By Anonymous
Interaction
The human environment interaction I focused on was the e-scooters all around Mason
Resource Characteristics
The use of e-scooters on campus are used for short-distance travel across campus. The environmental impact that e-scooters bring is much lower than emitting fossil fuels through gas powered vehicles, “We find that environmental burdens associated with charging the e-scooter are small relative to materials and manufacturing burdens of the e-scooters and the impacts associated with transporting the scooters to overnight charging stations” (Hollingsworth et al., 2019).
Governance characteristics
Many students are interacting with these e-scooters on a daily basis. According to GMU website, they do not recommend leaving the scooter on a sidewalk or anywhere that is a tripping hazard, yield to pedestrians, and do not ride on the sidewalks. With that being said, I see these rules being violated daily, “Data on 248 patients were reviewed. Twenty-three (9%) were under 18 years old. Loss of balance was the most common cause of injury accounting for nearly half, while tripping over a scooter 14 (6%) affected the elderly disproportionately. Eight (3%) riders wore helmets” (Bloom et al., 2021).
Social/Cultural/Economic/Political settings or related ecosystems
Economically, this is not a viable solution because it is a small portion of transportation for shorter commute times, perfect for getting around a college campus, though. George Mason is a large community school as well, so socially this would not be a long distance solution for commuters to use.
What can we do?
I think incorporating more e-scooters or electric modes of transportation should be incorporated. For electric vehicles, incorporating more plug in chargers around campus. By bringing more electric modes of transportation we can lessen our carbon footprint, could bring significant changes for society in terms of not only the technologies we use for personal transportation, but also moving our economies away from petroleum” (Brown et al., 2010). Also, in regards to the e -scooters, to make more aware the safety measures that go along with driving them, so that there are less injuries/accidents.
References
Bloom, M. B., Noorzad, A., Lin, C., Little, M., Lee, E. Y., Margulies, D. R., & Torbati, S. S. (2021). Standing electric scooter injuries: Impact on a community. The American Journal of Surgery, 221(1), 227–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2020.07.020
Brown, S., Pyke, D., & Steenhof, P. (2010). Electric vehicles: The role and importance of standards in an emerging market. Energy Policy, 38(7), 3797–3806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.02.059
Hollingsworth, J., Copeland, B., & Johnson, J. X. (2019). Are e-scooters polluters? The environmental impacts of shared dockless electric scooters. Environmental Research Letters, 14(8), 084031. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2da8