The Carolinian [March 17, 2009]

              Mar.17- Mar. 23,2009
THE e .e aro 1n1a·n
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OFUNCG
w w w . c ·a r o I
FREE-.-------------------------------------------
n a n o n n e . c o m
Trans~ortation v·isionary sees variety of options as key· for sustainabi-lity
. '
Jim Downing
·McClatchy Newspapers
MCT
Here's one key to Daniel Sper­ling's
vision for the future of mo­bility:
He doesn't like to drive.
It's not so much that Sperling,
one of the nation's most influen­tia~
transportation thinkers and
policymakers; hates sitting be­hind
the wheel (though he does
prefer riding as a passenger). It's
more that he finds the petroleum'- ·
powered, single-occupant vehicle
a little, well, uninspiring. His new
book, "Two Billion Cars: Driving
Toward Sustainability," is a plan
for how we can do better.
With co-author Deborah Gor­don,
Sperling lays out a path to
cleaner cars, greener fuels and
- the biggest change - a richer
me'nu of transportation options,
from "smart" microbuses to
shared neighborhood vehicles.
. "We can provide a transporta­tion
system that's cheaper and
provides a better quality of ser­vice
and more environmental
benefits than the system we have
now;' he said.
Sperling,' 57, is the founding
director of the Institute of Trans­portation
Studies at the Uni­versity
of California, Davis, and
one of the nine members of the
state Air Resources Board, which
heads California's war on climate
change.
He 'is the air board~s acknowl­.
edged expert on vehicles and
fuels. That puts him in a key po­sition
as the state expands its· car­bon-
cutting po~er in that area:
But at times he's pushed for
caution rather than change .. Last
year, he led a board decision to re­lax
state mandates for all-electric
and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
It pleased carmakers but drew a ·
furious response froD;l electric­car
advocates.
Next month, he stands to swing
the debate again as the board
takes up the world's first plan -
shaped, largely by Sperling - to
cut the carbon content ot vehicle
fuels.
Sperling has been thinking for
years about many of the policies
the air board 1s now enacting. But
when he started work on "Two
Billion Cars," in 2000 _ about the
time he bought his first Toyota
Prius _ many of his ideas didn't
seem likely to reach beyond
academia.
Fuel efficiency in the United
States hadn't improved since the
early 1980s. Detroit was capti­vated
by fast-selling SUVs. And a
hodgepo-dge of polities had first
pushed one alternative fuel, then
another (remember methanol?),
to little lasting ~ffect.
"I was frustrated by the ·nature
of the public debate;' said Sper­ling
late last month, swiveling on
his chair in a compact UC Davis
office that holds six floor-to-ceil-
Dan Sperling, UC Davis professor and transportation expert, rides a
campus bike to ·classes and meetings, Wednesday, February 25, 2009 .
Sperling's new book, "Tw.o Billion Cars," lays out how the world's vehicles,
fuels and transit are likely to change, for better and worse, in the coming
decades. {Manny Crisostomo/ Sacramento Bee/MCT) .
ing bookshelves and a desk piled
with reports. "It was not a very
well-informed discussion."
But by the time the book was
released in December, the gears
had begun to turn. · New. federal
standards are set to improve fu­el-
efficiency to 35 mpg by 2020,
. and state officials are .pushing for
even higher targets. A new state
· law requires land developments
be designed to reduce driving.
State regulators are hustling to
cut California's greenhouse g~s
emissions - roughly 40 percent
of which come from vehicles -
back to 1990 levels by 2020. .
The book's timeliness helped
vault Sperling into the national
eye. He landed an interview on
Nationcil Public Radio, an op-ed
in The New York Times and high­profile
speaking appearances
from Washington, D.C., to San ·
Francisco. \
Last month, he sat across from
Jon Stewart for a six-minute
spot on Comedy Central's "The
Daily Show." After fighting off a ·
laugh attack, Sperling squeezed
in pitches for a few of his favor­ite
policies, including a national
floor on the price of gasoline.
Much of the book, Sperling
said, is infor~ed by conversations
over decades with executiv~s in
the global auto and oil indus­tries.
Those ~onnections are part
of what makes his transportation
dreams, radical as some are, feel
plausible. He knows what' drives
corporate decision-makers, and
recognizes how fast - or · how
slowly - their companies can re­alistically
change.
"He has been a voice of reason
and vision," said David Cole, an
industry expert who chairs the
Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center
for Automotive Research.
At the same time, Speriing has
earned respect from ~e main­stream
environmental commu­nity;
which cheered his appoint­ment
in 2007 to an air board spot .
held in the past by auto industry
insiders . .
"I think he has a inuch broader
SEE VISIONARY ON PAGE THREE
Triad Commuter Challenge to begin . March 24 \
Toby Shearer
Staff Writer
Sustainability is the new hot
word on the public lips these
days, even politicians in Wash­ington
are throwing themselves
behind commitments to sustain­ability
and green energy. Averag~
American people are becoming
more aware of their impact on
the environment, from checking
their carbon footprint to chang­ing
how often they drive their
cars.
UNCG's Sustainability Com­mittee
is at the forefront of rais­ing
environmental awareness
among students on campus and
on March 24 they are partner­ing
with the Piedmont Authority
of Regional Transportation, or
PART, to bring the Triad Com­muter
Challenge to UNCG.
The Triad Commuter Chal­lenge,
in its third year running, is
a three-month campaign aimed
THE CAROLINIAN .
ESTABLISHED 1919 .
VOL. LXXXIX
ISSUE 16
at raising p~blic awareness of al­ternative
transportation like pub­lic
bus systems or carpooling._ The
Sustainability Committee's par­ticipation
ha~ been engineered by .
Guy Sanders; chair of the Trans-
. portatiori sub-committee.
Angie' St hrock, a member· of
the transportation sub-commit­tee,
has worked to involve UNCG
students i1;1 the annual program.
"It is basically trying to get peo­ple
to consider alternative modes
of transportation;' she said. "It's
trying to be environmentally
aware and friendly, showing that
UNCG is buying into it too. You
gotta have all the players in it to
· make it work."
Schrock is quick to point out
many students · don't know their
UNCG ID card gives them access
to both the HEAT buses running
to campus as well as Gr-eensboro
Transit Authority buses. .
For UNCG students the pro­gram
starts- Tuesday,_ March 24
CONTACT US
the~carolinian@hotmail.com
PHONE: 336-334-57 52
FAX: 336-334~3518
and ends Thursday, April 30,
each week highlighting a dif­ferent
mode of · alternative
transportation.
During the campaign the
Sustainability Committee will
host an information table in ·the
Walker Circle in front ofJackson
Library. The table will feature in­formation
about local alternatives
like the GTA bus system, riding a
bike, or even walking to campus.
April . 7-9 will feature local bike
mechanics to help educate stu­dents
about pedal power.
To participate students can
fill out a pledge form, found at
the information table or online,
committing to using one or more
forms of alternative transporta­tion
at least once during the cam­paign
and they will automatically ·
be entered into a series of prize
drawings. The prizes range from
new r~nning shoes to a free an-
SEE TRIAD ON PAGE THREE
DIRECTORY
News 2-4
Classifieds 2
Corrections 5
Opinions 5-7
A&E 8-9, 18-l9
Sports 10-13
Life 14-16
. A few easy tips to reduce your energy
·use and help pro~ect o1.:1r environment! ·
• Ride your· bike or walk to class! Now
that the· winter chill is l.eaving, you cah
opt for an o'pen air form of trans porta­tion.
Maybe you'll even get a tan!
• Wash your·car on your lawn! Let the.
hose do double-duty as a sprinkler .
and car wash! Your lawn and car will
look clean and green! .
• While spring cleaning, use your plastic
grocery bags as trash bags!
• Get some fresh-air! Open your win­dows
instead of turning on the NC.
You '11 save money arid energy!
Compiled by Lauren Robison, staff writer.
·ON THE WEB AT:
~o · §.ookmarks · Iools !:!.elp