Page 62 - Project 29

The benefits of greening your day-to-day travel
Walking, cycling, bussing and car-pooling more will:

• Reduce fossil fuel usage: When using alternative transport such as buses, bikes or walking, very little
greenhouse gases are produced.
• Reduce air and water pollution: Cars produce exhaust fumes including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide,
hydrocarbons and particulate matter. This is scientifically proven to be bad for people’s health and damages
people’s quality of life. As Canberra’s population grows, so will its air pollution (imagine Canberra’s crisp
mountain air gradually disappearing, and being more like a busy street in Melbourne or Sydney), unless
people shift to alternative modes of transportation like electric vehicles, trains and bicycles. Water quality
is also impacted by run off from roads coated with oil and plastic residue.

• Save you money: The financial cost of owning a vehicle continues long after the initial purchase. To keep
even a small car on the road can cost $150 per week once depreciation, fuel, insurance, registration,
maintenance and parking costs are taken into account. Guess what’s cheaper? A bike. Or car hire from car
sharing companies for those trips when you need a car.

• Improve your health: Cycling increases cardiovascular health and reduces weight. Plus active travel is
much better for your overall psychological health, by promoting better sleep and providing a greater
sense of wellbeing.

Step 1: Measuring your carbon miles (10 mins)

Take a look at some of the ballpark carbon emission figures for different types of travel. If you take into
account that by 2050, every person needs to be emitting a maximum of about 2 tonnes of carbon per year
to stay under 2 degrees of global warming, it helps you realise how big a factor transport emissions can be
for your carbon footprint

• A short haul flight (e.g. Sydney to Melbourne) = ~0.5 tonnes

• A medium haul flight (e.g. Melbourne to Brisbane) = ~1 tonne

• A long haul international flight (about 10,000km travelled) = ~3.5 tonnes

• A car driven regularly for a year = ~4 tonnes

• Using only public transport (buses and trains = ~0.06 tonnes
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• Cycling or walking everywhere = 0 tonnes

Now, if you’ve brought your last couple of petrol bills along with you to the session, then have a very quick
chat about how much you think you spend on petrol each month.

If you would like to have your transport emission reductions measured, then take a photo of your latest
petrol bill, or photos of your last couple of petrol bills now, with your smart phone, and send them to info@
theneighbourhoodeffect.com.au so we can benchmark your transport emissions. Be sure to send us copies
of your petrol bills after you’ve completed some of the actions from this session, so we can calculate your
emissions savings and send these back to you.

See Privacy policy and Confidentiality of data here for more details on the data collection process, and how
we ensure your information is kept private and secure.
Don’t have a smartphone? Then you can fill out this form with details of how much you spent on petrol in the
last couple of weeks.

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