Nurture Nature Now: Finding Greener Ways to Travel

Transportation contributes approximately 27% towards Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In order to power our cars, we need to burn fossil fuels, i.e. gas and diesel, and the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the environment. What daily actions can we each take to reduce these emissions? There are a variety of options:  

• Combine errands. Instead of making two, three, or even more trips to run different errands, plan your trip so you can do all your errands at once. 
• Don’t idle. If you’re in your car and not driving anywhere, turn off the engine.  
• Drive at the posted speed limit to reduce the excess gas needed for your car to reach higher speeds. 
• Maintain the correct tire pressure. This helps improve the fuel economy (i.e. how long you can drive your car before needing to gas up again). 
• Walk, ride a bike, or use a scooter. If possible, utilizing these options will reduce fuel consumption altogether, plus you get the added benefit of cardiovascular exercise and fresh air! 

Think your actions don’t make a difference? Think again! According to Natural Resources Canada: 

“If Canadian motorists avoided unnecessary idling for just three minutes every day of the year, it would prevent 630 million litres of fuel from being wasted and 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being needlessly pumped into the environment. Annually, that would be the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off of the road!” 

By implementing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, not only are you being a good environmental steward of Allah’s Creation, but you’re also saving money on transportation fuel.  

Sources: 

1. “Links Between Fuel Consumption, Climate Change, Our Environment and Health”, Government of Canada.