Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Today we’re answering a question about sustainable travel. What’s the best way to take a trip down the east coast? Kolya Shields and Ashley Junger from our Possibly team looked into this question.
Welcome, Kolya and Ashley!
Kolya Shields: Hey, Megan!
Ashley Junger: Hi, Megan!
Megan Hall: So, Kolya, what travel route are we focusing on today?
Kolya Shields: Today we’re looking at traveling alone from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. I end up taking this trip for school and work about once a year, and never know the best way to do it!
Megan Hall: So, what is the best way?
Ashley Junger: Well, if you’re talking about emissions, it’s definitely not driving a gas powered car. Driving that journey by yourself releases about 400 pounds of CO2
Megan Hall: How does that compare to flying?
Kolya Shields: We’ve done other episodes on this, and it’s kind of complicated, but if you’re traveling alone, driving creates more emissions than a plane trip.
Megan Hall: So, I should fly instead of drive?
Ashley Junger: Not so fast! You have other options!
Kolya Shields: There’s always taking the bus. When you fit a lot of people into one vehicle, you cut down on your emissions.
Ashley Junger: So, as long as the bus is relatively full, you’ll be creating fewer emissions per person.
Kolya Shields: There’s also driving an electric car. That’s even better than a bus. It creates a quarter of the emissions of a gas car.
Ashley Junger: And if you take an electric train it’s even better!
Megan Hall: Ok, too many options. Can you rank them for me?
Kolya Shields: Sure! Focusing solely on carbon emissions, if you’re traveling alone, it would go, from best to worst, (1) Electric train (2) Electric car (2) closely followed by a bus (3) then flying (4) and lastly a gas-powered car.
Megan Hall: But what’s the time trade-off?
Kolya Shields: Well, a direct flight is about an hour and 45 minutes, but you have to get to the airport, get there 1 hour early, and deal with security, So it can easily take me more than 5 hours door to door when I go.
Ashley Junger: Even then, it’s still faster than a 7 hour Acela train or about an 8-hour car or bus ride.
Kolya Shields: But let’s face it, it’s about a day’s travel no matter how you go. And if you’re able to use a train or bus, you’ll be responsible for a fraction of the carbon emissions.
Megan Hall: Awesome! Thanks, Kolya and Ashley!
That’s it for today.
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Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and The Public’s Radio.
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