The amount we drive is a matter of public policy, shaped by land use and transportation policies that underinvest in transit and make walking and biking ever more dangerous. We can flip that starting now.
Federal regulators want local governments to track transportation sector emissions — but they can't do much to force communities to reduce those emissions, never mind doing so in ways that would address the other damages of car dependency, experts say.
The US transportation sector isn’t adapting quickly enough to the climate crisis by reducing emissions. A better adaptation strategy will require not only shifting how people move by getting them out of cars and onto bikes and public transportation, but also replacing the vehicle fleet with more efficient automobiles that are less reliant on fossil fuels.