Cars, they make life so much easier, or, do they make them deadlier? The amount of green house gasses has increaced dramaticly over the past years, due to the gasses emitted through the tallpipes of cars. However, there has been ways that people are trying to lower these gasses. People around the world are reducing the use of cars for a more cleaner form of transportation. In Vauban, Germany residents in this community "have givin up their cars"(1). Also in Paris where they "enforce a partial driving ban to clear the air"(10). While in Bogota, Colombia they have a car free day to "promote alternative transportation and reduce smog"(20). These cities are pioneers in the way of a cleaner form of travel.

The first step is to just have a day without cars, like a new holiday. In Bogota, thats just what they have. On this day "millions of Colombians hiked, biked, skated or took buses to work"(20), and those who didn't were fined. This reduces not only smog but the stress of driving and the business of traffic jams. On one of these car-free days, even though it was raining the spirits of the people didn't dampen. Enrique Riera, the mayor of Asunción, Paraguay, said "these people are generating a revolutionary change and [that it] is crossing borders"(26), when he visited Bogota. As a result of these days "parks and sports centers have bloomed throughout the city; uneven, pitted sidewalks have been replaced by broad, smooth sidewalks; rush-hour restrictions have dramatically cut traffic; and new restrants and upscale shopping districts have cropped up"(28).

Another way that the car-free idea is shaking up is in Paris, France. On a Monday "motorists with even-numbered license plates were ordered to leave their cars at home"(11), if they didnt they would recieve a 22-euro fine. There smog riviled Beijing, "known as one of the most polluted cities in the world"(14). Hovever, after only one day, "the smog cleared enough [on Monday that] the ruling French party [rescinded] the ban for odd-numbered plates on Tuesday"(19).

The biggest leap, however, would be a town with no cars. Vauban, Germany is a community where "street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden"(2). The streets are filled with "the swish of bicyles and the chatter of wandering children"(3) instead of motors and horns. This expirimental town has sparked a new way of life; a cleaner, safer way of life.

We have gone on thousands of years without cars, and after they were introduced they polluted the air and caused us stress. So if we could go on without them before, then why can't we now. As demostraighted by Paris, Bogota and Vauban life isn't that bad without a wheel to sit behind.