Everybody's got a car, right? Having a car to many is either required, out of convenience, or even as a status symbol. What if I told you that cars are becoming becoming a burden to the rest of the world. The negative aspects of everybody owning a car have now taken a physical position amongst the world's issues. Not everybody has realized it yet but there are several cities in other countries that are choosing to take on the issues head on. Let me tell you a bit about a couple of them that I have found to have taken the most drastic of steps and by the end of this, I intend for you to have chosen a side to stand with on the issues that lie ahead.

First off, we have VAUBAN, Germany. According to Source 1, the city has made it outright difficult to own a car here. You would be hard-pressed to find anywhere to park as the city has made street parking, driveways, and home garages illegal. You are able to own an automobile but you must go out of your way to drive to a garage at the edge of the district or pay up to $40,000 for a parking space. The city is trying to make its citizens less dependent on automobiles by designing the whole district to be easily accesible through alternative means of transport and by foot. Their example must be getting our attention because the Environmental Protection Agency is also promoting "car reduced" communities. Are we looking at the future of suburban environments?

Next, we have Paris, France. Recently, according to Source 2, the city of France has put a restriction on the amount of cars driving in its streets to reduce their monstrous smog levels. The plan was to have cars with even numbered license plates drive only a particular day and have the cars with odd numbered license plates drive on another day. The plan worked and because of this decision smog levels that leveled near the ones present in Beijing, China which is said to be one of the most polluted in the world have gone down to a reasonable level and they are no longer living in such toxic conditions. Maybe the rest of the world can adopt a similar plan when the need arises.

Lastly, we have Bogota the capital of Columbia. According to Source 3, in Bogota, there is a program in place that banned all motor transportation except for public transit and taxis for a day. In a city of seven milion the need for transportation is pretty high but the citizens who participated managed without a hitch by using other means of tranportation such as by bicycle. This event is part of a long campaign designed to promote smog reduction and alternative means of transport. The campaign has also seen the construction of 118 miles of bicycle paths throughout the city. The city's culture has had no major trouble adapting to the change and places of commerce and recreation have begun to crop up to facilitate the change of pace.

All of this change is beginning to affect our own country as the government is taking notes from the success of these campaigns happening in other countries. According to Source four, studies show that we are seeing a reduction in the ammount of people buying automobiles and earning drivers licences. Is this because of choice or is it because of Americans not having access to enough money to buy new cars? According to the author of this article, Elisabeth Rosenthal, we are seeing the end of the Car Culture. With this thought in mind, which side will you stand with when it is time to decide our future?