All throughout the world, experiments are taking place that replace the personal automobile with safer and more environment sensetive choices. Life in places, such as Vauban, Germany, is built around the lack of cars. Bogota, Colombia hosts their own Day Without Cars. Although this scale of events hasn't happened America yet, the youth of the United States aren't using cars as much as they used to. In all these cases, quality of life has improved and the environment isn't suffering as much as it previously did.

The residents of Vauban, Germany have made a monumental decision in the aspect of cars. According to the article

In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars , in the new district of Freiburg, the only cars that run in the streets are the trams that run to downtown Freiburg. This is done so that "stores are placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls along some distant highway." This "smart planning" allows people to get to where they need to go without using cars. Placing busy businesses on a main street would normally be a bad idea because of the amount of congestion it would cause. In places like this, congestion isn't a thing that can happen. A walk could get you to central places allowing you to access the more important of places. The same article states that "passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of the greenhouse gas emitions." The envirnment is in a state of constant decline with the amount of greenhouse gasses and chemicals we are exposing to it. The lack of cars is a great way to put us in the right direction. The article mentions that cars were responsible for "up to 50 percent [of greenhouse gasses] in some car-intensive ares in the United States." Imagine how much clearer the sky would be with smog reduced by half. The implications of removing cars from our lives could mean the difference between severe global warming and living happy and healthy.

Three cities, deep within the Colombian urban areas, host a day where cars are not allowed. Andrew Selsky describes how "parks and sports centers have bloomed throughout the city; uneven,pitted sidewalks; rush-hour traffic; and new restaurants and upscale shopping districts have cropped up." In Bogota, this singular day where cars were banned gave people a reason to try out public transportation and personal locomotion. Paris took a similar approach when, According to Robert Duffer, they "enforced a partial driving ban to clear the air of he global city." Cars with even-numbered license plates were enforced to not be driven. The odd-numbered plates were the ones that were taken off the streets the next day. The two day ban allowed the envirnment to recover after extremely high smog levels. The rule that was applied in the Colombian cities was also enforced in the worldwide city of Paris. Both cities benefited greatly from a temporary ban of cars.

Car culture has always been strong within America. Elisabeth Rosunthal implies that for several decades, cars were a must-have object, but now, the youth are not as interested as the previous generations. Rosunthal shows how "America's love affair with its vehicles seems to be cooling. When adjusted for population growth, the number of miled driven in the United States peaked in 200 and dropped steadily thereafter, according to an analysis by Doug Short of Advisor Perspecive." If the largest cities stopped relying on cars as much, everybody would benefit. Even the car companies would have something to gain with advances in more personal vehicles such as bicycles. The environment would have an immense amount of weight taken off of its shoulders. In the US, where the 2nd highest source of environmental harm is cars, the impact would be monumental. The article relates that "people who stopped car commuting as a result of the recession may find less reason to resume hte habit." Teens all across America are car-pooling and finding new ways to help the environment while also getting to where they need to go.

Life is getting too busy. There is always something that needs to be done. Cars may help but there will never be enough hours in the day to do everything. Leaving personal transportation behind will be the next big step towards a more relaxed and stressless life. The advantages easily outweigh the disadvantages.