Hot topics in today's world are pollution and global warming. While there is still debate, many people agree that cutting down society's use of cars would help the world be a better place. Greater limitation of car use will reduce pollution and better society.

To commence, reduction of car use will reduce pollution. Pollution is essentially hurting the planet as a whole, as well as all the organisms living in it. In fact, Paris, France, has recently taken action against car use effectively. According to Robert Duffer, "[The smog] rivaled Beijing, China, which is known as one of the most polluted cities in the world." In only a few days, after banning half of the diesel and gas-run cars in the cities per day, "The smog cleared enough Monday for the ruling French party to rescind the ban for odd-numbered plates on Tuesday." If such a change can happen in under a week, the entire world could benefit greatly from adopting similar policies. In the U.S, things are also turning around for the better. According to

The New York Times

's article, "The End of Car Culture," "transportaion is the second largest source of America's emissions, just behind power plants." This is largely due to car culture in the U.S, which is fortunately declining. In fact, in the same article, it is said "As of April 2013, the number of miles driven per person was nearly 9 percent below the peak and equal to where the country was in January 1995." This shows that America is well on it's way to becoming a greener nation without having to make dramatic changes to it's way of life.

Continuing, more limited car use can better society, or at least work in a community. Society is currently too dependant on cars. However, Vauban, Germany is starting to change that. In another

New York Times article, Elisabeth Rosenthal states, "70 percent of Vauban's families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here." The remaining thirty percent of people hardly use their own cars for anything more than distant traveling, as most of Vauban's streets are "car-free." This can show that a population of people, (in this case over 5,000 of them) can survive without constantly being behind a wheel. In another case, in Bogota, Columbia, there is a designated holiday to celebrate not using cars. Appropriately titled, "Day Without Cars" is an annual event held in order "to promote alternative transportation and reduce smog," according to the

Seattle Times's

Andrew Selsky. While it may sound silly, the event had a huge turnout in spite of bad weather. Other cities joined into the fun after a few years, and also in the article, Enrique Riera, the mayor of a Paraguay town, said of the event, "'These people are generating a revolutionary change, and this is crossing borders.'" The simple effort to better the world has brought people together for a good cause.

In retrospect, the idea of declining the use of cars will help humanity as a whole greatly. Doing so would simultaneously slow down the destruction of the Earth for all organisms inside of it, and also help the human race better itself socially.