As I related in a recent post about electric car emissions (Electric Cars are not emission free: How much CO2 do they actually produce? – Food for Thinking (foodforthinkingblog.com)), electric cars are not emission free, nowhere near and they might be as bad as a small petrol car, certainly in countries that produce electricity by burning coal such as the USA and China.

Its a massive task, looking at the amount of mileage we do, to make any difference at all. When we may well have to make a big difference to prevent really bad consequences to the climate.

Until all of these are in place and probably a lot more that I haven’t thought of, I think we are not even scratching the surface (in no particular order):-

• Stopping the destruction of rainforests. In the past 20 years approx. half of the rainforests have disappeared. In particular, I personally think destroying them in order to burn “climate friendly” fuels to produce electricity and thus more CO2 is a bad idea. Forests consume CO2 and produce oxygen, its not lack of oxygen thats the problem its still around 20% of the atmosphere, its CO2, which is much smaller… around 400 parts per million, or 0.04% currently.
• A 4 day working week involving extra hours for workers that are able to do it (not everyone such as people in certain jobs, or parents who pick children up from school).
• The use of delivery services rather than people going shopping.
• Having a comprehensive look at hour to reduce milage travelled.
• Collecting extra tax by allowing people to sit in traffic jams idling away, is a very inefficient way of taxing people. Traffic jams in general should be removed by whatever things can be done (see elsewhere in this post).
• Government bodies centralising services to save money, for example, the “Meeting Patient Needs” program that the NHS used to close a lot of Accident and Emergency units over ten years ago. They made some savings, almost immediately offset by increased diesel for ambulances, also a bad effect on the environment with all the patients having to travel further, and then COVID came along and we didn’t have enough hospital beds!
• Common traffic blackspots such as the one on the M66 where the junction is to the left but most of the traffic at rushhour wants to go left when coming back from Manchester, resulting in massive queues that could be miles long. Until they get around to fixing this one I know they aren’t really serious about climate change. Its so obvious. https://goo.gl/maps/Hi3qMTqfe2Rb4yr5A
• Stopping people from having idling engines when they are stopped. The auto engine off in modern cars is wrong. If the car goes into neutral the engine should stop. If it is left in gear with the clutch in it should stay running.
• The use of trains rather than having lorries that do 8mpg. This is a difficult one because the unions run the trains and also there is no tax revenue from petrol (50% of petrol cost goes to the Inland Revenue) so investment in the trailways doesn’t have the same return as investment in the road network.
• The sheer size of cars. We need cars that do 200mpg, not ones with 200bhp. Having one person commuting in a SUV is madness. If cars were much cheaper (i.e. no electronics) then it might be possible to have as bigger car for the family and a smaller one (or a motorcycle) for commuting.
• Force = Mass x Acceleration. So smaller lighter cars and a limit on the acceleration. Modern cars are way too powerful, total overkill for getting safely from A to B.
• Stringent emission laws at one time had catalytic converters meaning the vehicle produced significantly more CO2.
• Enthusiasts, and also general low life, removing certified exhausts for something louder, or which avoids the “flat spot” that the manufacturers have created to pass emission laws. Flat spots should not be allowed, and there should be severe penalties for having non road legal exhaust systems. As though having a loud dustbin sized end pipe is a status symbol. Really!

This and so much more could be done. As I think of things I’ll revise this blog post from time to time.