Public Transportation Surges in Los Angeles

The American Public Transportation Association is partying like it's 1956. That's because Americans took 10.65 billion trips on public transit systems in 2013 -- numbers not seen since the 1950s. In its annual ridership report, APTA stated that more Americans were using trains, buses, and subways as an alternative to commuting to work by car.

The 2013 numbers narrowly surpassed the post-1950s high of 10.59 billion in 2008, when gas prices ballooned. According to APTA, what makes the 2013 numbers so exciting is that gas prices are lower now than they were in 2008.

Public transit powerhouse New York City saw a 4.2% heavy rail ridership increase. More surprisingly, Los Angeles posted a 4.8% heavy rail increase coupled with a 6% light rail increase for 2013.

The LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is betting big on public transit as the future of the area. "It has to be," said Marc Littman, the LA Metro's deputy executive officer of public relations. "Mobility is the linchpin of the economy."

By the end of 2014, the LA Metro will have started construction on multiple new heavy and light rail projects that will become operational over the next decade. "Voters in LA are so fed up with traffic that in 2008 they voted to tax themselves three times over," said Littman. The taxes he is referring to are all part of Measure R, a 2008 county ballot that will award around $40 billion of taxpayer money to traffic relief and transportation upgrades over the next 30 years.

While traffic reduction was undoubtedly at the forefront of voters' minds, so too was an increasing environmental consciousness. "You can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 20 pounds of CO₂ per day," says Littman. "We've tapped into people who are fed up with traffic as well as those that are environmentally conscious."

This green rider is exactly who APTA believes is behind 2013's surge in public transportation ridership. In an interview with the Associated Press, APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy proclaimed, "People are making a fundamental shift to having options for getting around. This is a long term trend. This isn't just a blip."

Quantifying the affect of environmentalism on increased public transit ridership is difficult, but the fact that 2013's levels resemble those of the 1950s can't be ignored. With the rise of the automobile and suburbia, public transit has long been a secondary option for commuters.

Littman believes that Americans, especially Los Angelenos, want a return to a sprawling public transit infrastructure. "In Los Angeles, there were more than 1000 miles of track 100 years ago, and people want it back. It's kind of like that baseball movie [Field of Dreams]. If you build it, they will come."

To get involved with local public transit projects, visit publictransportation.org

--Image courtesy of iStockphoto/Merkuri2

Callum Beals is an editorial intern at Sierra. He recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz, where he studied history and literature. He enjoys hiking, camping, and waking up at ungodly hours to watch soccer games.

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Sorry Wired, Coal Isn’t the “Future of Clean Energy”

Ouch! Here comes the April Wired poking its finger in environmentalists’ eyes with its provocative headline, “Coal: It’s Dangerous, It’s Dirty, and It’s the Future of Clean Energy.” (Last time it was James Fallows in the Atlantic with “Dirty Coal, Clean Future,” which I discussed here.) Both features are well written, compelling, but absolutely wrong--and for the same reason.

To be fair to Wired contributing editor Charles C. Mann, his article is far more nuanced than its contrarian cover line might suggest. In fact, much of it details the environmental evils of coal, particularly in China, which gets three quarters of its energy by burning nearly as much coal as the entire rest of the world:

According to one major research project involving almost 500 scientists in 50 nations, outdoor air pollution annually contributes to about 1.2 million premature deaths in China. Another study argued that eliminating coal pollution in northern China would raise average life expectancy there by nearly five years.

That’s in addition to the horrific climate effects: 

China already emits one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases, more than any other country. The International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based think tank sponsored by 28 developed nations, estimates that Beijing will double its ranks of coal-fired power plants by 2040. If that happens, China’s carbon dioxide figures could double or even triple.

Like Fallows before him, Mann goes on to note that China is making tremendous efforts to harness clean energy, deploying solar and wind faster than any other country. But, he argues, as much as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace may scoff, renewables can’t do the trick.

No one has ever powered a nation solely, or even mostly, with sun and wind over the long term . . . . [T]he process of replacing the present coal-and-gas grid with a new, sun-and-wind grid—all the while keeping the old grid running—will be long, expensive, and risky.

So to recap: Coal is awful. Renewables would be better, but scaling them up would be hard and cost a lot of money. Therefore, conclude both Fallows and Mann, the solution must be “carbon capture and storage” (CCS)--stripping out the carbon dioxide from the burning coal and pumping it away for storage in deep underground caverns. China has a number of such facilities (although it turns out that GreenGen’s billion-dollar CCS plant in Tianjin just sells its CO2 to soft drink companies).

Mann acknowledges that there are some major problems with CCS, though--it uses a tremendous amount of energy (“20 to 30 percent of a power plant’s output”), costs a fortune (“as much as $100 per ton of stored CO2”), and is still largely experimental.

[T]he world has just 12 fully operational large-scale carbon-capture projects, most in the United States. Not one of them is what is most needed: a facility that traps and stores emissions from a big coal-fired power plant.

And yet, he argues, CCS is the future of clean energy. Unexplained is why China would apply this fantastically expensive fix to its coal plants when it doesn't even provide simple scrubbers that would prevent the horrendous particle pollution Mann previously cited. China burns coal because it's as cheap as dirt, but if it’s suddenly going to cost $2 trillion a year to bury that carbon in the ground (Mann’s figure), the entire rationale for coal disappears. And even if CCS did become widespread, it would do nothing to lessen the environmental horrors of coal extraction, transportation, and coal-ash pollution. 

If you’re going to spend billions--or trillions!--to prevent climate disaster, why spend it on an experimental scheme to clean up coal instead of proven, zero-carbon, renewable technology? The only reason to keep talking about “clean coal” and CCS is what it has always been--to maintain the pretense that someday, somehow, the coal industry will clean up after itself, and to delay the inevitable switch to truly clean energy.

PAUL RAUBER is a senior editor at Sierra. He is the author, with Carl Pope, of the happily outdated Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress. Otherwise he is a cyclist, cook, and dad. Follow him on Twitter @paulrauber

This Bird Flies Underwater

 

The "critter" in Sierra's current issue is the Kingfisher, a prodigious fishing bird that must provide its young with 2,000 little happy meals before they fledge. Exactly how they do this can be seen in this amazing slo-mo video (see below) shot on the River Shannon in Ireland by Colin Stafford-Johnson for the PBS documentary, Ireland's Wild River --they fly underwater. Kingfishers don't swim great distances or for long periods like penguins or cormorants, as you can see in the underwater footage toward the end, but instead pinpoint their tiny prey from above and dive straight down like multi-colored missiles to nab their lunch. 

As we noted in the magazine, the kingfisher is also known as the "halcyon" (from its Linnaean name, Alcedo atthis), and is associated with fine weather: 

In ancient times, the kingfisher was believed to build floating nests on the open sea at the winter solstice, during which time the waters would miraculously become clam and navigable. Pliny the Elder cites this story as the origin of the term "halcyon days."

Now come Christina Chronopoulou and A. Mavrakis in the journal Weather with an article entitled "Ancient Greek drama as an eyewitness of a specific meteorological phenomenon: indication of stability of the Halcyon days." Their study of weather references in classical Greek plays shows that the 5th Century BCE was pretty darn halcyon--so much so that audiences of the time could expect to watch open-air performances in amphitheaters in mid-winter. In fact, says Tim Radford at Climate News Network, Greek dramas of the time were replete with halcyon references:

Euripides in Medea in 431 BC mentions "the temperate and sweet breezes" while Aristophanes in The Frogs in 405 BC actually addresses "you halcyons who chatter by the ever-flowing waves."

"Combining the fact that dramatic contests were held in mid-winter without any indication of postponement, and references from the drama about clear weather and mild winters, we can assume that those particular days of almost every January were summery in the 5th and maybe the 4th centuries BC," said Chronopoulou. 

Thus the kingfisher provides paleoclimatologists new clues for unravelling the fluctuations of weather, the better to chart our own drastic effects on the world's climate.

 

 Image: Colin Stafford-Johnson

PAUL RAUBER is a senior editor at Sierra. He is the author, with Carl Pope, of the happily outdated Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress. Otherwise he is a cyclist, cook, and dad. Follow him on Twitter @paulrauber

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Women of the Sierra Club: Allison Chin

March is Women’s History Month, and Sierra would like to take this time to acknowledge the extraordinary women who have joined the Sierra Club's ranks, both past and present.

When Allison Chin was growing up, she and her family went camping every summer, an experience that has embedded her with a love of nature and the outdoors. She started looking for an organization that showed the same desire to protect national parks that she felt, which led her to the Sierra Club.

Chin described herself as "a paper member" for years and joined the Sierra Club while in graduate school. 

"When I was a grad student I took a fellow grad student camping for her first time, and she was about 23, and it just hit me that I had taken it all for granted," Chin said. "If you don’t know the outdoors, if you don't know these wonderful places, why would you go out there?"

Unfortunately, graduate school doesn't exactly lend itself to free time, and Chin knew that volunteering wouldn't be on the agenda until after she graduated.

"When I did finally get my degree, one of my presents to myself was to volunteer with the Sierra Club," Chin said. "It was through the Inner City Outings program, and I love working with young people and I love hiking, so I could connect those two interests. It was great to give back and get to know a new area where I was living. That was definitely the beginning of a very, very long relationship."

Within a year after Chin's first experience with the San Jose chapter of the Inner City Outings, she became a certified outings leader and went on to lead over 200 trips. In 2008, she became the first person of color to serve as president of the Sierra Club's board, a position she held until 2010 and again from 2012 to 2013. She described her time as president as "humbling," and acknowledged the women who paved her way.

"Women were founding members of the Club too, which is just a testament to the fact that even though we're thought of as an old, male-dominated organization, there have been women as leaders in the Club who have been real critical to the movement," she said.

Chin has been an advocate for increasing diversity in the Club's leadership, and hopes that one day the diversity initiatives in place will no longer be necessary.

"The demographics in our country are shifting; we don’t reflect the communities that we work in and live in," Chin said. "If we want to reach everyone then we’ve got to reflect them in our leadership. It’s essential to building the movement that we really engage people, and one of the best ways to attract people is to make sure that you reflect them and their values."

One of the highlights of her time as president was when the board agreed to support a pathway to citizenship. The Sierra Club has a policy to remain neutral on the subject of immigration, but Chin believes this decision sent an important message.

"We were able to be consistent with both our practices of honoring our immigration policy and our commitment to being a more inclusive and welcoming organization," Chin said. "We found a way to stand up for the values we believe in; that everyone has a right to clean water, clean air."

During Chin's second term as president, she presided over a historic decision for the Club's board to partake in an act of civil disobedience against the Keystone XL pipeline.

"With the president getting his second term, with the Keystone decision, with our ears to the ground hearing people of all walks of life looking for leadership and wanting to take action, we did think that was the right moment."

Chin has continued to stay active in the Sierra Club with Our Wild America and the Diversity Council. She is also working with the Sierra Club and other organizations to increase diversity and inclusion.

--Image courtesy of Sierra Club Archives/Colby Library

Jessica Zischke is an editorial intern at Sierra. She is currently studying environmental studies at Dartmouth College, where she also works as a staff writer for The Dartmouth newspaper.

 

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Yao Ming: A Towering Figure Against Ivory

Yao Ming is perhaps the most famous athlete in China. He towered over defenders at 7'6" during his playing days, and now he hopes he can emulate that dominance off the court. That's because Yao has become one of the most outspoken advocates against the illegal Ivory trade.

On March 4, Yao, now a member of China's parliament, delivered a petition to the government with the objective of completely banning the ivory trade. When Yao addressed the press, he promoted his two-part solution. "The first thing is to pass a law making it clear that trading in ivory and ivory products is illegal," said Yao. "The second is to make every consumer understand that purchasing ivory encourages poaching and that when you buy a piece of ivory it's like buying a bullet."

China imports more trafficked ivory than any other country in the world. It has long been a status symbol, and rising incomes throughout the country have enhanced demand. It is therefore even more important that a figure as prominent as Yao should speak out against its trade.

In 2012, Yao spent 12 days in Kenya and South Africa on a fact-finding mission for The End of Wild, a documentary aimed at curbing international ivory demand. Yao partnered with Save the Elephants and the African Wildlife Foundation to produce the film which features powerful and grotesque images of the ivory trade.

After his trip to Africa, Yao wrote an article for The Guardian about his experience, proclaiming that, "an ivory carving is far removed from the sad carcass of a poached elephant, but China must make this connection."

During his time in the NBA, Yao was a formidable presence for the Houston Rockets while also having an immense impact on the growth of basketball in China. Nevertheless, Yao's impact on basketball could be dwarfed by his potential impact on hundreds of thousands of rhinos and elephants.

--Image courtesy of iStockphoto/KreangchaiRungfamai

Callum Beals is an editorial intern at Sierra. He recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz where he studied history and literature. He enjoys hiking, camping, and waking up at ungodly hours to watch soccer games.

 

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Why is this Professor Living in a Dumpster?

They call him Professor Dumpster, and no, this is not a put down. Dr. Jeff Wilson of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas literally (or litter-ally as he likes to spell it) lives in a dumpster. 

It's all part of The Dumpster Project, an experiment in sustainability that sees Professor Dumpster and students at Huston-Tillotson retrofitting a dumpster to meet sustainable and livable standards. "Science needs to be juiced up a bit," said Wilson. "I have been an environmental science teacher for the past six years, and I'm tired of kids falling asleep in class."

The Dumpster Project has certainly gotten people's attention. Dr. Wilson and his students recently hosted a "dumpster warming" party to mark the start of what will hopefully be a long a fruitful endeavor for all involved. Around 250 people came to the event, which was accompanied by student presentations related to the project.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the Dumpster Project is its symbolic nature, as Wilson will be conserving resources where they are normally discarded. Nevertheless, Wilson believes that facilitating dialogue is more important than metaphorical meaning. "The end game is that the dumpster becomes a conversation," said Wilson. "For some people it'll be about sustainability, for some people it will be about less is more, for some people it will be a business proposition. We just want a conversation."

Women of the Sierra Club: Marion Randall Parsons

March is Women’s History Month, and Sierra would like to take this time to acknowledge the extraordinary women who have joined the Sierra Club's ranks, both past and present.

Marion Randall Parsons first heard of the Sierra Club after moving from Piedmont, California to Berkeley, California, where she met the young Wanda Muir, John Muir's daughter. Although she didn’t know it at the time, this would lead to a lifelong dedication to the organization. Randall Parsons's involvement began with her first Sierra Club Outing in 1903, the third year of such trips, and of this experience she wrote, "It sounds rather alarming at first — to camp for a month with a party of 150 persons, strangers for the greater part."

Fortunately for Randall Parsons, these strangers did not stay foreign to her for long, and soon became some of the most important people in her life. It was on this first Outing that she met Edward Parsons, who would become her husband four years later. Her love of these trips continued throughout her time at the Sierra Club and, in response to an Outing invitation from John and Wanda Muir after Edward’s death, she wrote, “I am hoping that the big beautiful mountains will help me to get back my interest in life and work again.”

Randall Parsons wore many hats in her years with the Sierra Club. A writer, artist, photographer, mountaineer, and nature enthusiast, she soon became an active member and leader as well. Edward Parsons’s position as a board member showed a direct route for action within the Club, and when he passed away in 1914, Randall Parsons became the first woman elected to the board of directors.

Extreme Weather Gardening

Winter has not been kind to a majority of the United States. Virtually the entire country was mired in a polar vortex, and now storm after storm seemingly batters the country. On the flip-side, California is stranded in a record drought, which may seem to be less pressing than the rest of the country's problems, but in reality is extremely threatening. One thing that both of these weather systems encourage is extreme weather gardening, which is sadly not an event at this year's Winter X Games. Whether you're stuck in a blizzard or a heat wave, here are some plants and tips that can help make your garden impervious to the elements.

Winter Warriors

Amazing Ways the NBA is Going Green

The National Basketball Association is quickly becoming just as famous for getting bottles in bins as it is for balls in hoops. That's because the NBA has partnered with the National Resource Defense Council to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of the world's preeminent basketball league. From green building to grassroots activism, the NBA is showing initiative in making professional sports a more sustainable venture.

On February 12, as part of the lead up to this month's All-Star game in New Orleans, the NBA hosted a star-studded event promoting cell phone and electronic recycling. Former NBA players PJ Brown and Dikembe Mutombo met fans and signed autographs at the Sprint Store in Harvey, Louisiana. The two former players helped fans recycle their old cell phones and left with positive reviews about the NBA's green initiative. The Times-Picayune quoted Dikembe Mutombo saying, "This is a great initiative to help America go green." Also during this month's All-Star week, the NBA will host a Discover Green event which will feature bicycle-powered cell phone charging stations and simple tips to help reduce your daily environmental impact.

Brewery to Help LA River Flow Free

While the Los Angeles River won't flow freely with beer, it very well could flow freely because of beer. That's because Golden Road Brewery, a local Los Angeles craft brewery, has partnered with the LA River Revitalization Corps for its newest brew.

Golden Road named their newest seasonal ale the 2020 IPA, in reference to Greenway 2020, a movement spearheaded by the LA River Revitalization Corps with the goal of creating a 51 mile greenway that spans the entire length of the Los Angeles River.

The LA River was channelized in 1935 after massive floods, and since then it has been more famous for movies than its natural features. But the last few years have seen momentum moving towards returning the river to its natural state, turning what was once an eyesore into a place of recreation.