What one thing would encourage you to use your car less?

Question

Also what do you think of carbon offset schemes?
e.g. http://www.climatecare.org/index.cfm

Answer 1

Good train services at non-ripoff prices would help.

But the biggie is if everyone, together, weaned themselves off cars, we would find all the services that we need would mutate so that you didn't need a car to access them. This would occur naturally. The very presence of cars has made cars a necessity. Bad Car-ma (geddit!!!???) that was.

We ditched our car recently and have been with City Car Club (www.citycarclub.co.uk) but it's not really working out too well - its fine for me, but Mrs Eep will only drive a car she's familiar with. I'm gonna buy a new one :-(

Carbon offsets have a tarnished reputation but I think they have a place. I think it's wrong to diss forest protection schemes purely because of the audit and permanence issues; those can be solved to an acceptable extent in my book with the political will, and the planet needs lungs regardless of whether we consume fossil fuels or not.

Answer 2

I don't think anything will stop people using cars. Humans have a love affair with the automobile - simple as that.

These carbon schemes are hype, they make up goals and obscure measurements to fool people that something is being done.
In the grand scheme of things, we would all have to reform our lives beyond recognition to seriously reduce our impact on the environment. I think the only solution is to look at alternative fuels that are far less polluting than petrochemicals.
What's happening with fuel cells and solar? Being as tha scaremongers would have us believe that fossil fuels will run out completely within 100 years, why are massive edevelopments not being made in these clean energies?
Government subsidisation is available for LPG and bio-diesel, which puts a little more back in your pocket, but this is only viable for commercial vehicles with high use, as domestic conversion is cost-prohibitive.
We're told that fuel-cell vehicles are so expensive to buy because of the numbers produced, so why aren't governments subsidising the construction of mass-production plants to bring the prices of these clean vehicles to an affordable level?

The reason is that the Bush dynasty - leaders of the free world, and others of their ilk are the only people with enough power to put these things into action, but their fortunes have been made and grow ever larger due to the oil that they own a huge stake in.

Answer 3

One thing? Better public transport.
If the buses, trains etc... could get me where I wanted to go and when I wanted to be there (within about a half hour timespace, I'm not asking for split-second accuracy!) then I'd need to use cars less.

As for carbon offset schemes - I view them as just a stalling tactic so that governments don't have to think about doing anything about reducing carbon emissions until they really HAVE to. If carbon emissions were strictly capped, they'd have to do something about them NOW, not when it's too late.

Answer 4

Better public transport.

Carbon offsetting is a good idea but it's not going to make much difference on it's own, especially considering the new emerging economies that are changing from being low carbon to high carbon.

Answer 5

I gave up driving a year ago because I was sick of all the constraints. Tax, MOT, insurance, parking, speed bumps, traffic jams, idiots who can't drive, roundabouts, speed cameras - the list is endless. I figured that I can walk to work, which is healthier and it was costing me about £60 a week to keep a car, so I have no qualms with bunging someone £20 to take me somewhere once a week. I don't miss driving at all, it used to be fun and a privilege but now it's turned into a mundane necessity.

Answer 6

As an alternative to the per mile taxes that they're talking about in the UK, an alternative I'd like to see is different tax bands depending on what time of day you need your car. If you must travel in peak times (morning or evening) you pay a higher tax band than someone who just wants to use their car to get to Tesco, or people who travel to work at 6 in the morning, when the roads are clear.

Anyone who has the cheaper off peak licence can then pay a small fee for one off trips within busy periods.

It might make people think twice before driving unnecessarily if the difference between the tax bands is high enough.

Answer 7

If the transport connections were vastly improved I would use trains etc but they are not so I've little choice. The carbon schemes seem a good idea but it's not really pushing people to public transport as that's still crap.

Answer 8

Simple - increase tax on petrol.
Forget complicated taxation and payment schemes. The more you drive - the more petrol you use. The less efficient your car - the more petrol you use.
Its also a very very easy to implement idea

I looked up carbon offset for my car and based on 12,000 miles a year it would cost me £30 to offset the carbon. Considering petrol for a year probably costs me £1,000 this would be covered by a 3% increase in fuel price - paid directly to an offset scheme.

Answer 9

Have a good public transport service and environmental problems.
About carbon offset is something we must take very seriously, because we are going to have major problems with it in the near future.

Answer 10

A cheap, integrated and comprehensive public transport system.

It looks like carbon offeset schemes are a way for rich people to feel less guilty - I don't think they will solve global warming.