While hybrid cars and alternative fuels are certainly a positive step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, studies have that this is a small move – somewhere in the ballpark of 4%  in terms of what we need to do to curb climate change.

On the other hand, urban planners and big thinkers who make their living by looking at the big picture suggest that the answer to curbing emissions from automobiles lies in developing a new, very different way of viewing cars altogether.

Their visions range from the accepted practice of carpooling and car sharing to the futuristic concept of connecting a city with an electrical grid system, so that car users can simply park it, plug it, and walk away.

These transportation enthusiasts also have big plans for the free-spirited, digital cousin of carpooling, dynamic ride sharing.

Dynamic ride sharing is designed with both the busy commuter and the technologically savvy traveler in mind. Dynamic ride sharing is for conference trips or family visits that would normally require a rental car. It is also for the ecologically minded driver who can’t bear the thought of driving a single occupancy car for ten hours.

Currently being tested in Ireland, Germany and Paris, France, dynamic ride sharing generally involves the use of mobile devices to connect with other people traveling the same route.

Through a variety of proposed platforms, drivers can post their route and search for would-be passengers; travelers can search for drivers and post their departure time. The practice is defined by the folks at dynamicridesharing.org as “a system that facilitates the ability of drivers and passengers to make one-time ride matches close to their departure time, with sufficient convenience and flexibility to be used on a daily basis.”

Ultimately, dynamic ride sharing is another way of reducing emissions because it offers options and brings down the number of cars on the highway.

The dynamic ride sharing movement includes MIT researchers, staff at the Frankfurt airport in Germany, and iPhone users. (The MIT group is working on wearable media that would identify youth looking for rides). Encouraging on-the-spot connections, dynamic ride sharing could be seen as a digital form of hitchhiking, a more spontaneous type of carpooling, a fun way to use your mobile devices, or all of the above.

Just as the car sharing industry created a new, mainstream way of looking at car use, so too can the ride sharing movement alter our view of travel. Our daily routines bring plenty of unexpected surprises, and sometimes these missteps can make it difficult to commit to pre-determined carpool times.

Dynamic ride sharing, on the other hand, uses everyday technology to mesh the movement of people from point A to point B. And it might even connect like-minded individuals keen to see reduced emissions.