Many of us, happily or grimly, move around town in cars—either our own or hired—rather than take public transport. There is a carbon cost to that, however, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has calculated it for us by estimating the carbon saved if we were to take Metro rather than a car. Let’s say, for example, we want to come to St. John’s from Bethesda. If we go to the WMATA Trip Planner web site and check the route from Bethesda to McPherson Square, we find not only the times of trains and cost, but also how much carbon would be saved, in this case, between 4.7 and 4.9 lbs of CO2 depending on what route we choose. Double that for a round trip. If we all did that routinely, we’d create very significant carbon savings.
What we can do:
- Check out parking options around a Metro station near home.
- Consider Metro alternatives for more of our urban travel.
- Carpool where possible.
