Here, in the United States, birthplace of the Model T,driving has proven to be part of our history and culture.  However, with recently uncovered developments in our environment such as global warming and pollution, it is time for us to re-evaluate our "car culture".  Overusage has proven harmful and limiting alternatives that reduce stress, are just as effective in getting us from point 'A' to 'B' and are more eco-friendly.

Our excessive car usage is dramatically hurting our environment.  In fact, "...Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe... and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States" (5).  What people use for our short term convenience is actually proving inconvenient for us in the long run.  In Paris, there was "147 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter compared with 114 in Brussels and 79.9 in London" (17).  The culprit?  Diesel fuel emissions from transportation (cars).  To underscore the severity, the smog in Paris is so bad that French Officials had to limit car usage in a smog cloaked city that "rivaled Beijing, China, which is known as one of the most polluted cities in the world"(14).

This issue is mirrored in Bogota, Columbia, where the government has also stepped in and established a car free day in which perpetrators get fined in order to " promote alternative transportation and reduce smog" (21).  Efforts such as these can be effective in aiding our environmental crisis.  After France also instated a limit on car usage "the smog cleared" (19).  By limiting our car usage we can actually make a difference in reducing pollution and make our living environment more pleasant and healthier.

The switch is facilitated further not only by the inclination toward a better worldy environment but a less stressful social one as well.  In the city of Vauban in Germany, residents have " given up their cars"(1).  Here although car ownership is allowed, "70 percent of Vauban's families do not own cars and 57 percent sold a car to move [there]." (3).  Do the residents regret their decision?  According to Heidrun Walter, a media trainer and mother of two:  "When I had a car I was always tense, I am much happier this way"(3).  In Bogota, a business man, Carlos Arturo Plaza who participates in Bogota's movement to reduce car usage says that the absence of cars is an "...opportunity to take away stress and lower air pollution" (24).  These are two individuals on different continents with families and busy lives who find the lack of cars to be not a handicap but actually a source of stress relief.  In France, after the restrictions of car usage the streets also became less stressful for people who have to drive (like taxi drivers or public transporters) because of a "60 percent reduction in traffic congestion" (14).

For those who do decide to make a move to help the environment and themselves by reducing their car usage, their are more and more alternatives that are making their switch worthwhile.  In Vauban, you can hear the sounds of viable alternatives in use.  The "swish of bicycles" and the "chatter"(3) of walking children is audible in the streets.  Carlos Arturo Plaza rides the car-free streets of Bogota on " atwo seat bicycle with his wife"(24).  For those who don't feel comfortable with walking or cycling other options such as carpool exist and governments are now making more of an effort to make other alternatives such easier and more available ( i. e. public transportation).  In Bogota, in order to support the movement toward less automobile driving wide sidewalks have been made.  In Vauban the whole city has been constructed with the goal to make everything compact and easier to access by foot or bike.  This is good news for those who make the early morning busness commute as their job is closer to where they live and more convenient to walk or bike to than other suburbs in which commuters are forced to take the high way because of the distance.  Also, the more people who take advantage of whatever public transportation available to them will make the demand higher and cause more funding to be placed on public transportation.  Before "80 percent of appropriations have by law gone to high ways and only 20 percent to other transport"(9), but with more usage, this can change.

Essentially, the sacrifice of some of our car usage is far outweighed by the positive affects on our environment and attitudes.  Plus new systems that cater to better alternative uses make the switch easier than ever!!