In the generation we are living in today cars are a huge part of our everyday lives. Whether it's going to school/work, hanging with friends or anywhere really; people rely on their cars for everything and you never hear anyone talk about walking, biking and taking another way of transportation. It's whole new era with how are society is created and working but it's how we are living, and it seems to be working. Elisabeth Rosenthal, Robert Duffer, and Andrew Selsky all have the same mindset when talking about cars; while each are talking about a different reason to decrease car usage, they all have a common interest in wanting it to be implied or simply like how it is being enforced. So after reading very specific, factual, and information articles I now know the advantages of limiting car usage and that is to save time and businesses, conserve resources, and having a vast decrease in car culture.

Imagine yourself on a bad morning, you woke you late and you're probably rushing out the door for work, and as a fellow American I would know that there is early morning traffic no matter where you are headed. But if you didn't use a car and maybe walked or rode a bike you could easily get there faster if it was a reasonable distance. "In a program that's set to spread to other countries, millions of Colombians hiked, biked, skated or took buses to work during a car-free day yesterday, leaving the streets fo this capital city eerily to devoid of traffic jams" (Selsky, par 20). This goes to show that when people took other steps to get to work instead of cars that there was no traffic jams. Which means no waitng which also means getting to work at a normal time, or for some, even on time. When you think about it you know that the roads can be a really busy and hetic place to be if you time it just right, so if you take the extra measure and maybe walk home you can easily make faster time and not just that but it helps the environment. Now another advantage of not using cars is businesses start to flourish. "Parks and sports centers also have bloomed throughout the city; uneven, pitted sidewalks have been replaced by broad, smooth sidewalks; rush- hour restrictions have dramatically cut traffic; and new restaurants and upscale shopping districts have cropped up" (Selsky, par 28). Since many people have decided not to use their cars they walk or bike and that can lead to going to places near by which would mean they see more of their city than they did in a car. More eyes are to catch businesses and they find themselves walking into a store because they aren't rushed and/or it might just look intersting which is a huge benefit for companies.

Secondly, another advantage on limiting car usage would be conserving resources. This is a very major step when it comes to the environment and things like these should be enforced for a greener Earth. "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" (Rosenthal, par 5). This is damaging our Earth and the only to prevent it is to limit your car use. Because how it's happening and how it's polluting our Earth is from the cars tailpipes when it releases the exhaust. Due to this hazardly problem laws are starting to be made to limit the use. Towns and cities have tried to come up with a no-driving day to decrease the use and help the environment, and in many cases it has worked while in some, it hasn't. "After days of near-record pollution, Paris enforced a partial driving ban to clear the air of the global city" (Duffer, par 10). In effect to this 'experiment' it is shown that this way of thinking had changed Paris; pollution decreased and congestion in traffic was down and the smog that was being created by cars had stopped the next couple of days. It's unbelievable to know what can happen when you limit yourself.

Finally, it is clear that there is a decrease in car culture. There have been recent studies that imply that more Americans aren't driving or just plain out don't want to get their licenses. "A study last year found that driving by young people decreased 23 percent between 2001 and 2009..." (Rosenthal, par 41). We aren't really understanding as to why this is happening. Maybe it's because they are afraid of getting a ticket, their parents haven't allowed it, they are against pollution- it's not known. But what we do know is that yes, it's saving the environment but it's hurting the car businesses. "If the pattern presists- and many sociologists believe it will have a beneficial implications for carbon emissions and the environment, since transportation is the second largest source of America's emission, just behind power plants" (Rosenthal, par 34). Yes, this is going to increasingly better our enivornment by not having more cars on the road to pollute, but it will for sure hurt the car industry. Not many people even have the money to go out a buy a car in this economy. And from the car businesses in ruins, some are even rebranding themselves. The change in car culture is known for much less commuting due to technology as well.

Lastly, a reminder of the advantages in limiting car usage are saving time and businesses, conserving resources and a decrease in car culture. So when you're on the road, start thinking about ways to stop your use of cars and see how it would benefit the environment; cause the more we drive around the worse our Earth will become.