Renewable energy — the keystone method to climate change prevention that almost everyone knows. Yes, renewable energy obviously helps lower carbon emissions and strengthen public health, but with the annual global temperature increasing each year, it’s been the time to think outside the box. Whether it’s finding alternatives to heavy consumerism to creating single-use plastic alternatives, or this article’s topic of discussion: investing in public infrastructure.
This idea isn’t a new one as the U.S. notably invested large amounts of money into public infrastructure in response to the throes of the Great Depression by providing work opportunities for millions. FDR’s New Deal spawned several projects including the Public Works Administration that funded more than 34,000 projects in six years, and the Work Progress Administration whose projects consisted of 40,000 new buildings and improvements on 85,000.
The ingenious behind the decision was that these types of jobs have a lower entry point, meaning you typically don’t need more than a high school education to be able to work. The same would go for jobs in green infrastructure, which take this previous concept and strengthen it by emphasizing an even greater commitment to future-focused thinking. According to the World Economic Forum, for every $1 million spent, 5-10 new jobs are created in green electricity, 2-12 in optimizing pre-existing buildings, and 5-14 in green sanitation systems.
One facet of public infrastructure is public transportation, described by the United Nations in their latest climate action report as an “essential,” in the attempt to avert climate change. The MIT Climate Portal, estimates that transportation generates more than a fifth of global greenhouse emissions. Their proposed suggestion is simple though, reduce the number of transportation vehicles on the road, with buses having the ability to carry up to 50 at once, and trains up to a thousand on average.
While this solution presents as straightforward, there are nuances here. People will often choose public transportation only when it is a convenient option, which is why it’s important for cities to invest in “transit-oriented development,” where housing is constructed by bus and train stops. Buses also provide less disruption, as new buses only require roads and take less physical space. The current economic costs pale in comparison to the potential to dampen the worst effects of climate change.
The Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative estimates doubling the global public transit capacity by 2030 and phasing out diesel locomotives by 2050, which will help limit the global temperature increase down to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A 2010 Federal Transit Administration report furthers the emission regulatory capabilities of public transportation. Heavy rail methods emit 76% less carbon dioxide per passenger-mile compared to a single-occupancy vehicle, light rails 62%, and buses 33% less. Overall, public transit saves about 7 million metric tons of CO2 annually in the U.S.
A less considered form of public infrastructure in this regard is often education. A World Bank Group analysis of 96 countries showed that education is the greatest predictor for climate change awareness, and an additional year of education raises awareness by 8.6 percent. Education had a particularly strong effect on low and middle-income countries, with the more educated ones exhibiting greater disaster readiness. Project Drawdown projects that if climate change education for secondary students grew from 1% to 16% by 2050, we could halve annual CO2 emissions.
The reasoning behind this is climate change education demonstrates the environmental and personal financial benefits of such behaviors. These include recycling, conversion to plant-based diets, and curiosity about improving home energy efficiency. Currently, only about 1 in 8 people have skills to help reduce climate change across the U.S. and European Union.
Now, it’s important to keep in mind that while infrastructure in general can mitigate climate change as a byproduct, green infrastructure, or a strategically planned network of environmental features, works to accelerate this process. Cities specifically are vulnerable to rising temperatures due to the urban heat island effect, and will be on average 5-9 degrees Celsius warmer than rural areas. Various surveys conducted across the U.S. discovered surfaces such as green roofs and cool pavements lower local air temperature by 2-4 degrees Celsius.
Lastly, while the overall intention behind infrastructure historically has been to improve life quality, it has been manipulated to disadvantage multiple groups of marginalized people, like with redlining and gerrymandering. That’s where the real challenge begins and the idea that derived environmental justice — improving infrastructure in a way that doesn’t simply benefit communities environmentally, but socially.
One factor behind this pattern is the lack of an attempt to include voices from the affected communities who face the brunt of environmental hazards and disasters. As a result, waste facilities are disproportionately located in communities of color and low-income communities. A prominent, recent example was the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe challenging the respective pipeline known for oil spills and raising concerns about local water contamination.
To counter and question these systematic tendencies, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have materialized a physical and practical list on how organizations can promote environmental justice: (1) understand and accept feedback from communities most affected, (2) raise revenue from wealthy companies and reinvest in underfunded areas, (3) pursue energy systems that are more equitable, (4) center climate resilience on protecting the most vulnerable, and (5) address climate-related disaster by making pre-existing programs accessible.
To conclude, infrastructure has been proven to be a bonafide method in climate change mitigation, but in the United States has been underfunded. As we continue to move forward as a society however, we also have to innovate on how to approach the concept in the first place. Green infrastructure and environmental justice are not new outgrowths of the environmental movement, but now more than ever essential to creating a better future.