It appears that the world has begun to go through a cultural shift. That is, a preference of not using a private mode of transportation to get to work, or the gym, or wherever else people need to go on a day-to-day basis. In fact this preference is very benificial in that it has begun to affect our lives. In limiting car usage citizens can help reduce pollution such as smog in their community, or even enhance their community by introducing the need for new sidewalks or markets within a walking distance of their homes.

It is of the utmost truth, cars create pollution. In fact they are "one of the highest contributing factors of pollution, besides power plants in America."(Rosenthal 34). Which of course is not very surprising since just about everybody has a car around the time that they recieve their licence. Cities like Paris sometimes have to "...enforce a partial driving ban to clear the air..."(Duffer 10) ,this only seals in the idea that cars contribute to the amount of pollution in the air we breathe. Limiting the amount of car usage, will limit the pollution in the air. It is as simple as that. But if you limit the usage of cars it can become diffucult to get to places you need to go, fear not. Limiting car usage makes it a neccesity to have stores accesible to the public.

Walking or using public transportationto get to and from your local grocery or gym may be a bother, but, lately cities with a decrease in their car usage have made it more pleasant on the public. Cities like Bogota (Colombia) are witnessing this first hand. Since their city impliments a day without cars businesses and the city itself have begun to take notice in the large numbers that participate. The city is flourishing in the fact that "parks and sports centers...have bloomed throughout the city; eneven, pitted sidewalks have been replaced,...and new restaurants and upscale shopping districts have cropped up."(Selsky 28). In Vauban (Germany) cars use is limited, but the suburb itself has made tasks such as shopping easier in that ",...stores are placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in mallks along some distant highway."(Rosenthal 6). These advancements in the town are all thanks to the limiting of car usage.

All in all, limiting car usage is anything but harmful to our communties. Limiting usage helps reduce pollution in our air, and it also helps in that it aids in restoring our communities in the fact that sidewalks are being repaved or created, or even a grocery is withing walking distance. So if you have the choice whether to take your car to the market or walk, take the walk, your community might get something good out of it.                                    