When deciding how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we need to ensure the future is different from the past.

Perhaps no decision is more important than one we make almost every day - how to get to work, the store, that public meeting, my friend’s house, or how to get my child home from the game or school activity.

Victoria, BC economist Todd Litman said it best: “Adequate mobility is essential for people to participate in society as citizens, community members, producers and consumers.”

Years ago we were able to get around with canoes, paddle wheelers, and horses; later we turned to trains and trolleys for our mobility. Then we became automobile-dependent.

Today, transportation contributes about 26 percent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Individual passenger vehicles are the fastest growing source of GHGs.

Transportation also accounts for about 60 percent of Canada’s carbon monoxide and more than half of the nitrous oxide emissions that contribute to smog.

A recent study by Transport Canada conservatively estimated the total annual cost of congestion in the nine largest urban areas at between $2.3 and $3.7 billion.

The method of transit each of us chooses clearly plays an important role in reducing air pollution and GHGs. The cost of poor air quality is equal to an estimated $1.875 billion in annual health care costs, and about 5,900 deaths per year can be attributed directly to air pollution in eight large Canadian cities.

In a rural areas, auto-dependent mobility may seem to be an urban problem. But the reality is that people everywhere need to find ways of leaving their cars and trucks at home - or doing away with them all together.

The real truth is that road transportation is subsidized in Canada. Without the subsidies our federal and provincial governments currently provide, the cost of gasoline would be double what it is today. Think back to the above-mentioned noxious gases and health care costs and you’ll understand that pollution is the most subsidized aspect of road transportation.

As a rural resident, I take the bus into the city. My cost is $75 for a monthly pass - for which I can get a federal tax credit. This is far cheaper than what it would cost to daily drive and park even a fuel-efficient vehicle.

Yet every morning as I wait for my bus, a parade of cars pass by with only a single occupant. What is keeping these people in their cars and off the bus? Is it poor customer service, unreliability, overcrowding, uncomfortable conditions, or inadequate vehicles? Or do we need a more visionary and modern system to get people out of their cars?

Globally, the most vibrant public transit systems have decreased, fully eliminated, or eliminated fares in their downtown cores. Ridership, accessibility, safety and transit vitality have increased dramatically in cities such as Portland, Seattle, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Boston, Marseilles, numerous German cities and towns, Denver, Vail and Boulder, Colorado.

We know it is imperative to reduce our individual and collective GHG emissions by taking responsible voluntary actions. Choosing public transit and then lobbying for improved, lower cost service is one of best decisions you can make.

Did you know? According to Environment Canada, one public bus full of passengers takes 40 cars off the road in rush hour, saving 168 tonnes of greenhouse gases and 70,000 litres of gasoline.

Michael Jessen is an environmental consultant who specializes in helping individuals, businesses and communities make sustainable environmental decisions. He can be reached by telephone at 250-229-5632 or by e-mail at zerowaste@shaw.ca. His business Zero Waste Solutions has an award-winning web site.