As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, transportation is a driving factor for the climate crisis. Find out what politicians are doing about it, why these plans are being criticised by Chile's population and why workers' struggles and climate struggles go together. Afterwards, chat with Maxi from the future and find out how things could be done differently.
Car traffic is a problem. It currently accounts for 27.14% of total energy consumption and is the second-largest source of emissions worldwide. In addition, there are the emissions caused by road construction and the further damage to health from pollution, particulate matter, noise and accidents. Although modern vehicles are less harmful to the climate than they were twenty years ago, emissions have risen due to the increased volume of traffic. In the transport sector, emissions are the only area in which no reductions have been recorded.
The high volume of private transport also leads to an unfair distribution of public space. In Berlin, Germany, for example, 58% of all traffic areas are dedicated to cars, although only 30% of journeys are made by car.
The demand for electric cars is booming. However, electrically powered vehicles also require resources. They need lithium for the batteries and electricity to charge them. Most of the electricity is still not generated from renewable energy sources and is therefore harmful to the environment, the climate and people. Even if all electricity were to be generated from renewables in the future, resources would still be needed to produce wind turbines and solar panels. If things continue the way they are and road traffic and car sales continue to increase, these resources will also run out at some point because they are limited.
However, even now, the mining of lithium for the production of car batteries has far-reaching consequences. You can see exactly what this looks like and what those affected have to say about it in the two videos here. The videos are in Spanish, but you can choose between English, German and Spanish subtitles.
So, if the switch to electric cars alone is not enough to cope with further growth in the car industry and increased road traffic, the number of cars will have to be reduced. But what could that look like? There needs to be a complete change in today's concept of mobility, which also guides urban planning. People should be able to fulfil their mobility needs without having to rely on a personal car. Alternative ways of getting to work, on holiday or to run errands must be available, so that many people can gain a great deal of quality of life.
This article is part of the series Exiting the Crisis! - Understanding Crises and Paths to Global Justice, which was produced in cooperation with Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie (external link, opens in a new window). Online Editing by Alina Kopp. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0 (external link, opens in a new window)! Share, use or adapt it for your educational work. Don't forget to republish it under the same conditions and mention L!NX and the authors.
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