A Pitch For Mass Transit

Unlike President Bush, Barack Obama is going to enter office with a clear appreciation of the urgent problems of climate change and America’s growing dependency on foreign oil — and a strong commitment to address both.

One way he can do this is to give mass transit — trains, buses, commuter rails — the priority it deserves and the full financial and technological help it needs and has long been denied.

Mass transit has always been second to the automobile

Mr. Obama will need strong allies.

Ray LaHood, Mr. Obama’s choice for transportation secretary, must be not only an ally but a champion for mass transit.

former member of Congress from rural Illinois, where farmers produce a lot of ethanol and where people mostly drive. may need some coaxing in this new direction.

Another important ally should be — and almost certainly will be — James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

the division of transportation money in Washington has heavily favored cars and trucks

more than 80 percent of the big transit money from gas taxes goes to highways and bridges,

less than 20 percent to railroads or mass transit.

Mr. Oberstar is leading the charge to change that formula and divide this money a little more evenly. Although it won’t be easy.

Automobiles will be with us a long time, and old spending habits die hard.

part of the stimulus package now under discussion for transportation

Oberstar proposing $30 billion for highways and bridges and $12 billion for public transit.. far healthier mix.

The new administration could further help mass transit by shelving the unfair “cost effectiveness index” that President Bush put in place several years ago for new transit programs. The net effect was to make it easier to build highways and almost impossible to use federal money for buses, streetcars, light rail, trolleys — indeed, any commuter-rail projects.

For Mr. Obama’s transit agenda and for Mr. LaHood, the next big challenge will be a transit bill that Congress must pass by September. Mr. LaHood is widely praised for his management skills and his ability to work well with others. Those abilities will be needed if he and the Congress are to find and then finance the best, the most-efficient and the most-advanced ways for Americans to move around.

Response to Article Five

This article gave both constructive ideas and realistic solutions for change. I catorogized this as a what we are doing to help slow the process of climate change. It awnsered many of my questions as to what were some of the ideas that could be inforced into change. I feel this is a good start but action needs to happen now before it gets to late. Mass information needs to be posted and people need to realize how important and vital we need change and that it needs to come now not down the future.

Climate change requires quick, decisive action

After witnessing such dramatic images of searing heat, melting ice, unusually powerful storms, rising seas and other devastating occurrences, it would be impossible for anyone to ignore or minimize the seriousness of the situation of climate change.

suggests practical solutions, and offers options for meeting global energy demands and reducing emissions.

The task of making the right policy choices in this area will join the growing list of challenges for the incoming Obama administration.

President-elect Barack Obama kept a watchful eye on the environment and climate change, and has assembled a skilled team of advisors.

emphasizing that climate change has a unique sense of urgency attached to it.

Unresolved, it could pose the worst danger of all to humankind.

will have to contend with massive migration, more widespread diseases, shortages of all kinds, civil violence and wars.

--Continuing to study climate change, which is not fully understood.

It is so colossal and complicated -- and so much a mixture of both natural (forest fires and volcanic eruptions)

artificially produced (the burning of fossil fuels) phenomena -- that we need persistent efforts by the best brains to get a better handle on it.

--Preparing Americans for the realities to come.

After centuries of pumping carbon into the atmosphere, we should brace ourselves for the possibility that climate change is already too entrenched for organized human action to reverse it.

should not delude ourselves.

may be looking at a partial fix, not a complete one.

--Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

were able to make adjustments in our personal use during recent months when the price of gasoline skyrocketed.

In actuality, we could routinely get around in much smaller and lighter vehicles. In addition, we could replace fossil fuels with a wide spectrum of alternatives.

range from other sources of energy, such as wind, wave, nuclear (with appropriate safeguards), solar and truly clean coal (if that is possible), to walking, bicycling and designing towns differently.

--Rethinking the way that we develop our coastlines.

Americans, along with people everywhere, have often had commercial and recreational motivations for building their seaside communities.

treated barrier islands as if they were secure, rather than a defense for the more stable land behind them.

should greatly reduce -- if not entirely stop -- building in areas that are essentially impossible to protect from rising seas and intensifying storms.

--Re-evaluating our national security culture.

behind the curve for a number of years now, continuing to believe that warfare can resolve difficult questions or disputes.

By now, we should have learned that conducting long-distance wars is too expensive in terms of lives and resources.

Why not look to Europe for inspiration?

It opted to create a union and has managed to avoid war within that structure this far.

That achievement represents quite an improvement over what had happened during the preceding centuries, when conflict was widespread

Nations that are closely linked economically, politically and culturally have much more of an incentive to settle differences harmoniously and deal with dangers such as climate change in a collective manner.