Cars; our main source for travel, what we depend on. But consider how things were before cars, and can going back to those times make a positive impact? How can limiting car usage be advantagous to people, the environment, and just everything in general?

In

In German Suberb, Life Goes On Without Cars by Elisabeth Rosenthal, a city has already adapted to the idea of a car free, or a non-car dependant city. They did so by having "only two places to park- large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home." This limit of parking space can cause drivers to just stop trying to drive, becauuse why bother if there is limited to no places to put the car? This change allows for people to be less stressed, and when one doesn't have a car, there's less of a rush to get somewhere because the ability to rush is gone. There's also the need of less polution that causes car usage to go down. "And that, experts say, is a huge impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes . . . . Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe . . . and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States." The above quote by Elisabeth Rosenthal proves that something must be done to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing car usage can do so. Vauban finds is useful, why doesn't everyone?

In

Paris bans driving due to smog by Robert Duffer, cars were slowly banned in order to clear the air, sort of like when one puts their body through a detox. When that ended up helping, more cars were banned, and this led to the realization that cars were bad, more or less. The enviropnment needs less cars, which means we need to be less dependant on cars for everything, because soon this so- called need for cars is going to leave us gasping for breath, and that is not a good thing. "Cold nights and warm days caused the warmer layer of air to trap car emissions. Diesel fuel was blamed, since France has . . . tax policy that favors diesel over gasoline. Diesel makes up 67 percent of vehicles in France, compared to a 53.3 percent average of diesel engines in the rest of Western Europe, according to Reuters." The usage of diesel, which is ultimately the usage of cars, is leading to a "blanket" of air trapping the car emissions, causing pollution. The pollution is so dangerous to have just sitting there, waiting to be breathed in and choked on. After realizing that the ban of cars has been helpful for the environment, shouldn't everyone else realize it is advantagous too?

The sooner the human race stops depending on cars, the sooner the human race will be able to breath and think carefully and safely again. Everyone is aware pollution is a problem, will continue to complain about it, but then will also continue to fuel the problem, which is quite ironic isn't it? Cars are not worth losing our ability to breath, and if we realize that, then maybe we will be able to breath and see clearly again.                                         