Earth, it is a beautiful planet, really one of a kind. Sadly every day billions of people around the world drive vehicles that emit fumes that are poison to earths atmosphere. If we want the earth to live as long as possible, if we want a safe enviroment for our children to live in the future, then we need change.

There is a settlement in Europe called Vauban, it is a car-free community, for the most part. There is only a couple streets in the entire community that are hospitable to cars. None of the houses except for a few have garages. 70 percent of the population does not own a car. It is a trending lifestyle in Europe, and i can see why. 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are from cars in Europe. That number is raised to 50 percent in some parts of the United States.

In Paris, it was so smoggy that they had to ban the use of vehicles for an entire weekend, one day even license plates would be banned, the next day odd. If you were caught driving with a banned license plate you would be fined, and approximately 4,000 people were fined on that weekend, 27 people's cars were impounded. This was all part of an attempt to clear the 147 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter that was congesting the air. Compared to London with 79.7. Public transit however was free during this time, and hybrid cars, electric cars, and cars with 3 or more passengers were allowed.

In Bogota, Colombia, they celebrate "Car-free day", where everyone in the city leaves their cars at home and either hikes, bikes, skates, or takes the bus to work and school. Violators face a $25 fine. It all started back in the mid 1990s, the city has added 118 miles of bicycle paths since then, the most out of any latin city. Parks and sports centers have also made an appearance around the city.

Basically what im trying to get across here is that all cars do is make us get to work faster, but if you think about the cons, it pollutes our earth, it dirties our streets, it congests our cities, and it makes everyone unhappy. We need to change, not all of us, but some of us, for the children.