For many years, the automobile has become and remained a staple in the world as humanity's most popular choice of transportation. The number of cars manufactured by car companies has reached the hundreds of millions. Cars have been a trademark of American ingenuity and the evolution of technology. However, as we go into the great beyond that is the future, we must take into consideration the pains and risks of these vehicles, and if they are worth driving as the world population exceeds seven billion.

Few people can recall a time where global warming wasn't the main conflict of scientists today. The Earth gets warmer as pollution levels rise as smog around cities like Paris and Mexico City reaches an all time high. The polar caps are melting at a rapid rate as hurricanes ravage the mainland harder and harder each year. What caused this stuff to happen? Why, look no further than our friends, the factories and automobiles! These two have been quoted time and time again as the catalyst of the global warming crisis. With such an adverse effect on the ozone layer, governments around the world have to do something to stop it from rising any further, with nothing short of success. Places like France have realized the extreme rise in smog levels in the city of Paris, that they had to do something. So, they made a ban on driving for people with even numbered license plates with only a few exceptions, and banned odd numbered licensed cars the next to try to curtail this occurance. After a few days, it worked. The smog cleared just enough for the French government to rescind its ban on license plates for the city. Such a huge difference in smog in only two days means that making a ban similar to this could be nothing short of beneficial for communities around the globe. So why don't more communities take up the hard task of making this ban a regular happening? It's a slow process, but it is happening, in unlikely places. Including over in our Western European ally Germany.

Vauban, Germany is a small community town located near the border of France and Switzerland. This town is best known for it's extremely unorthodox method of removing greenhouse gases from the ozone layer. People have decided to give up their cars, just relying on other transportation like walking and taking a local tram. Street parking, driveways and home garages are just not allowed in the district, and this has caused a huge difference between non-car owners and car owners alike. Seventy percent of the population in Vauban does not own a motor vehicle, a large portion of them sold their cars to move out to this small, cozy little town. Busy sidewalks and the chatter of civilians outshines the faint murmurs of the few odd automobiles in the city. What started out as an odd social experiment has turned into a great community full of happy people. Although this type of community is generally unpopular, other countries around the world have come to like the idea Vauban came up with. The capital city of Colobia, Bogota, has a neat program they like to call the Day Without Cars. The title speaks for itself. Civilians would take one day out of the year to generally not use cars, to promote the likening of taking other modes of transportation to wherever you need to go. Countries in South America have noticed this day, and are looking to replicate it themselves, which ultimately signifies the success of the Day Without Cars.

Countries around the world have all tried to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, whether by making a community built around the non-use of cars, making a day celebrating the use of other modes of transportation, or just banning the driving of automobiles outright. As just of a cause it may be, Americans are still hesitant to enact such henious laws. However, if more communities are built around this clean idea, more and more people will flock to it. It just takes preserverence, a strong plan, and a whole lot of sidewalks.