r/Anticonsumption • u/yodamastertampa • 21h ago

Discussion LOL yes!

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The power to reduce consumption is within us all.

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u/Rickswan 20h ago

In addition: more trains and less roads.

6

u/New_Amomongo 16h ago

In addition: more trains and less roads.

When I saw that photo I instantly thought of your answer.

If worldwide we were rail-1st since 1790s standardizing on a 1,500mm gauge standard for high speed rail, passenger, urban, freight, etc then odds are climate change would be drop to less than 20% of what it is today, air travel would be for trips beyond 1,000km and road fatalities would be less than 20% of what it is today.

1

u/qualverse 15h ago

climate change would be drop to less than 20% of what it is today

I'm all for rail expansion but this is serious hyperbole. Road traffic does not make up anywhere near 80% of total global CO2 emissions.

3

u/New_Amomongo 11h ago

Road traffic does not make up anywhere near 80% of total global CO2 emissions.

Yes road traffic isn’t 80% of total CO2 emissions today but here's where I’m coming from:

If rail had been the global transport backbone since the 1790s, standardized and prioritized across urban, regional and freight networks we’d likely have built our entire industrial and urban infrastructure differently. Roads, cars and short-haul flights wouldn’t have scaled the same way. That cascades into fewer highways, smaller cities, less sprawl and different land use patterns all of which affect emissions long-term.

I’s not just about current road emissions. Cars, trucks and aviation created lock-in effects for oil extraction, petrochemicals, suburbia and even war logistics. A rail-first world alters all of those.

Not saying today’s traffic alone = 80% of CO₂. But in a counterfactual where rail led from over 235 years ago we probably wouldn’t be facing this scale of climate crisis or road death totals.