{"id":4446,"date":"2021-01-01T12:15:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=145337"},"modified":"2021-01-01T12:15:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T12:15:47","slug":"a-massachusetts-city-will-post-climate-change-warning-stickers-at-gas-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/01\/a-massachusetts-city-will-post-climate-change-warning-stickers-at-gas-stations\/","title":{"rendered":"A Massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

This<\/em> story<\/em><\/a> was originally published by The Guardian<\/a><\/em> and is reproduced here as part of the<\/em> Climate Desk<\/em><\/a> collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become the first U.S. city to mandate the placing of stickers on fuel pumps to warn drivers of the resulting dangers posed by the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

The final design of the bright yellow stickers, shared with the Guardian, includes text that warns drivers the burning of gasoline, diesel, and ethanol has \u201cmajor consequences on human health and the environment including contributing to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stickers will be placed on all fuel pumps in Cambridge, which is situated near Boston and is home to Harvard University, \u201cfairly soon\u201d once they are received from printers, a city spokesperson confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Cambridge is working hard with our community to fight climate change,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cThe gas pump stickers will remind drivers to think about climate change and hopefully consider non-polluting options.\u201d<\/p>\n

The placement of the stickers follows an ordinance passed by Cambridge in January. The city has a target of slashing planet-heating emissions by 80 percent and offsetting the remainder by 2050, making it carbon neutral.<\/p>\n

Transportation, primarily the use of cars and trucks, is responsible<\/a> for more than a quarter of U.S. emissions but there has been scant success in weaning Americans off their predilection for large, energy-intensive vehicles. Indeed, a boom in SUV sales<\/a> in the U.S. threatens to cause a surge in emissions if national fuel efficiency standards are not tightened further.<\/p>\n

Warning labels similar to Cambridge\u2019s are already found in Sweden, although an effort to do likewise in Berkeley, California, was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

The simple text of the warning stickers is relatively staid compared to versions envisioned by climate campaigners. In a legal complaint lodged against oil giant BP, the environmental non-profit ClientEarth included mockups<\/a> that showed a forest on fire with a stark list of the disastrous impacts caused by global heating.<\/p>\n

More graphic, visceral warnings would influence people in the way that confronting pictures of gum disease and heart failure on cigarette packets forced many<\/a> to acknowledge the harm to health caused tobacco, advocates say.<\/p>\n

Jamie Brooks of the campaign group Beyond the Pump<\/a> said he pushed for warning text that read: \u201cContinuing to burn gasoline (or diesel) worsens the climate emergency, with major projected impacts on your health increasing over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLabels are designed to create a feeling like someone has broken a rule or violated a law,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cThis feeling, along with increased social pressure, like smoking labels, can translate to a collapse in trust for the current system, thereby increasing the public appetite for alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become the first U.S. city to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394,108,110,267,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4447,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446\/revisions\/4447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}