Curbing an Onslaught of 2 Billion Cars. Laurance, W. F. In of bioGraphic. California Academy of Sciences.
Curbing an Onslaught of 2 Billion Cars [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Nature could soon be imperiled by twice as many vehicles and enough new roads to encircle the planet more than 600 times. [Excerpt] By 2010, our planet had reached a remarkable milestone: one billion cars – or, to be precise, one billion motorized vehicles, including cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles but excluding off-road vehicles such as tractors and bulldozers. Of course, the overwhelming majority of these vehicles are powered by fossil fuels. And if that figure isn't troubling enough, by 2030, it's projected that we will have double that number: 2 billion cars. Should we reach this ominous milestone, what will it mean for our planet, our environment, and our biodiversity? [] [...] [What Are We to Do?] How can we add another billion cars and not cost the Earth? There are few easy answers, but here are three suggestions. [] First, we need to drive smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. In Europe, for instance, small and even tiny cars are increasingly becoming the norm. There's enormous scope for the U.S. and many other industrial and developing nations to move in this direction. [] Second, we need to become a lot smarter about where we put roads. Roads should be avoided whenever possible in remaining wilderness areas, sites with high biodiversity and endangered species, and protected ecosystems. In 2014, I led an effort to devise a global roadmap that indicates where roads should and should not go, to maximize their social benefits while limiting their environmental costs. [] Finally, we need to raise taxes on petroleum and add surcharges for gas-guzzling vehicles, and use those proceeds to improve public transportation and amenities such as bicycle lanes. There's simply no sound reason that a single human requires a heavy-duty pickup truck simply to drive around town. [] The bottom line is, unless we start thinking hard, and quickly, about ways to curb this vehicular onslaught, we'll soon be living in an increasingly noisy, polluted, and nature-deprived world where the din of 2 billion cars seems far more like a curse than a blessing.
@incollection{lauranceCurbingOnslaughtBillion2016,
  title = {Curbing an Onslaught of 2 Billion Cars},
  author = {Laurance, William F.},
  date = {2016},
  publisher = {{California Academy of Sciences}},
  url = {http://mfkp.org/INRMM/article/14089184},
  abstract = {Nature could soon be imperiled by twice as many vehicles and enough new roads to encircle the planet more than 600 times.

[Excerpt] By 2010, our planet had reached a remarkable milestone: one billion cars -- or, to be precise, one billion motorized vehicles, including cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles but excluding off-road vehicles such as tractors and bulldozers. Of course, the overwhelming majority of these vehicles are powered by fossil fuels. And if that figure isn't troubling enough, by 2030, it's projected that we will have double that number: 2 billion cars. Should we reach this ominous milestone, what will it mean for our planet, our environment, and our biodiversity?

[] [...]

[What Are We to Do?] How can we add another billion cars and not cost the Earth? There are few easy answers, but here are three suggestions. 

[] First, we need to drive smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. In Europe, for instance, small and even tiny cars are increasingly becoming the norm. There's enormous scope for the U.S. and many other industrial and developing nations to move in this direction. 

[] Second, we need to become a lot smarter about where we put roads. Roads should be avoided whenever possible in remaining wilderness areas, sites with high biodiversity and endangered species, and protected ecosystems. In 2014, I led an effort to devise a global roadmap that indicates where roads should and should not go, to maximize their social benefits while limiting their environmental costs. 

[] Finally, we need to raise taxes on petroleum and add surcharges for gas-guzzling vehicles, and use those proceeds to improve public transportation and amenities such as bicycle lanes. There's simply no sound reason that a single human requires a heavy-duty pickup truck simply to drive around town. 

[] The bottom line is, unless we start thinking hard, and quickly, about ways to curb this vehicular onslaught, we'll soon be living in an increasingly noisy, polluted, and nature-deprived world where the din of 2 billion cars seems far more like a curse than a blessing.},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14089184,anthropogenic-impacts,biodiversity,disturbances,ecology,fossil-energy,fragmentation,mitigation,motor-vehicles,roads,spatial-prioritization,transport-system},
  series = {{{bioGraphic}}}
}

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