Two-thirds of the oil used in the United States goes to power our transportation. The end products—greenhouse gases—are changing the climate in ways that are threatening agriculture, weather patterns and even human life.
With the world warming and oil running out, how can we plan for transportation that is sustainable? World-class experts will meet to speak on an issue that will go a long way toward determining our future at the Mullins Center in Amherst May 29 and 30. The event, entitled "The Climate Think Tank; Transportation's Impacts and Solutions," could be taking place in New York, London or Mumbai. Instead, it's happening here.
To get an idea of what will be going on at this conference, check out H3Bmedia.com, browse through its online magazine Thinking Highways, and read through a few articles like "Eating Up the Road," which exposes the insane waste of fuel involved in processed foods, which, unlike fresh produce, are often shipped to more than one destination to be prepared for sale (the most extreme example: Scottish shrimp sent to China for hand peeling before traveling back to market in Britain). Kevin Borras, editor-in-chief of Thinking Highways, and Amy Zuckerman of Amherst, Thinking Highways' associate editor, will be chairing panel discussions (H3B Media is organizing the conference).
You may not be enamored of global management consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton's revolving-door relationship with the government and its no-bid Homeland Security contracts, but when it comes to such subjects as what global automakers plan to do about climate change, this company's information is top-flight. A few years ago it helped organize a World Economic Forum study on the subject. Booz Allen Hamilton's Joyce Wenger speaks at 2 p.m. May 29 on "Linking Traffic Congestion Solutions to Climate Change."
David Schonbrunn of TRANSDEF (Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund), known as the nemesis of the San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission because of his fearlessness in using the courts to force the MTC to implement sustainable transportation plans, will speak on "Alternatives to the Status Quo in Transportation." Schonbrunn has served on an advisory group to the California Transportation Commission that makes recommendations about the relationship between land use, transportation and air quality.
Raymond S. Bradley, who along with other scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore for collective work on global warming, is also on the long list of experts slated to speak at the event. Bradley is a professor in the Department of Geosciences at UMass-Amherst and director of UMass' Climate System Research Center.
Bradley foresees a vicious cycle in which transportation will intensify global warming and the warming, in turn, by spawning such events as rainstorms and flooding, will damage the transportation infrastructure. But "strategic transportation investments," he says, can help reverse that cycle.
Also on the program are panel discussions of "Trucks, Traffic and Climate" with Tim O'Leary of Quixote Corp., a leading traffic technology company; a panel discussion of "Severe Weather's Impact on Traffic Technology and Climate Change"; and "Climate Change: Institutional Processes and Strategies to Assist State and Local Governments," among other subjects. U.S. Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, will give the keynote address at lunchtime May 29 after a short speech by Paul R. Brubaker, Administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration.
An audience of professionals is expected at this event; this is a chance to hear what they will be hearing. Registration fee is $90 for both days without meals for government employees ($55 for one day), $100 for both days without meals for people from other organizations ($60 for one day), and more if two meals each day are included. To view the program and register, visit www.H3Bmedia.com, or register by emailing Kris Stetson (stetson@ecs.umass.edu) with your name and contact information.
