Do you think you would be able to live without your car? It would be less difficult than you think! In fact, there is a whole town named Vauban, Germany, that has given up their cars! According to Source 1, street parking, driveways, and home garages are generally forbidden, unless of course you have the money to buy a parking garage space for a whopping $40,000. A citizen of the car-less town, Heidrum Walter admits, "When I had a car, I was always tense. I'm much happier this way." Passenger cars are resposible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, and up to 50 percent in some areas of the US, according to Source 1. If only we had more towns like Vauban, maybe our impact on the world would be less destructive.

Some towns ban cars for a few days at a time. Paris enforced a partial driving ban after days of near-record pollution. Congestion in Paris went down 60 percent and the smog from the pollution cleared up enough that they rescind the ban. Some people would complain that having little to no cars will be an issue for jobs, delivery companies, or getting children to and from places. There's always a bus, and there's always the option of car pooling! Bogota, Columbia is another town that has done a car free day, except Bogota's is annual. These Columbians hiked, biked, skated or took buses to places during the car-free day, according to Source 3. Businessman Carlos Arturo Plaza says, "It's a good opportunity to take away stress and lower air pollution." As a result of this annual car-free day, 118 miles of bicycle paths have been constructed in Bogota. I think more towns should ban cars for just a few days. We could all get a little excersize, help the environment, and improve our mood and lower stress!

A recent study found that driving by young people decreased 23 percent between 2001 and 2009, Source 4 says. The number of miles driven in the US was at it's height in 2005 and dropped steadily after. In April 2013, the number of miles driven per person was almost 9 percent below that peak! Some sociologists believe that if this pattern continues, it will have lots of beneficial implications for carbon emissions and the environment, according to Source 4. Some places, such as New York, have car-sharing programs and bike-sharing programs, which is a nice way to get from place to place that's healthy for you and your environment.

There's so many reasons why we should use our cars less! Like I explained, it's very healthy for your environment, and if you choose to walk or bike, its healthy for your body, too. Also, pollution rates would go down quite a lot if we would just carpool or walk/bike to places! People have said that they feel so much happier and stress free from not using a car all the time. So why not take the time to help your environment and call somebody up to carpool, get that bike fixed, or hop on that bus!