You really should now the essentials of this article already. But I will fill you in on the details. If even the overall points of this article are new to you, you must have been living under a rock for the last couple of decades, which is good, because then you are not part of the problem. Anyway, get to the point, Johannes.

I´m in Love with my Car – and addicted to Online Plane Ticket shopping 

Roger Meadows Taylor, drummer, singer and songwriter for Queen, really puts it brilliantly. The stereotypical macho man has a love affair with his car. Though I don´t doubt that cars work excellently attracting certain women the way a magnet attracts iron shavings. The more expensive the car, the greater the magnetic pull. But this automolove might develop further and the man-car relationship exceed that of it´s status as a tool for the chick magnet. When you hear only the gear of your car and not the “run of the mill” chatter of your girlfriend or wife, maybe your relationship to your four-wheeled friend has gone too far? When you end it with her, because you rather want to buy a new carburettor, maybe your automolove is actually a disease? No matter the excellent features of your fantastic car, maybe you should try taking your girl by the hand and take a walk to the beach? Your four-wheeled combustion engine friend needs your hands on the wheel and on the stick shift, a walk is much better suited to take your girlfriend by the hand.

Well, i´m avoiding being too factual here, since I know you now it all already: conventional driving by means of combustion engine vehicles is killing our climate system. And so is our desire for exotic, faraway travel adventures reached by planes. Basically, the message here is, leave your car, please, in the garage, unless it´s an electric car, then by all means show off its gleaming hubcaps, the V8 motor with the 300 horses it stables and take her down that open highway to that place that she´s not even dreamed of before, and put some restrictions on your plane ticket “click buy” activities. Probably somebody need you just where you are, and the region or country of your home, certainly has amazing social, cultural and natural experiences waiting for you just around the corner. If you still need to go traveling, what follows here, is a guide on how to take our climate change issue into account, when choosing your means of transport.

By all means biological and mechanical

So, which means of transport is absolutely fairest? Must be the most low-tech option possible: walking. Right? Not exactly. Though, at first thought it walking seems the absolute zero emission means of transport. But at least two other factors into account, when evaluating the emission level of our means of transport: The energy consumption for producing the vehicle in question and the energy requirement for distance it travels. Fuels start emitting before being combusted by engines, and, according to noted transport sustainability researcher, David Banister, energy consumption per mile per passenger, or passenger mile, is a better measure of sustainability than measuring direct emissions from the combustion. 

And our two legs require energy too! Not fossil fuels or even electricity. experimenting with any of these fuels for the two-legged means of transportation we all carry with us all the time is highly unadvisable. But still these vehicles require energy: more commonly known as food. And the food sector is one main factor in terms of climate change alongside the emission levels of the transport sector. And think about it for a moment, before reading the answer here: Which means of transport requires less energy inputs in the form of food per passenger km or miles traveled? Your two legs or your two legs running two wheels? What feels less exhausting: walking to your mother´s house to visit her or taking your bike? The fact is, riding your bike requires 0.06 megajoules per passenger km and is, therefore, the absolute champion, when it comes to low energy requirement means of transportation. Using the power of lifting and putting the soles of your feet forward one at a time is “only” your second best choice. It takes 0.16 megajoules per passenger km for your legs to take you to your mother´s house, wherefore you need to eat, perhaps, an apple more or so in order to make it there, (depending on how far away she lives, of course). But don´t worry about this: both your feet and your bike are very climate friendly and sustainable means of transportation.

Travelling long distances

If you didn´t know the details of what you just read, then, of course, you knew that both walking and riding a bike are very sustainable means of transportation. The problem, you surely protest, is that both of these are slooooooow, and that it will take you hours to get to work, to your brother´s place or wherever. We have become accustomed to quick long-distance travel, our daily commutes. It is completely utopian to think we are going to stop using non-food based motor vehicles for transportation, you will protest. And I agree, of course. So, which motor vehicles require the least energy? Tram light rail comes in on the third place with an energy requirement of 0.91 megajoules per passenger km. This may not be an option in your city, town or village. But you could move to a beautiful city like San Francisco or Bremen, then it will become possible. Buses follow light rail trams closely at 0.92 megajoules. And the ranking continues as follows: electric and diesel rail: 1.65. Heavy rail: 1.69. Motorcycles: 1.73. Cars: 2.10. Boeing 727 aircrafts: 2.42. Taxis second last: 2.94. And finally lorries as the most energy requiring: 2.94.

Real World complexity, ride sharing and fuel source

Real world factors, such as stop-and-start traffic conditions, and even the city you live in, matters. So does the number of passengers. Maybe we should take a look around us and in the bus before entering it? A bus carrying a single passenger is a very inefficient means of transportation, whereas a full bus increases the fuel efficiency. Please, only use buses together with others! Refuse to take the bus, if no one else does. Is that too radical? Ok, it is. But what about car-sharing? Why not embrace the idea that others can use a certain car, when you don´t use it, and not be so focused on individual car ownership?

And last, but maybe most importantly: fuel source really matters. electrically driven vehicles are generally accepted as a greener means of transportation, and this may be true even if you don´t want to share your electric vehicle with anyone.

And ultimately, as discussed in the previous article under the label staycation, the most environmentally sustainable transportation is no transportation at all. Sit or lay yourself down, grab a book or eat your favorite wild food foraged in a place reached by bike or foot. Now that´s not only sustainable it is both comfortable, enjoyable and potentially enlightening! In other words: grab that book and that bowl of wild cherries and just through yourself in that couch. Laze! Idle! As if there is no Monday morning ever again.