There’s little debate left around the issue of climate change, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirms, and it’s generally understood that carbon dioxide emissions, commonly referred to as one of the greenhouse gases, are largely responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer. Sadly for car enthusiasts, vehicles are one of the world’s primary sources of greenhouse gases, which has lead to some intense and radically different fuel sources to be developed by manufacturers.
Of course, an easy way to ensure that the carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles goes down is to simply ban cars all together. But where on earth would that be feasible?
Apparently, Oslo, Norway. It’s a city that’s already rather pedestrian friendly, as you can see in a few images posted to Visit Oslo’s Facebook page and Tomasz Majewski Photography’s page as well.
While simultaneously increasing the reach of public transit and the number of bike lanes, Oslo will be working to ban all privately owned cars from operating in the city’s center. As an Oct. 19 report from Reuters shares, this announcement comes from the newly elected city council, comprised of representatives from the country’s Labor Party, Green Party and Socialist Left.
Though the article states that upwards of 90,000 people work in Oslo’s city center, only around 1,000 actually live in the area. Buses, trams and other forms of public transit will be available, but it’s not yet clear whether those 1,000 residents will be able to keep a car at their home, or if they’ll need to park it elsewhere.
As The Guardian reported Oct. 19, this is part of the country’s overall goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent when compared to 1990’s levels before the year 2020. Given the country’s track record with adopting green technologies, this shouldn’t be difficult to achieve – as EVNorway.no states, they have the world’s highest number of electric cars per capita, “by a wide margin.”
(See Also: Ferrari Valued Just Under $10 Billion, IPO Terms Announced)
So, long story short, if you want to see what it looks like when a country goes full force into fighting climate change, visit Norway. Just don’t plan on driving your Tesla through the center of Oslo.
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(Source: Reuters, The Guardian, EVNorway.no, Environmental Protection Agency, Images via Visit Oslo)
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