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Outside/In

The Race to Net Zero: building a car-free future

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation.  But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians every year in the US.  That’s why transit activists say we need to rethink the way we get around. Because learning to drive less isn’t just about safer streets and better quality of life – it’s also key to winning the race to net zero.  Featuring: Effie Kong, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, LaShea Johnson, Alex Hudson, Edwin Lindo, Thea Riofrancos.   SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.  Subscribe to our FREE newsletter. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook   LINKS Read more about Boston’s 3-year plan to expand the city’s biking infrastructure, make crosswalks safer for pedestrians, and offer biking classes to women and gender-diverse adults. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is in the middle of getting feedback on the Seattle Transportation Plan on how to build a safer and more efficient transportation system. Read about Cul De Sac Tempe, a new car-free community in Arizona, where residents are contractually forbidden from parking within a quarter-mile radius of the site. (Bloomberg) According to studies in Cambridge, MA and Toronto, Canada, bike lanes have a neutral or even positive impact on local businesses, even if some parking spaces are taken away. A paper in the journal Energy Research & Social Science describes the EV transition  as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and argues that private vehicle electrification is neither effective, nor equitable. This LA Times Op-ed argues that switching  to electric cars isn’t enough to solve climate change. Studies say pedestrians and bikers are more likely to be hit by EVs and cause more damage because they’re quieter and heavier than gas cars. Archival audio in this episode come from the 1953 film The American Road funded by Ford Motor Company, and Futurama at the 1939 NY World’s Fair.   CREDITS Host: Nate Hegyi Reported and produced by Felix Poon Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby Edited by Taylor Quimby Editing help from Rebecca lavoie, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Mara Haplamazian Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Roy Edwin Williams Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

A couple of years ago, Effie Kong was walking on the sidewalk with her little sister.

0:14.1

They were in some reveal Massachusetts city just north of Boston.

0:17.8

It was a pretty lively night, you know, February, but it was not super frigid and it actually

0:26.4

felt like quite festive and alive.

0:29.9

So we were both in good spirits.

0:32.2

And then Effie and her sister went across the street.

0:34.8

We actually tried to cross once and I pulled her back and I was like, oh wait, let's

0:40.0

wait until the way is clear.

0:43.6

By the way, Effie's sister was much younger.

0:45.7

She was just 12 years old at the time.

0:47.8

And then I told her a joke and she was laughing and then asked, we were still in the wake

0:53.8

of that joke.

0:55.2

We were crossing the street.

0:57.3

And then they were hit by a car.

1:02.5

Time slows down.

1:05.6

I almost have a shot for shot memory, like if you were to look at a film up to the light.

1:13.6

My first thought was, did I just get hit by a car?

1:18.7

And then my second thought was, I couldn't have just gotten hit by a car.

1:22.2

This doesn't happen.

1:25.4

And then my third thought was, is this guy going to stop hitting me with his car?

1:31.5

And then he slams on the brake.

1:35.4

I get whipped down and I fully face planted on the pavement.

...

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