Earth Day and the Role of Public Transit
4.15.2010
Earth Day is a day dedicated to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment held on April 22nd, as described by Wikipedia. There are many ways that one can do to show their appreciation for the Earth and one of the best ways is to reduce your carbon footprint. How? By using public transit. Public transit plays one of the largest roles in helping to sustain the Earth’s atmosphere. Earth Day is a day that we as individuals should all be celebrating public transit and at the same time transit agencies should celebrate the accomplishments that happen year round.
Public transit participation is one of the easiest ways for a person to show their appreciation for the Earth, not only on Earth Day but every day. And what do many agencies do, show their appreciation right back to the individual, cities and towns. You sponsor events, you establish special routes and services for celebrations; you move your city or town. Take for example the Ventura County Transit Commission in cooperation with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. They are running promotions and special services for Earth Day events as well as providing 15,000 free bus tickets to individuals. They have established a web page to support their goal to preserve clean air, promote community and individual responsibility for our environment, and promoting economic and community well-being by encouraging the use of public transportation in and around Ventura County (website). They are a leading example of what agencies across the country and world do to help create awareness about utilizing public transportation not only for the Earth’s sustainability but for the health and financial savings.
To put using public transit in an environmental perspective, just visit www.ourgreencommute.com. Using the carbon calculator employers and employees can see what their environmental impact would be if they chose to take public transit. For example, if a person who receives a free ticket from the Ventura promotion then decided, because of how easy it was, to take public transit to work once a week they would save the equivalent of (assuming their commute is 30 miles):
- CO2 emissions from 1 barrel of oil consumed
- Carbon sequestered annually by 9 tree seedlings grown for 10 years
- Greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 225 pounds of waste instead of sending it to the landfill
Let’s keep the movement going and remind ourselves this Earth Day that we are not only moving people from place to place but doing our part to preserve our Mother Earth for future generations. Earth thanks all of you who play a role in public transit.