Good day my good friend.
You know, transport has a funny way of piping up in all sorts of issues. For those of you unfamiliar with the UK at the moment, a major issue is sewage. Notably, discharging raw sewage into rivers and seas at record rates (yay, privatisation). While the need to actually treat our sewage and invest in the massive infrastructure needed to stop this from happening is overwhelming, a big part of the problem is the UK’s combined sewer system where run-off from roads uses the same pipes as sewage from houses.
This means that whenever there is a downpour, the pipes become overwhelmed, so raw sewage is released over the nearest beach to stop the whole system backing up. So, us transport people need to also do more sustainable urban drainage everywhere to reduce the amount of rain entering the system.
By the way, if this issue makes you as mad as it makes me, give Surfers Against Sewage your backing. They have fought this fight for a long time, and they have a tendency to win when taking on water companies. So back them!
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Top of the Environmental Pops
I have a natural aversion to indices and top ten lists. The latter due to Buzzfeed articles spamming my social media feeds for years (not gutted about their demise), but the former due to the often, shall we say questionable ways by which they are derived. Which usually consists of a mix of open data, a group of highly paid consultants, and frequently saying the words “that’s close enough.” So it makes a change when some academic rigour is applied.
The first to do a remotely good job was University College London with the Mobility as a Service Maturity Index. But this recent study on energy transition countries using the ecological footprint of transport is a good effort also. It provides a method with appropriate control variables, based on sound econometric principles that can be replicated elsewhere. Translation: the numbers and analysis are sound, and you can apply it and it will still be as sound. Lets have more of this, and less consultant think pieces, please.
Making the commute suck less
Lets be honest. The commute blows. Not only that, there is significant evidence that demonstrates that commutes can actually be bad for us. The commute stresses most people out. To the point where it has an economic cost. We also know that different modes of transport stress us out in different ways. But, could we actually start to flip it on its head, and make the commute enjoyable?
This research paper looks at commuting through a well-being lens, with a specific focus on “eudaimonic” well-being (not an exact translation, but the nearest equivalent is spiritual well-being). The conclusion effectively states that this well-being makes people content with their choices, specifically stating that “Eudaimonic well-being affects commuters over a longer timescale and enables them to live contently with their choices in the long term.”
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
New York City unveils ambitious new climate plan (City Monitor)
European countries pledge huge expansion of North Sea wind farms (The Guardian)
About baselines…again (World Bank)
Reimagining philanthropy and investments: a learning journey with Justice Funders (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
Something interesting
You will probably have seen visualisations of the shipping routes of today. This visualisation is of shipping routes from 1945. Recreated from ships logs. Its wonderful.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Read this article from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy on Trans and Queer visibility on public transport. You will learn something from it, I can assure you of that.
Mobility Matters 