)
• Infographic: ‘The Future of Car Sharing’ (Collaborative Consumption)
• ‘Is Digital Revolution Driving Decline in US Car Culture?’ (Ad Age)
• ‘Oil Prices Predicted to Stay Above $100 a Barrel Through Next Year’ (New York Times)
• ‘Economy, Gas Prices Make Americans Drive Less’ (USA Today)
• ‘US Gas Use Declining’ (Earth Policy Institute)
• ‘We Are Approaching Peak Car Use’ (FastCo.Exist) 

(Photo credit: Carbon Talks)