The biggest source of emissions in the United States isn’t the fires of industry, or methane-belching cows, or even the country’s remaining 252 coal power plants. It’s the cars, planes, ships, and trains that, in moving Americans and their stuff from coast to coast, emit a whopping 1.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. (For reference, that’s more than the entire carbon footprint of Russia.)
And Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is in charge of trying to get that number much, much lower.
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, traveled to Glasgow, Scotland, this week for COP26, the U.N. climate summit that has already seen cameos from President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. There, Buttigieg tried to impress his fellow transportation leaders with how much the U.S. — with its obsession with giant cars and spread-out cities — can change how it moves around.
“We’re at the threshold of a historic moment,” Buttigieg said in an interview with Grist.
So far, the Biden administration’s approach to climate and transportation has skewed heavily toward electric vehicles. Biden has repeatedly vowed to b... Read more
