Cars- most people use them for transportation. It's our lazy way of getting to places.

Automobiles benefit us plenty when it comes to getting from point A to point B, but they also have a big negative impact. Cars are responsible for a huge amount of pollution like greenhouse gas emissions and smog. If we were to limit car usage, we could decrease the amount of stress and pollution emitted into the air, as well as give our community a chance to improve.

In Vauban, Germany, residents have given up their cars and have no problem doing so. Cars are generally not allowed, forbidden some would say, in this district. Vauban's streets are pretty much "car-free". Of course car ownership is still allowed, with the acception that you have to be able to find a place to park since there are only two places; large garages at the end of the development, where a car-owner can buy a space for $40,000, along with a home. "When i had a car i was always tense. I'm much happier this way," Heidrun Walter stated, a mother of two. Experts say automobiles are a huge impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emmisions from tailpipes. In Europe, passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emmisions and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States. Paris participated in a driving ban, which violators suffered a fine of 22-euro($31). Paris typically has more smog than other European capitals, for example, last week Paris had 147 micrograms of particulate matter (PM) per cubic meter while Brussels had 114 PM and 79.7 PM in London. Since Paris participated in this ban, 60 percent of Paris' smog has cleared.

In Bogota, Columbia, the city held a car-free day, leaving the streets eerily devoid of traffic jams. It was the third year in a row cars have been banned with only buses and taxis permitted to this Day Without Cars. Their goal is to promote alternative transportation and reduce smog as well. Violators here faced $25 fines. Even with occasional bad weather, people still participated in this event. "It's a good opportunity to take away stress and lower air pollution," said Carlos Arturo Plaza, a business man, as he rode a two-seated bicycle with his wife. The Day Without Cars allowed parks and sports centers to bloom, uneven sidewalks to be replaced wih broad smooth sidewalks, new restaurants and upscale shopping districs to crop up, and rush-hour restrictions have dramatically cut traffic.

In the United States, Americans are starting to buy fewer cars, drive less, and get fewer licenses as each year passes (partially because cash-strapped Americans couldn't afford new cars). If this pattern continues, which many sociologists believe, it will have beneficial implications for carbon emissions and the enviornment. Even though reducing automobile transportation could have negative implications for car industries, the positive affects are much more important. In this generation, the internet allows people to connect without having to drive to meet friends. At the Mobile World Congress last year in Barcelona, Spain, Bill Ford, executive chairman of the Ford Motor Company, laid out a business plan for a world in which personal vehicle ownership is impractical or undesirable. Ford proposed partnering with the telecommunications industry to create cities in which "pedesrtian, bicycle, private cars, commercial and public transportation traffic are woven into a connected network to save time, conserve resources, lower emissions and improve safety."

In conclusion, cars are starting to be less and less of a neccesity, and more and more people are starting to notice that automobiles are just hurting the enviornment. By limiting car use, it can limit stress, help the enviornment as well as communities to improve, save time, conserve resources and improvee safety. There are plenty of other ways to get transportation that are less damaging and dangerous, like bicycles and walking. Of course it may take a little longer to get places without a car, but you can always ride a bus, or enjoy the scenery while riding a bike or walking.