Transportation Transformation, Installment One: Welcome to Stockholm

A guest post by
Nelson Sommerfeldt

Editor's note: Location and community design make a huge difference in our ability to live car-free. This July, Nelson and Melanie Sommerfeldt (pictured at right) began exploring this first-hand when they moved from Michigan's rural, car-dependent Upper Peninsula to urban, bike-and-transit-friendly Stockholm, Sweden. In this first in a series of guest posts, Nelson writes of the transition, of what he and Melanie have seen so far of Stockholm's transport systems, and of their goal to turn this move into a permanent car divorce. -KTA

Ever since I was 16 and had a permit to drive I’ve had a car. Until now.

In July of 2010 I moved from humble little Houghton in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Stockholm, Sweden, the self-proclaimed “Capital of Scandinavia.” The reason for the move is to complete a Master’s degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, the Royal Institute of Technology. As you might expect, I’m a tree-hugging, eco-freak who wants to make things difficult for us Americans by suggesting we might have to change a few things about how we operate if we are to continue to enjoy the planet as we’ve known it for the past one million years. While I consider sustainability a holistic problem, transportation is an easy target but far from an easy topic.

In the quest to find out what sustainability is, and how to achieve it, I have come to Sweden with an experiment in mind. As we left the U.S., both my wife Melanie and I divorced our cars. Not too surprising since we didn’t want to let them sit idle for two years and they were too big for carry-on. But the real challenge will come when we return home. Will we be able to avoid a shotgun wedding? It’s a particularly challenging notion since we plan to return to Houghton, a rural town designed around motor transport and 270 inches of annual snowfall. The idea is that while here, we can learn how to adapt to public and non-motorized transportation as a regular way of life. Then, upon our return, we can use that experience to continue living car-free. It's much easier to get off the drug when you don’t have access to it, and this is how we hope to get clean. So, let me introduce you to the rehab center.

As one might expect, it is quite easy to not own a car in Stockholm. Stockholm County manages a vast transportation network, consisting of an underground rail system known as tunnelbana, buses that criss-cross the entire city and county, several light rail commuter trains that extend into the suburbs and rural towns, and even commuter ferries that dock downtown. This system can all be accessed with a single card and for very reasonable prices. As a student I am offered discounts, so I can travel as much as I want for as little as $2.15 per day. But even the average adult can travel for $3.30 a day, still a very reasonable price. Oh, and all of the buses run on either biodiesel, ethanol, or natural gas. It’s a part of the city’s goal to be fossil-fuel-free by 2050, but more on that in later installments.

In addition to the motorized public transportation, the city runs a bike-share program similar to systems in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Portland and Minneapolis. There are stations set up all around Stockholm where you can check out a bike, use it for up to three hours, then return it to any other station. This service can be used for 200 SEK, or around $28 for an entire seven-month season. And you never have to worry about any of the costs of storage or actually owning the bike. Once you have a bike, it is a breeze to get around town. The city is covered in bike paths, many of them completely separated from the road; often they have their own intersections and stop lights. Even when you don’t have stop lights, cyclists -- and pedestrians -- are always given the right of way at road crossings. And speaking of pedestrians, there are sidewalks everywhere! When we first arrived, we thought we would have to avoid major road intersections in the city, expecting massive car infrastructure with no pedestrian access. That’s how it is at home, right? Not so here. The pedestrian infrastructure is just as significant as the auto, with hundreds of people making use of it. It’s quite refreshing, really, the city is very considerate of all forms of transport.

To be certain, there are lots of cars in Stockholm. Almost 300,000 of them are in use in the city according to the 2007 Stockholm City Research and Statistics Data Guide. The traffic congestion can get quite tough during the mornings and evenings, enough so that Stockholm was ranked as one of the 20 worst cities to commute into (by car) in a 2010 IBM survey. In 2007, the city implemented a graduated toll system at all major inroads, charging more for entries during the busiest times and gradually less for less busy times. The highest tolls are 20 SEK, about $3.00, and you get charged going in and out. Then once you make it into the city, an annual parking pass can cost you 5000 SEK, which is roughly $2.50 per working day. The revenues generated by the tolls are to be used to maintain and improve roads in the city. In fact, one of the hot topics for this year’s national election (which just ended earlier this month) is the proposal of a highway tunnel that would travel north/south all the way under Stockholm to act as a bypass and reduce traffic through the city center. The party in favor of it won.

So with all of the options available, you would think that transportation here is easy, right? Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no. I, much like many eco-freaks, would like to see more investment in diversifying America’s transportation system: build or expand light rail, add bus routes and improve bike paths. So naturally, living in Stockholm is a very exciting opportunity to be able to come into a very mature and diverse city transportation system. I will be writing several more installments here on the Divorce Your Car blog reporting both the ups and downs of my experiences in going car-free, and hope it will help paint a better picture in your mind of sustainable transportation systems and maybe give you more ideas about how to divorce your car.

Hej då!

Celebrating World Carfree Day

Happy World Carfree Day! Cruise the international news online, and you'll find evidence of some of the roughly 1,000 Carfree Day events being held today in a reported 40 countries around the globe. Hong Kong's mayor, for instance, left his limo in the garage this morning and walked to work - a distance of only about 300 meters, but hey, it's significant that he took part. Elsewhere, three thousand cyclists pedaled in a mass bike-ride held in Taichung, Taiwan; Curitiba, Brazil, had scheduled events throughout the day; Vienna planned street parties; and groups in the U.S., including in Chicago and Washington, D.C., encouraged motorists to leave their cars at home.

Since 2000, September 22 has been recognized around the globe as World Carfree Day. Events organized to celebrate the day aim to demonstrate the advantages of car-free living. The hope is that this will encourage the adoption of more car-free days throughout the year and more sustainable transport overall. As I write this, World Carfree Day events are underway in scores of countries and communities; some organizers have posted links on the World Carfree Day Facebook page while specific cities, including Toronto, Mumbai, Wellington, New Zealand, and Metro DC, have their own Facebook listings; and there has even been an odd attempt to organize counter-demonstrations, as reported by Sarah Goodyear in Grist.

I'm out in the boonies, so I plan to celebrate by staying out of any motor vehicles today and taking a long walk in the autumn woods near our house. I've marked this day, too, by renewing my support of the World Carfree Network.

I'm also prepping to do something new on this blog: for the first time, I'll be hosting some guest blog posts. For starters, I'm very excited that Nelson Sommerfeldt will be guest-blogging here about his recent "Transportation Transformation" -- he and his wife Melanie Johnson Sommerfeldt just went car-free as they moved from car-dependent Houghton, Michigan, to bike-and-transit-friendly Stockholm, Sweden. Nelson and Melanie hope to continue this car divorce not only throughout the two years they're in Sweden, but also after they return to Michigan. A post from Nelson is coming up next, so stay tuned!


The scenes of car-free living above are from Madison, Wisconsin (photo credit: Katie Alvord); Utrecht, Holland (photo credit: www.pedbikeimages.org / Ryan Snyder); Houghton, Michigan (photo credit: Mary Been); and Toronto, Canada (photo credit: Katie Alvord).

Yet Another Reason to Divorce Your Car

Alberta's Athabasca River runs through what once was a boreal wilderness, but is now the industrialized site of the world's largest energy project: Canada's oil sands, also known as tar sands. Every major oil company has a stake in developing this dirty resource, which involves mining with a complex of roads, pipes, pumps, and horizontal wells; processing with massive amounts of energy and water; and mega-production of waste, including toxic heavy metals funneled into huge, leaky tailings ponds.

Today a team of scientists released findings which confirm that oil sands development sends a raft of priority pollutants -- mercury, nickel, thallium, lead, cadmium, copper, silver and zinc among them -- into the Athabasca River and its tributaries. By discovering many of these contaminants in concentrations higher near the tar sands than farther away, or higher downstream from tar sands mining than upstream, the study shoots holes in government and industry claims that the unhealthy levels of these elements in the Athabasca watershed are natural. It also gives weight to concerns that increased cancer rates in the region might be linked to the very polluting processes involved in extraction of bitumen -- later refined into gasoline and other oil products -- from these sands.

This is important information for every every big user of petroleum, including every U.S. driver. Our thirst for oil and gasoline has used up a huge percentage of the easier, "cleaner" supplies of petroleum feedstocks, diverting us more and more into dirtier and more dangerous sources: deep-water wells, for instance, and so-called "alternatives" like oil shales and sands. Since 2001, writes Andrew Nikiforuk in his award-winning book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, Canada's oil sands have made it the single largest exporter of oil to the U.S.

Andrew Nikiforuk explains the destruction of boreal ecosystems by tar sands development to an audience at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Madison, Wisconsin, October 2009.

I met Nikiforuk at last year's annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He wrote Tar Sands, he said, because he got mad about what the development of these fields was doing to his home, and to his friends. From rare cancers to social degeneracy, extraction of bitumen from tar sands has visited hellish scenarios on the region. Nikiforuk writes:

As a twenty-year resident of Calgary, I have watched the 'human ecosystem wastage' escalate year by year, as hundreds of fortune seekers pour into my city every week. Every day on my way to work I pass another homeless man ruined by crack cocaine or bad bitumen luck .... Panhandlers dot the streets .... Just three blocks from our house in a so-called desirable neighbourhood, a man's arm was found in a Dumpster. Police found the rest of the body somewhere else .... Avarice fills the Calgary air, and most people run like hamsters on a treadmill .... My three sons believe that driving a BMW or a Porsche is normal,because a bitumen boom fills the streets with flashy cars. The traffic is overwhelming .... The [drug] use ... the wife beatings, the road accidents, the destruction of wildlife, the uprooting of familes, the debasement of property rights ... the whole unmitigated frenzy .... Canada ... is in the throes of an addiction.

The book goes on to document the incredible environmental damage visited on northern Alberta by this rush to feed our oil habit. For instance:

The open-pit mining operations look more hellish than an Appalachian coal field. To coax just one barrel of bitumen from the Athabasca sand pudding, companies must mow down hundreds of trees, roll up acres of soil, drain wetlands, dig up four tons of earth to secure two tons of bituminous sand, and then give those two tons a hot wash. The process costs approximately $100,000 per flowing barrel, making bitumen one of the planet's most expensive fossil fuels.

Tar Sands also quotes David Schindler, a prominent water ecologist and one of the authors of today's study, who notes that the industry's increased demands for water have exacerbated climate-change-linked declines in runoff into the Athabasca watershed. Will enough water remain for fish and other wildlife to survive? Good question, especially when they likely also suffer from the higher pollutant concentrations found by the study announced today.

When I bought my copy of Tar Sands from Andrew Nikiforuk last year, he signed it with the inscription: "Another reason to Divorce Your Car!" Today's scientific research yet again confirms that we have good reasons to think twice about driving, and about all our uses of petroleum.

For some images of what tar sands development is doing to the landscape, see for instance these images taken by Lindsay Telfer and posted at the Sierra Club Canada site.

Recovering from Oil Dependence: Urging the Feds to Get With the Program

This is the last in a series of 30 blog posts about recovering from the Gulf oil spill and from oil dependency overall. The first introduces the series.

For the 30th of my 30 posts in 30 days, I’m writing a letter to Congress. I’m not doing this because I look to the U.S. government – which has bumbled over energy policy for years – to solve our oil dependence problem. If you’ve read the last 29 posts, you’ll know I think we can do a great deal at the local and individual level to ease petroleum addiction. In fact, some of the most creative paths to oil freedom are being forged by citizens and communities.

That said, having the Feds get with the program would make recovering from petroleum dependence a whole lot easier. Our national government could do several things to help us get off oil. In my letter, I’ve included a few that make sense to me. Below is my missive; I’m sending versions of this to our local Congressional Representative, Bart Stupak; to Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; and to President Barack Obama. I invite you to join me in a virtual letter-writing party and pen your own note to the Feds.


Dear Representative Stupak, Senator Levin, Senator Stabenow, and President Obama:

I write to urge the passage of legislation to help free our country from its costly, crippling dependence on petroleum. Toxic air and water pollution, massive military expenditures to secure oil supplies, and climate change concerns have already given us reasons enough to wean ourselves from oil. Now, we’ve added the stunning economic and environmental damage from the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to the list of reasons we so desperately need big changes in our petroleum-centric national energy policy.

I strongly favor the measures below to help us reduce our consumption of oil:

1. Please pass some form of carbon pricing. I favor a robust carbon tax, phased in over time, starting low and increasing at regular intervals to discourage the use of fossil fuels and encourage the use of renewable energy. Such a tax could help fund alternatives to gasoline use. It could also fund recovery from some of the ongoing environmental and public health damage done by burning fossil fuels. In addition, it would provide a clear signal in the marketplace, allowing businesses to invest in cleaner energy with more economic certainty.


2. Please eliminate all tax credits and deductions currently provided to the oil industry. I find it ludicrous that the most profitable companies in the world – ExxonMobil comes to mind – receive what amounts to about $4 billion per year in tax breaks from the U.S. government, as reported recently by the New York Times. These tax breaks are inappropriate favors to an industry that doesn’t need or deserve them. They also constitute a huge barrier to the competitiveness of alternative energy sources.


3. Please significantly increase funding for transit, bicycling, and walking facilities. I suggest doing this with revenues from carbon pricing and from eliminating oil industry tax breaks. Since about 70% of the petroleum we consume in this country gets used for transportation, such measures have huge potential to reduce our use of oil and gasoline. They are popular at the local level, as well; a good example is the Safe Routes to School program, which has helped improve child safety and reduce the need for parents to drive. Safe Routes to School has also improved walking and cycling conditions for all community members. This and similar programs deserve to be expanded. I'd like to see Amtrak's long-distance trains included in this, as well.
   


4. Please establish stronger federal tax credits for energy efficiency. The amount of energy our country wastes is mind-boggling and unnecessary. Other economies in the developed world consume less energy per unit GDP and rank more highly on quality- of-life measures. We can rebuild our economy more efficiently and effectively if we use energy more efficiently.


5. Please improve energy efficiency in the transportation sector by imposing a national feebate/rebate system for car purchases. A system of high purchase taxes on gas-guzzling larger luxury cars, with corresponding credits on fuel-efficient vehicles, could be structured to be revenue-neutral; that is, the high taxes on gas guzzlers would pay for the administration of the program and for the credits to buyers of fuel-efficient vehicles.

The best thing you can do for the country now is to help pass a more rational energy policy that includes these and similar measures. I appreciate your attention to my concerns and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Katie Alvord

A Town Recovers from Oil Dependence, Part 4

This is #29 in a series of blog posts about recovering from the Gulf oil spill and from oil dependency overall. The first introduces the series.

In posts over the last few days, I’ve written of several changes in a town that’s taking steps to recover from oil dependence. Bit by bit, small efforts that individuals are pursuing to become more free of petroleum and cars (the heaviest oil consumers) are adding up to a bigger shift. Here’s what has happened in our town so far:

• A cyclist started a bicycle repair program for youth, adding bicycles to the town fleet and getting more teens to cycle.
• The repair program created a town-wide bicycle sharing project making it easier for yet more folks to bicycle.
  
• Another cyclist started a bicycle delivery service which, with cargo bikes, can deliver up to a few hundred pounds of goods at a time.
• Higher visibility of bikes has inspired more businesses to add bike racks.
• A concerned parent and teacher got the school district to join Safe Routes to School.
• Local schools took part in Walk to School Day.
• Walking School Buses have formed to help kids walk safely to school on a regular basis.
• Local Girl Scouts drafted a map of safe walking, cycling and transit routes for kids.
• By participating in Park(ing) Day and using Street Reclaiming tips, a neighborhood group turned a few parking spaces into mini-parks.
• With help from America Walks, concerned citizens started a walking advocacy group which has launched campaigns to assess the town's walkability and to get drivers to slow down.
• One worker at a major business with a big but overcrowded parking lot convinced management of the benefits of starting a telecommuting program, which was joined by about a third of the company’s employees.
• Another worker at the same company started a biodiesel vanpooling program.
• Seeing the increased use of biodiesel for this program, a service station in town added a biodiesel pump, which encouraged more residents to use this alternative fuel.
• With growth in telecommuting and vanpooling, the company was able to sell off part of its parking lot to a developer who built a solar apartment complex.
• Company employees moved in to the solar apartments and started walking to work.
• A carsharing business was established in town.

These cascading changes have begun with citizen and small business initiative, but now, with more people walking, cycling, telecommuting and sharing transportation, the town government has been inspired to do more. Here are some of the actions they take:

• As they see the growth of cycling in town, they designate bike routes with painting and signage and also fund new bike paths.
  
• After seeing the success of local vanpooling, they expand their transit system with biodiesel buses and collaborate with the school district to convert school buses to biodiesel as well.
• They add a free electric trolley running a route in the downtown area similar to the low-fare electric buses in Santa Barbara.
• They add bike racks to all buses in the system.
• In response to requests from citizens groups, they increase traffic calming measures on neighborhood streets, using bollards, roundabouts, road diets, and other techniques that slow traffic and encourage walking and cycling.
• They vote to increase parking fees but gives exceptions to carshare cars and vehicles not powered by petroleum.
• They vote in a zoning plan to encourage mixed use zoning and higher densities near transit stops.
• They approve plans to convert the town’s strip malls into village-like neighborhoods, turning some retail space into apartments and ripping up parking lots for parks, more homes, schools and libraries.
• They enact an urban growth boundary to keep the town compact – which saves money on infrastructure such as sewers and streets and also saves energy.
• They vote in a building code that requires energy efficiency measures in new construction, in remodels, and at time of sale for existing homes.
• They start closing central streets in town one night a week for a community market selling local goods and farm produce; this proves so popular that ultimately it becomes a permanent car-free area.
  
  

All these changes give people many more options for getting around town without using cars and gasoline, reducing the overall amount of petroleum used in this town. All the measures I've listed here are based on programs that have been carried out successfully in towns around the U.S. and the world.

In a similar scenario I wrote for Divorce Your Car! I calculated that changes like the ones above could allow the vehicle fleet to be reduced to one-tenth what it is now – and in a manner that still met everyone’s travel needs. If such a reduced vehicle fleet can then be powered by alternatives to petroleum – a much more realistic prospect if we’re not trying to keep hundreds of millions of cars on the road – we can go a long way toward recovering from petroleum dependence.

As we watch the latest news from the Gulf of Mexico, where today oil is leaking from a seafloor damaged by deepwater drilling and experts have estimated that years will be needed for recovery from the spill disaster, it should be clear that this is a direction we need to go.


Thanks to www.pedbikeimages.org for the photo of school kids crossing the street. All other photos were taken by me.