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“Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast. People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what’s so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there, and what’s so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there. They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.” – Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

It seems like people are always in a mad dash to get somewhere.  Whether it be shopping, work, or just travel for the sake of travel, there are so many options – cars, planes, trains, ships… But all of this traveling comes at a price.  Transportation, it turns out, provides a whopping 23% of global emissions, responsible for accelerating climate change.  

But what if we could reduce emissions from transportation, and slow down, or even reverse, climate change?  That is the hope of Project Drawdown.  Drawdown is a California based non-profit organization that brought together scientists, city designers, anthropologists, and engineers to come up with a a collection of “solutions” to reverse global warming.  These solutions range from building design, women’s rights, electricity generation, and land use.  Anyone from governments to individuals can find actionable points to limit climate change.

On today’s podcast, we are focusing on one category of Project Drawdown’s solutions – transportation.  Dr. Ryan Allard joins us.  Ryan is the Senior Fellow responsible for Transportation Solutions and the Senior Data Modeler for transportation models and integrated solutions.  We discuss emissions from transportation.  How can we make getting from Point A to Point B cleaner, cheaper, and more Earth-friendly?  Is it better to take a plane or a train?  Are electric cars cheaper than traditional cars in the long run?  How can we make transportation more energy efficient?  And how will transportation change in the future?