The electric car, proximity, public transport… to change everything and limit the environmental impact of our modes of travel, we already have to ask ourselves the right questions. Abdu Gnaba, an anthropologist of consumption and director of the SocioLab Institute, helps us.
Autosolism
This is a strange disease that spreads at high speed. In 2022, there are far more people traveling alone in their car than in 2021. A study by Vinci Autoroutes shows that 85.2% of motorists drive alone Monday to Friday, compared to 82.6 in the past. the year. While by 2025 agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants must create low-emission zones where only the least polluting cars will be able to drive, and 2035 will usually mark the end of sales of new cars with internal combustion engines, the French do not seem ready to let go of the steering wheel, synonymous with freedom and of calmness.
In the video: Ecology: golden rules for going to zero waste
However, it would be necessary, notes consumption anthropologist Abdu Gnaba, “to happen again in the human-sized world and move forward, go with the wind and not fight against it. If I travel by car, I am on a road that has been effortlessly mapped out by fossil fuels. The only value that distinguishes me from another driver is speed, which is also a source of pollution. On the other hand, if I pedal, I generate my own energy and must take into account my environment to achieve my goal. The difference will be the ability to adapt.”
The quarter-hour city
In the 1970s, the proliferation of shopping malls in suburban areas forced people to do their shopping by car. That’s when the reflexes changed. “Now we have to bet on a quarter-hour city with access to merchants, schools, entertainment, public institutions, doctors, work…”, pleads Abdu Gnaba. And the vast world that extends beyond these nine hundred seconds, will we be able to think of exploring it without guilt tomorrow? “It’s not about giving up on big changes, the anthropologist claims, but about looking at them in a different way. When everything was possible, when there was no awareness of the environmental impact of the long journey, travel no longer had value. However, if proximity becomes the norm, if immobility has its place in our way of life, it regains its precious and unique dimension. Before leaving, we dream. The journey begins in our imagination. Then we stop “doing” Japan or the United States as if we were producing goods by traveling the world. We are reconnecting with the exclusives.”
Soft mobility is not well thought out because it only values the tool, thus pushing the individual to buy a new car that should be more responsible.
Abdu Gnaba
Respectful traffic
Of course, one can always make trips beyond the quarter-hour city with pedals and integrated photovoltaic panels, like the prototypes of Midipile Mobility, or an electric bike, why not, equipped with a trailer for children and luggage…” The concept of soft mobility, as it is intended today, is unfortunately only related to the tool, emphasizes Abdu Gnaba. The car with a combustion engine is replaced by an electric car or a bicycle. We pass from one object to another. We glorify the bicycle without thinking about organizing respectful circulation on the bike paths. Soft mobility is not well thought out because it only promotes the tool, thus motivating the individual to buy a new car that should be more responsible. Public transport option. “It works on a large scale if they are free or offered at very low prices,” says Abdu Gnaba. We saw that in Germany this summer. When the ticket is 9 euros per month and allows you to go anywhere in the country, it works. A success that, according to the German public transport association VDV, made it possible to avoid 1.8 tons of CO2 emissions.
6 tips for greener surfing in the video
Source: Le Figaro
