Key Topic at Leading Shanghai Forum: Environmentally Responsible Development a Necessary Prerequisite for a Healthier Lifestyle
Tongji University professor and leading management science expert You Jianxin talks about how the development of new mobility models that take the environment into account is the first step
SHANGHAI, Dec. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- You Jianxin, professor at the School of Economics & Management, Tongji University, and one of China's leading management science experts, attended the 12th China (Shanghai) Service Outsourcing International Forum (2016) - Innovation & Entrepreneurship in the Field of Sustainable Transportation and Environmentally Responsible Tourism, where he led a discussion on the importance of sustainable and environmentally-friendly mobility models. His message: based on the desire on behalf of every human being to live in a healthy environment and to have access to a healthy lifestyle, he pointed out the two key words that need to be part and parcel of the conversation when discussing transportation and that takes responsibility for the environment into account: ecology and habits.
Ecology: At a minimum, three key aspects of the underlying infrastructure necessitate a close look: the physical (the transportation network, the vehicles themselves and the role of the Internet), the overall system (establishing systems that ensure green development and the development of a market-oriented ecosystem that encourages sustainable transportation) and the cultural (making people aware of the importance of adopting an environmentally-responsible lifestyle and arriving at a definition of what it means to adopt such a lifestyle based on consensus. For example, whether the development and adoption of new energy vehicles can serve as a guideline that defines the standards for low energy consumption and low emissions, or what would be the rules that define the successful development and deployment of an intelligent transportation network).
Habits: The fostering of habits that lead to environmentally-responsible behavior among individuals, groups and organizations. Sustainable transport is closely linked to the behavioral habits of individuals and organizations. However, this will first necessitate going through a process which enhances awareness and the development of the behavioral habits. For example, can public transportation become the primary choice for the vast majority of the traveling public? Can low-energy consumption and low-emission vehicles become the preference for most car buyers when completing a purchase? Efforts are clearly afoot to accelerate this process, to achieve sustainable transportation and expand eco-friendly transportation. Changing people's transportation and business habits and getting governments to do the same can help the general population in making the choice to adopt a healthier lifestyle, and to do so sooner rather than later.
Based on the above discussion, it is necessary to recognize that sustainable transportation and eco-friendly transportation originate from the general expectations for a healthier lifestyle. People are faced with unprecedented challenges when they make the choice to adopt a healthier lifestyle, as they must change their current behavior both at the individual and organizational level. It behooves governments to play a leadership role in encouraging and supporting the changes in behavior, such as providing a competitive yet fair environment for the development of sustainable transportation and environmentally responsible tourism, imposing a high cost of high-emission vehicles and on any system, network or infrastructure that consumes high amounts of harmful energy, and reducing unnecessary risks for innovative companies which invest in green development. This is the awareness that needs to be raised as the first step in getting the world to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
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