For most people it is more common to get from place to place by hopping in a car. But, what if we never used cars, or at least limited them? Lives would be inpacted in a very positive way. In

In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars , by Elisabeth Rosenthal,

Paris bans driving due to smog , by Robert Duffer,

Car-free day is spinning into a big hit in Bogata , by Andrew Selsky, and

The End of Car Culture , by Elisabeth Rosenthal the authors show how cars are not a neccesity to life and how our communities can even be better off without them. Because of the positive impact on our enviroment and the increase of a community, limiting car usage is a serious idea worty of a second look.

Cars, especially in America, are a major source of transportation. Without them many people would not have an easy way to commute to where they need to be. But, convience is causing more pain than pleasure and startign to harm our enviroment. Cars just by themselves cause around fifty percent of the greenhouse gases that are emited into the atmospere. Similarly they cause twelve percent in Europe (par. 5) Logically it would make sense to find the root of a problem and change it to make the problem go away, but in the case of cars, cars are a root in the pollution problem, but many people need them to ge to get where they need to be. The easiest solution to this is to limit our car use and add more busses and easier, more acessable areas for bikes and walking. Pollution will lower and people will still get to where they need to be. Pollution is a major topic regarding the safety of our enviroment and cars have been a proven source of much of the pollution in the air. Using less cars coensides with less pollution in our surroundings. Paris, France was suffering from very high pollution in the air. To combat this, for five days certain people, based on their lisecense plate number, were not allowed to use their cars. Though not everyone complied, after the five days the smog went from the levels found in the worst city for pollution, Beijing China, down by sixty percent (par.14). In just under a week Paris went from being the most polluted it had ever been to a better, safer level. If a city just by limiting the car usage by half was able to make such a drastic difference in that time, imagine it being limited more over a wider area. There is a possibility of totally correcting the pollution problem worldwide, or at least making it better and more easily handled. Although the enviroment is important, cars are also affecting the way we interact as people in a community.

Because we have cars, we never really see the senery around us. We exit our houses, jump in our cars, drive, and walk ito our destination. There is no contact with nature or other people passing by. Limiting cars can lead to the increase of interaction and better looking cities. In Bogota, there is a day once a year called "car-free day", in which no one is allowed any use of their personal cars and fined if they do not comply. Because of this there has been an increase in new high-end resturants and places to shop. The community has also added more city parks and places for sports. There is no traffic rush hour and due to the increased walking the old broken sidewalks have been replaced with larger new ones (par.28). No one wants to not only have to walk, but have to walk on a surface that is hard to walk on and unappealing. Due to this, people started to create parks and sports centers for a nice place to be as well as a nice place to look at. And because of the increased foot traffic, there have been more people opening shops and resturants, as no one speeding by in a car will notice a small corner store, but someone strolling by, taking in the scenery will. In response to the increased foot traffic, it is important that there is somewhere to actually put your foot, and old cracked pavement won't cut it. If there are less cars, less road pavement is needed and more sidewalk pavement is. So, the old pavement is replaced with more pavement that is in better shape. All the walking and passing people causes people to be more social and to interact more often. The members of a community are more together. Mr. Sivak, a researcher, had noticed both of his children are not interested in getting a driver's licence. Everything they do is centered around walking, public transport, and carpooling. They don't find it necissary to have a car and licence (par. 39). The children of the researcher don't have or need a car because what they do doesn't require them to have one. They get a more full experience not being in a car all the time. In a carpool they get to socialize with friends and while walking they get an outdoor and community experience.

In short, cars are an easy way to get from area to area, but they are very harful to the enviroment and our community. They add pollution to the air and cut off our everyday contact. If we limited the use of cars we would lower pollution, casuse our cities to be more attractive, have better ways of transport, and be closer as people in an area. So, is a car still going to be your most common way of transport? Think of the good you would do to the world if it wasn't.