2.7 tonnes
Car emissions are more than just a technical environmental issue. Rather, these emissions are embedded in histories of colonial expansion, resource appropriation, and climate injustice. The continued domination of fossil fuel-driven transport not only warms the planet, but also reproduces systems where wealthier nations claim control over the atmospheric commons, forcing others to bear the costs.
New Zealand, per capita, has one of the highest road transport emissions in the world: 2.7 tonnes of CO₂ per person annually. What is particularly reprehensible is that one third of car trips are short (under two kilometres) – and hence almost always avoidable. The cyanotype prints of endemic and exotic trees in public car parks seek to disrupt habitual patterns of car use. While trees help absorb CO₂ from road transport, they alone cannot fully offset emissions, making reductions at the source essential. By deliberately engaging in the long, time-consuming process of creating cyanotype prints of trees, I invite reflection on the unsustainable practice of short car trips.