Cards that give multiple people access to share one car or bike is one way to promote environmentalism, author Alex Steffen said when he spoke to students and faculty Wednesday at Hendricks Chapel about making a conscious change to save the environment.

‘We have to think about living differently,’ Steffen said.

Steffen is the author of the book ‘Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,’ which Al Gore used in his documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ and was on campus as part of the University Lectures series. Throughout his presentation, Steffen emphasized changing transportation habits and starting community-sharing programs as ways to promote sustainability.

The transition from an auto-dependent life to a pedestrian life is necessary for environmental change, Steffen said. Copenhagen, Denmark; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Melbourne, Australia; and Vancouver, British Columbia, have all taken steps toward becoming less auto-dependent, Steffen said.

One way to become less car-dependant is through Car Sharing, Steffen said. Car Sharing is a program designed to allow members the ability to swipe an access card and drive any designated car that is part of the program, Steffen explained. Steffen believes Car Sharing has huge ecological benefits for the environment and that if one car were used in a suburban area, about 20 individuals would use their cars less, he said.

Bike Sharing has the same principle as Car Sharing, where users can swipe their membership card and ride to the bike stop nearest to their destination, Steffen said. Barcelona has implemented a successful bike sharing program with 6,000 bikes and 400 stations throughout the city, Steffen said.

Steffen said he believes community sharing can move beyond transportation and is something that will have a major role in environmental sustainability. For example, if every person purchases a drill and only uses it a few times, energy is wasted in the construction of the power tool. If people share the power drill, then less energy is used in the drill’s manufacturing, Steffen said.

Robert Sutton, a freshman computer engineering major, said he believes community sharing is a big step for society to take.

‘I think community sharing can only be effective if society appreciates helping the environment,’ Sutton said. ‘If people are willing to appreciate it, it could have a huge effect.’

Steffen also said the movement of populations from suburban and rural areas to large cities is affecting transportation habits and environmentalism. The shift to urban living has resulted in less energy waste, as research shows city residents are more likely to walk short distances than drive, he said.

Steffen said he believes this transition into cities has the potential to be a good thing for the environment. When people have the ability to access necessities without driving, Steffen said, they are more willing to walk or bike to get what they need.

‘We need to rebuild walkable communities,’ he said. ‘People who live in cities use less and waste less energy.’

Julia Byron, a junior industrial design major, said Steffen’s ideas about cities being beneficial to the environment were new to her. But she believes more compact cities may be an effective way for people to reduce their energy waste.

‘I haven’t really heard about the idea of compact cities,’ Byron said, ‘but their simple way might be better for people with lower incomes.’

eamaher@syr.edu

Published on March 2, 2010 at 12:00 pm