What Are The Negative Effects Of The Automobile Essay Sample

Limiting the usage of cars has been a talk and debate all around the globe and yet the usage of cars is still at an all time high. Many statistics show cars' effects on the world that we live in such as gas emissions and the effect on people and their mental health. Even though some studies suggest that car usage is trending down, cars still have a large effect on the environment such as the gas emissions that they release and the overall congestion of an area where there are a large amount of vehicles. There are many different ways that limiting car use can have an effect on our environment as cars often contribute a big amount of emission all around the globe and they also can cause people to have an overall more healthy lifestyle as it forces people to be more active. With so many things going on in the world you may wonder, why would we focus on this?

For starters, the amount of emissions that cars release into the air. It is no secret that cars are a big part of the world that we live in as they often help us get from point a to point b but cars can also have negative affects on our lives and our health. As in the text it states “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.”(Source 1). The piece of the text is stating that a large amount of the greenhouse gas emissions in our world are a result of cars and the amount of usage that they have, we like to use our cars for basically everything that we do that can cause harm to the environment. In addition to greenhouse emissions “Transportation is the second largest source of America’s emissions”. So not only are cars contributing a lot to emissions but just transportation in general which has largely affected our country as like it says it is the second highest leading cause of emissions. It is no surprise that car emissions are a leader in the amount released into the air as cars themselves are a big part of our life, so you may be wondering what life would be without our daily use of cars?

For instance, life without cars has been implemented into some countries all around the world. For example in France “Congestion was down 60 percent in the capital of France, after five days of intensifying smog.”(Source 2). This piece of text is telling us that when France decided to implement a partial driving ban that the levels of combustion and smog went down in the capital which has since opened the eyes of the people in France that cars truly have a large effect on the environment. In addition to combustion levels in France the city of Bogota has decided to implement its own sets of restrictions, for example in the text it states that “It has seen [Bogota] the construction of 118 miles of bicycle paths, the most of any Latin America city, according to Mockus, the city’s mayor.”(Source 3). This is telling us how since Bogota has decided to have “The day without cars” the amount of bicycle paths have increased which some people have stated has helped them with stress levels and helped improve the air pollution around them “”It’s a good opportunity to take away stress and lower air pollution” said Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus.”(Source 3). This makes the idea of lower car usage more prevalent as even the Mayor who has a lot of power in the community is supporting lower the usage of cars.

Over the years we the people have grown accustomed to relying on cars to do our everyday needs and services, but in this process we have created an increase in greenhouse emission. As a group we need to become more aware of just what exactly we are putting into the world around us. We don’t have to completely abandon cars but instead just be less independent on using our cars for everything in life. This might be a long and hard process but should we as people actually consider cutting down on cars all together? These cars have caused a high amount of emissions into the atmosphere and have caused some countries to have to implement rules and procedures to lower the amount of combustion and greenhouse gasses in the air. Finally I leave you with this. Do you think we should cut down car usage?