Everyday when you wake up and get ready for work there's always one thing you use, it's inched it's way into your daily life and now you wouldn't be able to do most things without it. It's your four wheeled friend that sits out in your driveway or garage, your car. Every day millions of people drive miles and miles in a car, using them to go to work or to go and see other people, but what people don't understand is the need to limit just how much they use their automobile companions.

Cars have changed our lives for the better and for the worse. They save us a tremendous amount of time by making traveling super efficient, but along with that is air pollution. Cars emit greenhouse gasses, and these gasses trap heat which in then leads to warming of the surface of the earth. This warming of the earth creates drastic changes in many environments such as the polar regions. "Passenger cars are responsible for twelve percent of greenhouse gas emmisions in europe... and up to fifty percent in some car intensive areas" This was stated in an article about German suburb life witout cars. By limiting the amount of which we drive and by switching to alternative sources for transportation we can lower the amount of greenhouse gases and stop the heating of the earth.

Furthermore, these gases create smog. Smog is similar to fog but instead it has gases emitted from cars in it. Smog is usually thick and can be hazardous to environments. It was so bad in Paris that they set a partial driving ban in which people couldn't not drive becuase they didn't want the smog to get worse. The problem here is that people still continued to drive out even though there was a ban being inforce. So, this is another issue in which cutting back on car uses can fix. If we switch to biking to places that are withing biking distance or walking to place that are walking distance than we wouldn't have to worry about smog, or bans.

Automobiles have changed the way we live our lives and the way we do things, but they also have changed our communities. The typical city today consists of tall buildings and a surplus of streets and avenues, but parks are not as common. In Bogota there has been celebrating a day without cars for three years, and it has seen changes in the community. By having everyon give up their car for a day it can change their view on things, can make them notice things about the place in which they live in that they did't know about before. It can show them the beauty of their surroundings and this can lead to people wanting to protect that beauty and improve their city. This can be done in the form of building parks, and fixing uneven sidewalks.

So all in all, we depend on cars for daily purposes and it may seem hard to let go of your keys and walk, but if we all do that every once in a while it can lead to tremendous benefits. Imagine if you could walk outside and see people walking and enjoying themselves, not having to worry about gas prices or traffic jams. Imagine if we didn't have to worry about greenhouse gases or smog. Going for walk instead of driving may not seem like much, but it has major impacts on a multitude of things.