Introduction
Transportation is still among the major sectors that are responsible for the emission of a significant percentage of greenhouse gasses around the world. Further, transportation is a major contributor to the global warming that causes climate change. The elevated global temperatures have adverse effects on climate due to its severity. These includes a rise in sea levels, extreme storm surges in the coastal regions as well as increased intensity of precipitation in the atmosphere. Such changes have always had various impacts on the system of transportation as well as its smooth operation. Some of the impacts and challenges brought about by climate change to transportation include higher risks of disruptions, delays, failure as well as damage caused by various systems of transportation such as marine, air, and land-based. Thus, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the manner in which various investments in the transportation sector are likely to be affected by global warming climate change in several decades to come.
Global Warming
The phenomenon of global warming endangers the health of human beings and other living things and threatens the existence and provision of certain fundamental human needs. According to Sperling and Cannon (2009), climate change involves considerable and measurable changes in the climate that is often caused by human activities as well as natural factors. On the other hand, global warming involves a rise in the atmospheric temperature resulting from the emission of greenhouse gasses. Some of the impacts associated with global warming and climatic change include high temperatures that may be unbearable by living things, rising of oceans and seas as well as severe droughts and flooding among others. Emissions from vehicles are considered to be among the major causes of global warming. In this regard, trucks together with cars account for about twenty percent of all emissions experienced in the United States by emitting nearly twenty-four pounds of greenhouse gasses in almost every gallon of gas emitted into the atmosphere. Approximately five pounds of these greenhouse gasses result from activities and operations involving production, extraction as well as the supply of the fossil fuels. In overall, the transportation sector in the United States, which includes trucks, cars, trains, freight, ships and planes account for close to one-third of all the emissions associated with global warming compared to other sectors.
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Transportation and Global Warming
Most countries around the globe have always depended on petroleum fuels for the transportation. In countries such as the United States, transportation is largely responsible for most of the emissions that result in the climate change. Globally, more than fifteen percent of manmade carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere is released from trucks, cars, ships and aircraft among other vehicles. Various forms of transportation are responsible for the production of carbon, which goes into the atmosphere, which is responsible for the cause of more carbon pollution compared to other sectors of the economy. The outcomes indicate that for the first time, emissions of carbon have gone beyond the amount emitted by other sectors such as mining and manufacturing among others. It is important to note that some of the recent findings play a critical role in highlighting the urgent need for the actions that are expected to be directed towards combating global warming resulting from transportation. It is also observed that there has been a sharp decrease of carbon pollution emitted from sources such electric power in recent years thus policymakers have been forced to shift their attention away from that sector (Ryley and Chapman, 2012).
Standards of Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emission
The transportation industry is large to blame for its responsibility when it comes to the emission of close to seventy-five percent of the greenhouse gasses that go to the atmosphere. This atmospheric pollution and climatic change have gone through a dramatic increase over the last two decades due to the rise in the number of vehicles that have continued the roads and poor policies regarding fuel economy. The standards of fuel economy for automobiles that have been set various transportation departments around the world have also had a significant impact on the nature and extent of climate change around the globe. The transportation industry is among the key contributors to the greenhouse gas emitted in the United States. According to the United States’ inventory, the emission of greenhouse gasses represented by transportation accounted for about twenty-six percent of the entire greenhouse gasses released in the year 2008 (Sperling and Cannon, 2009).
Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Some of the major greenhouse gasses that are emitted at a global scale include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and F-gases as indicated in the figure below by percentage proportions.
In the year 2010, about fourteen percent of the greenhouse gas emission was associated with transportation. The primary greenhouse gasses in this sector include the fossil fuels that are consumed on the road, air, rail as well as marine. Nearly, ninety-five percent of the energy used in the global transportation industry is obtained from fuels that are petroleum-based such as diesel and gasoline.
Existing Setting of Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientific studies have always maintained that the global population is more responsible for the rapid release of greenhouse gasses compared to the rate at which such gasses can be absorbed by the natural systems of the earth. The release of these gasses also takes place as byproducts obtained from the combustion of fossil fuels. Emitted gasses such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide, are responsible for the creation of an atmospheric layer around the earth. This layer is responsible for the trapping of the heat while allowing the passage of the light through it. Whereas the process associated with the greenhouse effect takes place naturally, human activities continue to accelerate its rate of occurrence to the extent that they go beyond the naturally acceptable levels. The existence of excessive greenhouse gasses within the atmosphere is the major cause of global warming that has adversely affected the climate. Transport emission of greenhouse gasses has been on a rising trend because of the ever-growing share of transportation, which was responsible for more than ninety percent of the total emissions by the year 2011. The emissions coming from domestic navigations account for just two percent of the total emissions from the transportation sector in the year 2011 (Hodges and United States, 2011).
Climate Change
Considering the outcomes associated with the change in climate, several uncertainties, as well as climatic models, assist in the understanding of the climate change phenomenon. Some of them include the state of the art systems of analysis that refer to climatic developments. Although certain extreme changes in the climate are evident, there is a lower likelihood that they will be surrounded by numerous uncertainties. Thus, it is largely assumed that the direction taken by the climate change may not have significant differences from the predictions made by climate models. There is a direct relationship between change in climate and transportation infrastructure and systems. In a direct relationship, the transport infrastructure is directly subjected to damages and adverse effects by harsh climate and weather. However, there is also an indirect manner through climate change affects transportation such as patterns of settlement, use of energy, changes in agriculture as well as shifts in trade flows (Ryan and Turton, 2007).
Changes regarding demographic trends, patterns in land usage and developments experienced in transportation infrastructural technology have always had unfavorable effects on the functionality of the transportation sector over the last couple of years. Disruptions to the reliability and capacity of transportation infrastructure by climate change could be offset to a certain extent through adaptations. clearly, the rise in sea level incidences of flooding as well as storm surges occurs due to changes in the climate. Studies that have previously carried out the analysis of the effects rising sea levels on transportation systems and revealed that various elements of transportation are rendered inefficient by these changes. Climate change is one of the key factors with the ability to influence the safety of transportation especially air and marine transportation. Repair and maintenance of transportation infrastructure are meant to be indispensable as a way of ensuring its efficiency and durability. For example, conditions of extreme temperatures are likely to induce deteriorations of things like rail track, road pavement hence they may need to be repaired on a routine basis (Ryley and Chapman, 2012).
How Climate Change Affects Transportation
The change in climate at the global level is presently known in relation to its effects as well as stack realities. According to some of the previous research studies, climate changes around the globe during the twentieth century have been evident through various indicators such as economic, physical and biological. There is an overwhelming reliance on transport on oil and other fossil fuels. In the year 2010, more than half of the consumption of basic oil was directed towards meeting close to ninety percent of the energy demand witnessed in the transport sector. The estimated effects of climate changes in different circumstances are evident in most cases. However, the ability to deal with these changes varies significantly depending individual capabilities of institutions and groups to adapt to such changes. The impacts and implications of such changes in the design, planning, and functioning of the infrastructure for transportation remain profound due to the pervasiveness associated with the infrastructure (Ryan and Turton, 2007).
The centrality of the transportation industry in the lives of humans and their daily activities around the globe increases its vulnerability to the effects of global warming. The infrastructure in transportation industry plays a critical role towards the provision of emergency services and responses in the event of the realization of other potential effects of climate change. The way in which climate change and transportation are associated or interrelated goes beyond just an engineering concept but also involves social, behavioral and biological sciences. Therefore, the multispectral, multidisciplinary and multidimensional actions and perspective are necessary for addressing some of the adverse influences of the climate change. Variations in geographical features are also supposed to be considered when incorporating various critical concerns and factor in mitigating and preventing effects of climate change on transportation. Climatic adaptations call for considerable adjustments and changes in the transportation sector. This is because when climatic changes are left to intensify there is a higher likelihood that the operations and facilities in the transportation system will become less effective and less efficient (Hodges and United States, 2011).
Overall Trends of Climate Change Around the Globe
Some of the common indicators that are useful in the description of climate change around the globe include the levels of greenhouses gasses concentrations within the atmosphere, the sea level, and regional temperature. A few decades ago, skepticism marred the perception of the public regarding the aspect of climate change. However, there has been an increasing awareness in recent times with regard to the general status of the sectors of the economy affected by climate change such as transportation as well as all other vulnerabilities that may be included. In reference to trends and patterns that are presently evident in the outcomes of the climate change around the globe, it is worth noting that this change is associated with various effects that are potentially adverse to the transportation infrastructure (Jonkeren, 2009). One of the ways in which climate change adversely influences the transport infrastructure is whereby elevated sea levels or increased intensity and frequency of floods bring about the creation and existence of hazards for transportation infrastructure and operations. Global warming and the persistence of high temperatures may end up resulting in the serious destruction of some of the material used in building and construction of the transportation infrastructure. Previously, scientists have warned that the future is likely to be characterized by rising temperatures all over the world due to human activities as well as the natural production of greenhouse gasses. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, which involved a considerable number of scholars from a number of countries predicted and forecasted a temperature increase, which would be in the range of 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit within an entire given century (Gössling and Upham, 2009).
Future Adaptation of Transportation to Climate Changes
Systems of transportations and the infrastructural network may involve using alternative routes that go around damaged sections or transfer traffic to the modes that are not damaged as one of the ways through which transportation can quickly adapt to the effects occasioned by climate change. Another way of adaptation would involve coming up with new designs in the transportation infrastructure that are flexible enough to accommodate the climate changes that may be experienced in the future. It is also important for policy makers and regulating authorities in the transportation sector to develop programs of asset management, operational changes, and asset protection as well as relocating infrastructural assets in view of climatic changes that may take place in future. Whereas rehabilitated and new systems of transportations are developed, impacts of climate change should be regularly incorporated into system planning. There may be challenges and difficulties in the adoption of transportation systems in relation to changes experienced in the climate especially when the projected growth is factored in the transportation sector. Heat stress and conditions emanating from cold winter often induce deteriorations on certain parts of transportation infrastructure which significantly lowers the effectiveness and performance of such infrastructures. Additionally, adverse effects caused by changes in the climate accelerate wear and tear of most infrastructural systems thus routine repair and maintenance operations are necessary (Jonkeren, 2009).
Conclusion
In conclusion, reducing emissions emanating from transportation is among the critical steps that are taken in managing global warming that is increasingly becoming a threat to the wellbeing of the global climate. Moreover, there is an urgent need for the nations around the world to shift their reliance on fossil fuels to those that are environmentally friendly. The reduction of greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution due to transportation calls for a comprehensive and strategic approach. Such would involve a reduction in the demand and use of motorized transportation activities as well as the promotion of the modes of transport that are regarded as low emission. Another important consideration in controlling climate change due to transportation would be to use efficient technologies in managing the systems of fuel use in vehicles.
References
Gössling, S., & Upham, P. (2009). Climate change and aviation: Issues, challenges and solutions . London: Earthscan.
Hodges, T. (2011). Public transportation's role in responding to climate change . DIANE Publishing.
Jonkeren, O. (2009). Adaptation to climate change in inland waterway transport . Tinbergen Institute.
Ryan, L., & Turton, H. (2007). Sustainable automobile transport: Shaping climate change policy . Cheltenham, UK: E. Elgar.
Ryley, T., & Chapman, L. (2012). Transport and climate change . Bingley: Emerald.
Sperling, D., & Cannon, J. S. (2009). Reducing climate impacts in the transportation sector . Dordrecht: Springer.
