Today is National Dump the Pump Day. Sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the day encourages people to park the car and opt for transit instead. Commuters who ride transit instead of driving save $790 every month and reduce their personal carbon dioxide emissions by 4,800 pounds each year on average.

Meanwhile, according to the American Automobile Association, more than half of American drivers are planning a road trip this summer. And it’s no coincidence that oil prices in the U.S. are at their lowest levels in over a decade. But if you’re considering a road trip this summer to beat the heat, you’re not doing yourself any favors in the long term.

In May of 2016, the global average amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a record high with 407.7 parts per million (ppm)–a 3.76 ppm jump compared to levels in May 2015, the largest year-to-year increase ever recorded. The hike in carbon dioxide levels was, of course, mainly due to human activity (such as burning gasoline) but received some help from a particularly strong el Niño current.

Transportation in the U.S. is now the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, surpassing the electric power sector for the first time in 37 years. Over the past decade, utility companies have been switching over to increasingly affordable renewables and (somewhat) cleaner fuels, driving down ghg emissions. But oil is still king when it comes to transportation, and when those prices began plummeting, more Americans took to the roads.

The consequences are already quite clear. In 2015, the U.S. accumulated more than 3.1 trillion vehicle miles traveled, eclipsing the last record set in 2007. And 2016 is already shaping up to be another record year: the Federal Highway Administration recently announced that Americans drove 746 billion miles during the first three months of 2016–an increase of more than 20 billion miles compared to the same window in 2015. Even with improved fuel efficiency standards, cheap oil means more Americans driving and even returning to less fuel-efficient vehicles. And these trends point to one thing: more carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Transportation is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide around the globe. The U.S. recently committed to lofty (yet simultaneously insufficient) climate goals with the Paris Climate Agreement alongside 174 other nations. But collapsing gas prices–coupled with a stagnant federal gas tax–aren’t going to do much to convince Americans to dump the pump any time soon.

Mobilizing the Region is published by the non-profit Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
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