Walk30 Week 4 Theme: Walking for Environment and Climate Action
Welcome to week 4 of the Walk30 Challenge! Last week, we talked about inclusion and accessibility and how to be more mindful of access barriers when we go out for our walks. We hope you’ve had a chance to explore accessibility and what it means to you and the people in your community! This week, we’re talking about walking for climate change and environmental action.
BEST is proud to support climate action initiatives. Earlier this year we joined the West Coast Climate Action Network as a partner organization to work together with other climate-driven organizations and groups in BC! We strongly believe that active and sustainable transportation modes such as walking, cycling, and transit are some of the most impactful ways individuals can take action against climate change. The Walk30 Challenge seeks to not only encourage participants to walk more during the Challenge itself, but strives to equip people with the knowledge and experience they need to be able to create better lifelong transportation habits and permanently reduce the amount of time they spend driving.
Our carbon footprint
We need to rethink how we move around and how we interact with the planet to maintain sustainable growth for us and generations to come.
A recent study led by the University of Oxford’s Transport Studies Unit found that meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets requires a move away from motorized transportation. Ditching your car for walking or cycling just one day per week can significantly cut your carbon footprint. The team found that shifting to active transportation (walking, cycling, rolling — any way that you get around with your own power) could save as much as a quarter of personal carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions! If just 10% of the population were to change their travel behaviour, the emissions savings would be around 4% of lifecycle CO2 emissions from all car travel.
The team found that the largest benefits from shifts from car to active travel were for business travel, followed by social and leisure trips, and commuting to work or place of study.
Doing more of a good thing combined with doing less of a bad thing – and doing it now – is much more compliant with a ‘net zero’ pathway and preserving our planet’s and our own futures.
Dr. Christian Brand
Do you know what your personal carbon footprint is? Or how much carbon you're emitting while performing quick errand runs with a car? There are a ton of great apps you can download to your phone if you’re interested in tracking your carbon footprint! Check out this list of apps.
Using active transportation modes to get around while reducing driving is not only good for the environment, but also for reducing social inequalities and improving public health and quality of urban life in a post-COVID-19 world.
To improve active travel take-up, cities across the world will need to increase investment in high-quality infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists and incorporate policy and planning concepts that require a fairly radical rethink of our cities.
Dr. De Nazelle
Rethinking mobility in our cities
Connecting Burnaby is Burnaby's latest transportation plan, which sets out the City's long-term vision for transportation and decision-making over the next 30 years. The plan envisions a sustainable, safe, and accessible transportation system that supports a vibrant economy and responds to climate change. By 2050, Burnaby aims to achieve:
Vision Zero - reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 100%.
Mode Split - have ¾ of all trips made by public transit and active transportation.
Zero Emissions - reduce vehicle emissions by 100%.
The City of New Westminster is taking 7 bold steps towards climate action and seeks to become a “car light community”. New West is accelerating their Master Transportation Plan targets for mode split, aiming to have its residents take 60% of all trips within the City by sustainable modes of transportation (walking, transit, cycling, and multi-occupant shared) by 2030!
How do you envision yourself getting around in the future once the Walk30 Challenge has ended? Has participating in the Challenge been an eye-opening experience for you, through which you have been able to develop new transportation habits?
Let us know on Twitter or Instagram how you plan to walk more for the climate!
