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| Artist: Dave Derret (used with permission) |
Autobesity is not good for the Earth’s health.
A comment relating to a recent “New Yorker” article1
on SUVs suggesting that that this was a case of “car obesity” prompted me to
coin the word autobesity to label one of the world’s most pressing
environmental health problems.
A standard measurement of how underweight or
overweight a person is uses the Body Mass Index (BMI.)2 The most
extreme score used to be known as morbid obesity (although now it is
referred to by the less emotive term obese (class III).)
If such a measurement were to be applied to our use of
vehicles (Perhaps an AMI – Automobile Mass Index) then we would have to make
the diagnosis that we are suffering morbid autobesity.
Autobesity has
become steadily worse since WW2, and morbidly so in the past 7 years. In 2015
there were 618 million vehicles in the world. In the seven years since then
that figure has more than doubled to an estimated 1,446 million (yes! – that is
1.446 billion.)3 We went from autobese to extremely autobese to
morbidly autobese in just a few years.4
Autobesity (as with human obesity) carries with it
harmful health outcomes. As we know, obesity in humans is a risk factor for
clogged arteries.
So too, it is with autobesity. Automotive
arteries (roads, parking, and right-of-ways (ROWs)) get clogged. Unlike a human
body though, instead of removing the blockages, more arteries get built. In
rich nations of the world the amount of land relinquished to roads, parking,
and ROWs is around 2% of the total land area. In cities, the figure is
substantial. New York has 22% of its land area devoted to roads and parking. In
London the proportion is 23%, Tokyo 24%, and 25% in Paris. Between one-fifth
and one quarter of the land in the world’s major cities is set aside for
automobiles.
That is autobesity.
Other harmful effects of autobesity are well
known, such as the poisons and pollution emitted from vehicle exhausts – i.e. CO2,
nitrous oxides, benzene, fine and ultra-fine particulates etc.
What may be less well known, however, is that these
emissions (due mainly to increased exhaust regulations around the world) are
not the most harmful feature of vehicle use.
Tyre wear is responsible for around 2,000 times more
particulate pollution than are exhausts. These particulates include Greenhouse
Gases (GHGs)5 and toxic compounds (including carcinogens.) These seep
into all parts of the body of the earth – air, water, and soil.6
As with human obesity, the weight of the vehicle
contributes to this problem. To add to the issue of soaring numbers of
automobiles, the weight of automobiles has also increased. In 1908, when Henry
Ford began producing the Model T Ford, the heaviest of his vehicles weighed 750
kg. The average vehicle weight today is 1,800 kg. What is more, vehicles are
getting heavier (contributing further to tyre wear), and likely to put on even
more weight if EVs (Electric Vehicles) become more prevalent (as EV proponents
predict and promote.)
Because of the battery in an EV, an average EV weighs around
30% more than an equivalent fossil-fuelled vehicle. In terms of our
autobesity, EVs are not helping.7
Although EVs reached 10% of global vehicle sales in
2022, they are not replacing vehicle stock – but adding to it.
Between 2015 and 2020 the total number of EVs in the world increased from less
than one million to 10.2 million. Impressive – maybe? However, in the same
period the total number of vehicles in the world rose from 618 million to over
1,100 million. That is just one EV for every 50 or so conventional vehicles.
What Are We Doing About Our Autobesity?
Not much, is the short answer.
A doctor, cardiologist, or other medical professional
will usually prescribe a combination of diet and exercise for a person
suffering obesity.
Shouldn’t we adopt a similar regime with autobesity?
But we aren’t. A significant proportion of vehicle trips are short, very short. In the U.S. 60% of all car trips are less than 10km in length. In Australian cities the distance varies from city to city, with between 30% - 60% being less then 5km in length. Melbourne takes the lack of exercise to the extreme, with 47% of vehicle trips being less than 2.5km long.8
All these distances are easily achieved by walking or using a
bicycle.
Our autobesity is now morbid and epidemic (at
least in the rich nations,) so much so that (as with obesity) it is propelled by
addictive mechanisms. Replacing one type of vehicle with another (EV, hybrid,
hydrogen fuelled, or whatever) will not reduce our addiction, and hence autobesity
will continue to harm the planet.
Many working in the addiction field tell us that
abstinence is a crucial factor in helping addicts to overcome their addiction
and then maintaining a more healthy lifestyle.
It is now clear that autobesity is no
different.
Only total auto-abstinence will help to heal the harm caused by autobesity.
Notes:
1. Elizabeth Kolbert, Why S.U.V.s are Still a Huge
Environmental Problem¸ The New Yorker, 3 March 2023, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-suvs-are-still-a-huge-environmentalproblem?fbclid=IwAR1XA_xJ0BBu5lQiV6tx17vdNdokwBC1kXVsrMRvq3VvrgHT7OCxJQS_umo
accessed 13 March 2023
2. A person’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight
(in kg) by the square of their height (in metres.
3. Source: PD Insurance, 22 April 2022, https://www.pd.com.au/blogs/how-many-cars-in-the-world/
accessed 13 March 2023
4. If you line up all the world’s vehicles
bumper-to-bumper around the Earth’s equator they would encircle the Earth more
than 160 times!
5. Laura Kokko, Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tyre
Production, M.Sc. thesis, Tampere University of Technology, February 2017
7. Research at a Netherlands University shows that EVs
are contributing significantly to the deterioration of road surfaces. https://www.brusselstimes.com/61738/heavier-electric-cars-wear-out-roads-faster
accessed 13 March 2023
8. https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au//media/ProgramsandProjects/PlanningHealthyEnvironments/Attachments/vhtransch3.pdf?la=en&hash=BD49C15BA932B97CF11275C5EE7CEA85A17176F3
accessed 14 March 2023. Although this paper is from 1999, there is little
reason to believe that the proportions have changed. If anything, personal
observation suggests the figure may now be more dire.
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