The Climate Action Plan Committee also meets on Monday the 8th, and the minutes from the December meeting are deflating.
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| Remember the irony from September 2020? |
The PR campaign from the Sustainable Cities Residency decided to focus on the old canard and distraction of idling.
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| The idling canard |
VMT reduction is the goal!
Focusing on idling too often leads to capacity increases and to VMT increases under the guise of "congestion relief." It can also lead to calls for increasing speed, which exacerbates danger in crashes. Scolding on idling is a preferred solution for climate deniers and delayers.
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| Idling - Individualist and non-transformative |
The minutes suggest the students think such a campaign "could lead into other messaging and provide a platform for promoting...alternative transportation messaging." This seems overoptimistic. As more comes out about the campaign (but see below for reasons it might not) maybe there will things to say more specifically in critique.
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| City-level emissions correlate with VMT, not idling |
A few years ago City Observatory looked at "Congestion, idling, and carbon emissions" and cited academic research that "savings in emissions from idling can be more than offset by increased driving prompted by lower levels of congestion" and that "metropolitan areas with high levels of congestion [and idling] do not have higher levels of CO2 emissions per capita than ones with low congestion."
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| SF Chronicle, Dec. 2023 |
A more promising campaign might have been education on pollution from leaf-blowers and other small two-stroke engines or, again, education on pollution from home methane gas use.
Also in the minutes is what appears to be a move to reduce the amount of information shared by the City. "Presentations are available upon request" rather than being published with the meeting packets.
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| Reducing openness |
The agenda for the 8th mentions a draft workplan for 2024 with 13 strategies on which to focus, but it is not published.
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| "Increasing transparency" is just words here (Community Report, November 2023) |
If "increasing transparency" and "engaging our community" are real policy goals for Council, the City should be pushing out information, not adding hoops and barriers.
This is a disappointing start to 2024 and for the new Climate Action Plan Manager.
1 comment:
I do have to say that idling is a big distraction.
The most co2 intensive part of a cars journey is cranking the ignition. As that locks in at minimum 5+ minutes of emissions.
So if 5 people are idling to let 1 pedestrian/ bicycle have priority by turning their entire commute emissions free, that should be traffic planners priority.
That's also why I don't like park and rides.
If someone has already committed to turning in their car and driving, why would they then get out of their car to engage in a slower forum of transportation.
Better to increase frequency and density around stops then try to get people out of cars
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