Cars have been a world wide trend for years, but is that trend coming to an end? A new one is coming into play, and it is the car-less suburb and city. The emissions from cars are putting a strain on the health of city air and officials around the world are setting forth the car-less street.

In Germany there is a little suburb called Vauban, which is almost completely car free. While ownership of a vehicle is allowed, the only place someone could park it would be a large garage at the edge of the community, which a space costs around $40,000 to buy. As a result 70 percent of the families ther don't own cars. This new trend is predicted to cut down greenhouse gasses in suburbs and cities, for which cars are resposible. "Automobiles are the linchpin of of suburbs.... And that, experts say, is a huge impedement to current efforts to drastically reduce gas emissions form tailpipes.... Passanger cars are responsible for 12 percent of... gas emissions in Europe... and some 50 percent in... the United States."(In German Suburbs Life Goes on Without Cars by Elizabeth Rosenthal p. 5)

In the Colombian city of Bogota millions of city dwellers hiked, biked, skated or took buses to work on a special day called The Day Without Cars. The citizens agree it is a fruitful endeavor, that lowers pollution, releives stress, and provides a great opportunity to excersize. It even set a trend for two other cities who, for the first time since the event started three years ago, joined in the special day. "These people are generating a revolutionary change, and this is crossing borders," said Enrique Riera, the mayor of Asuncion, Paraguay. (Car-free day is spinning into a big hit in Bogota by Andrew Selsky p.26)

While cars still have their uses, it seems like they are slowly becoming a fading fad. People around the world are embracing a life without cars, and trying to put a dent in the world's pollution. Who knows, if Americans embrace it, there might be an end to the obesity epidemic.