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Notes"That moment of realizing that you’re a grown-up - for my generation, that was when you got your driver’s license or car. For young people now, that moment comes when you get your first cellphone."A quote from Tony Dudzik, senior policy analyst at a California-based think tank, in the recent Reuters article, ‘America’s Generation Y not driven to drive’. The article explores the story behind an important emerging trend:
From 2001 to 2009, the average annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by people ages 16-34 dropped 23 percent, from 10,300 to 7,900, the survey found. Gen Y-ers, also known as Millennials, tend to ride bicycles, take public transit and rely on virtual media.
More than a quarter of Millennials - 26 percent - lacked a driver’s license in 2010, up 5 percentage points from 2000, the Federal Highway Administration reported.
And, it’s not just about cellphones. Check out the rest of the article here.
Related:
- ‘For today’s youth, cars no longer represent freedom’ (Macleans Magazine)
- ‘Why Generation Y is Driving the Great Migration of the 21st Century’ (Place Shakers and News Makers)
(Photo source: Reuters)
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Quote
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Notes"For walking is the ultimate “mobile app.” Here are just some of the benefits, physical, cognitive and otherwise, that it bestows: Walking six miles a week was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s (and I’m not just talking about walking in the “Walk to End Alzheimers”); walking can help improve your child’s academic performance; make you smarter; reduce depression; lower blood pressure; even raise one’s self-esteem.” And, most important, though perhaps least appreciated in the modern age, walking is the only travel mode that gets you from Point A to Point B on your own steam, with no additional equipment or fuel required, from the wobbly threshold of toddlerhood to the wobbly cusp of senility.
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If walking is a casualty of modern life the world over—the historian Joe Moran estimates, for instance, that in the last quarter century in the U.K., the amount of walking has declined by 25 percent—why then do Americans walk even less than people in other countries? Here we need to look not at pedometers, but at the odometer: We drive more than anyone else in the world. (Hence a joke: In America a pedestrian is someone who has just parked their car.) Statistics on walking are more elusive than those on driving, but from the latter one might infer the former: The National Household Travel Survey shows that the number of vehicle trips a person took and the miles they traveled per day rose from 2.32 trips and 20.64 miles in 1969 to 3.35 and 32.73 in 2001. More time spent driving means less time spent on other activities, including walking. And part of the reason we are driving more is that we are living farther from the places we need to go; to take just one measure, in 1969, roughly half of all children lived a mile or more from their school; by 2001 three out of four did. During that same period, unsurprisingly, the rates of children walking to school dropped from roughly half to approximately 13 percent.
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Three paragraphs from writer Tom Vanderbilt’s first article (‘The Crisis in American Walking’) in a great four-part series for Slate magazine, ‘Walking: America’s Pedestrian Problem’.
(Photo credit: The Washington Post via Slate)
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Link
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Notes Urban Future: 'Sprawl is on the skids as Americans gravitate to cities and jobs'
From USA Today:
Almost three years after the official end of a recession that kept people from moving and devastated new suburban subdivisions, people continue to avoid counties on the farthest edge of metropolitan areas, according to Census estimates out today.
The financial and foreclosure crisis forced more people to rent. Soaring gas prices made long commutes less appealing. And high unemployment drew more people to big job centers. As the nation crawls out of the downturn, cities and older suburbs are leading the way.
Population growth in fringe counties nearly screeched to a halt in the year that ended July 1, 2011. By comparison, counties at the core of metro areas are growing faster than the nation as a whole.
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During the ’70s gas shortage and the ’80s savings and loan industry crisis, some predicted the end of suburban sprawl. It didn’t happen then, but current trends could change the nation’s growth patterns permanently.
Aging Baby Boomers, who have begun to retire, and Millennials, who are mostly in their teens and 20s, are more inclined to live in urban areas, McIlwain says.
“I’m not sure we’re going to see outward sprawl even if the urge to sprawl continues,” he says. “Counties are getting to the point that they don’t have the money to maintain the roads, water, sewer. … This is a century of urbanization.”
Check out the rest of the article here.
(Map source: US Census Bureau - 2010 Census via USA Today)
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Video
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NotesUrbanization: ‘Thinking Cities, Networked Society’
The documentary ‘Thinking Cities’ deals with one of the most dramatic societal trends happening today: urbanization. The world population is expected to soar to more than 9 billion people by 2050, with roughly 70 percent living in cities. At the same time, information communications technology (ICT) is extending its reach.
These parallel trends are intersecting at a time in which the world faces serious economic, environmental, and social challenges in achieving a more sustainable development. Thinking Cities explores the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in the Networked Society.More here.
(‘The World at 7 Billion - Urbanization’ Infographic’: Reuters)
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Video
125
NotesClimate Change: US Carbon Emissions Down 7% in 4 Years
From Link TV:
With US carbon emissions down 7% in four years and bigger drops coming, the United States may emerge as a global leader in cutting carbon and stabilizing climate.
Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, tells Earth Focus that new forces including life style and demographic changes are reducing the use of both coal and oil in the United States. He expects that carbon emissions could decline by as much as 20% in the United States by 2020.
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Link
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Notes Getting Around: Americans Driving Less; Young People Prefer Car “Access Over Ownership”'
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)
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Quote
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Notes"The inevitable conclusion is that the issue of sustainability will eventually reach and even dominate the American political agenda. It will not be defined by a smaller economy, but a different sort of economy: With more resources devoted to preserving the planet and its productive capacity. There is a paradigm shift underway toward a sustainable, renewable economy. You see it in many cities, communities and in a growing number of corporations. Support for sustainability is more common among young people than old people, and it is as much a cultural and social mindset as it is a political motivation. In fact, at this point, the political force of sustainability is latent rather than manifest. But it is coming. At its core will be a new form of consumerism and new modes of production. Production will be more efficient and renewable. Consumers will resist goods and services that are not sustainable. Our political and regulatory institutions will both lead and follow these new realities. Unfortunately, this will not happen during the presidential election year about to start. But it is in our future."
The final paragraph of Steven Cohen’s current article in the Huffington Post, ‘Sustainability, Politics, and Consumerism’. Cohen is the executive director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York City.
(Image credit: UWO)
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Photo
9
Notes
“More than 200,000 people are added to the world’s urban population every day: within four decades 70 percent of humanity will live in large cities, and almost all of humanity will live within a day’s travel of one. Cities generate most of the global economy, and most of its energy use, resource demands and climate emissions. How we build cities over the next decades will largely determine whether we can deliver a bright green future. We can now see that urbanization and sustainability must become synonymous in the 21st century.”
~ Worldchanging founder, author and sustainability expert Alex Steffen on “What new idea or innovation is having the most significant impact on the sustainability world?” You can check out more of his thoughts in an interview with the Atlantic Monthly.
(Image source: unknown)
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Awesome
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Stephen Colbert salutes UVA’s Class of 2013 Followed by this.
FUCKING THANK YOU.
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Plant a Garden: Reason #9
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Third Year of Drought Threatens Southwestern Oklahoma! Meanwhile … O.K. Sen. Inhofe still says global warming’s a hoax @ State Impact
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Young Monk! by Mardy Photography
Siem Reap, Cambodia
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