
Take a look outside of your window. What do you see? Trees? A building? Views of your city as you sit on one of the top floors of your companies building? A Street? Or maybe you're seeing an entirely different view. Perhaps you are looking outside and you see traffic building up. You see a dense fog of smog forming above the cars as they sit there idled, with the drivers becoming more and more infuriated as they get later for work or wherever their destination may be.  Through your life, you might have seen people collect automobiles or struggle to afford one.  Now, think back to a time where cars have not played an important role in the world surrounding you. Exactly. Cars have become a necessity in today's society. In recent years, we have seen the development of electric cars, but have soon found that they might not be as sustainable as they are made out to be. In many areas, public transportation plays an important role in how some people may decide to get around the town they live in. However, some areas do not have a well-developed public transportation system, which may lead to more cars being out on the roads, adding to the problem of Carbon Dioxide being released into our atmosphere. Through data and evidence provided through many sources, we can see cars and their production methods are a major contributor to global warming and instead, these methods and the technology used should be harnessed to help the environment, rather than pollute it.


Electric cars are a new form of technology that has slowly gained popularity throughout recent years.  After a few years of production of these cars, studies began and found out a shocking truth.  Through studies it was found that "some cars make almost double the impact on global warming as conventional cars" (Bomford). A main reason for this is due to "regions where fossil fuels are the main sources of power, electric cars offer no benefits and may even cause more harm" (Electric cars pose 'Environmental Threat').  This ultimately means, if coal is being burned in order to produce electricity, there is a large amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, which is a main issue of a normal car. In order to charge the battery of these cars, the large amount of emissions created from these coal-burning plants becomes counterproductive and ends up producing more carbon to produce the energy needed to charge these vehicles.  In areas such as China, where a majority of their energy is produced from burning coal, it is seen that these electric cars "are far more polluting than conventional cars"(Bomford), which can lead to long term damage to our environment.

Figure 2Figure 2Toyota is a car brand known by almost everyone around the world. In 2012, the car company began to work on a new electric model known as the Toyota eQ (figure 2). This new model was stated to be mass-produced, while recently after announcing this car, Toyota then announced it was "shelving plans for a mass-market electric car" and decided to "only build a small number of eQs" (Edelstein). Despite 2012 being a year of innovation of the electric car, with the "Chevy Volt, Ford Focus EV, Tesla Model V, Nissan Leaf" (Tate), and many more styles of the electric car being released during this year, compared to now, 2016, where these cars are not popularly seen on the streets in areas of our country.  Although this car from Toyota was not very popular, the company has decided to have "21 hybrid models on sale by 2015" (Edelstein). As of today, April 6, 2016, based on Toyotas website and a showing of every hybrid model available now, only consists of having seven different vehicles listed (Toyota). While stating that they would have 21 hybrid style vehicles on the market in 2015, and only having 1/3 of that target actually accomplished in 2016 could be something found by many different companies saying empty promises to consumers who are actually looking forward and want these hybrid vehicles to become a reality.  (Paragraph break into wind energy idea)


Figure 1Figure 1Wind energy is becoming a popular source of energy in many areas throughout Europe. Areas like Spain, Germany, Denmark, and now some states in the United States, are beginning to use wind turbines to create energy.  Wind turbines capture wind and "spin the blades, which turns a shaft connected to a generator" (Wind Power Information, Wind Power Facts) which then can produce energy. Figure 1 shows a wind farm, which is the way these turbines are usually found. It is said that "the biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity to supply about 600 U.S. homes" (Wind Power Information, Wind Power Facts), while having a field of these could generate enough power for a small town to use comfortably.  The town of Rock Port, Missouri became the first town to become 100 percent wind powered in 2008.  With a population of 1,300 residents in the town, the town only needed four wind turbines, which are "located on agricultural lands within the city limits of Rock Port" (University of Missouri Extension). As of December 2015, Texas, Iowa, California, Oklahoma, and Illinois were the top five states with the largest amount of wind turbines being used within the United States. If this form of energy becomes more widespread, we could see an increasing trend of helping create cleaner energy, and worry less about damaging our environment to leave a healthy world for future generations.

Production methods of cars, as well as the batteries of electric cars have become a topic of research for some who think this could also be contributing to global warming.  Lithium-Ion Batteries, which are used in electric cars, are very complicated batteries to produce. A majority of lithium is only found in "reserves ...  in Bolivia, Chile, and China" as well as flake graphite, in which "China controls 80 percent of the market." (Morrisey). Not only are these elements needed to produce these batteries found in different countries around the world, but in order to obtain these elements, one must drill or mine in certain areas.  Mining is very detrimental to the environment in many ways. In order for an area to be mined, the land must first be cleared of all wildlife, which is essentially deforestation. One of the most important reasons deforestation is so harmful to our environment is that carbon cannot be converted into oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. Not only is deforestation an issue that comes from mining, but also the ground is impacted, as well as the watershed, which is how water is diverted into different areas. Mining occurs for elements to be used in the batteries of these electric cars, but mining also occurs for elements to build the car in general, as well as melting it down and shaping it, which can use energy that can lead to a release of pollutants.  In order for companies to get these goods they must be transported somehow, which yet again can release carbon into the atmosphere no matter what transportation method used.  Duncan Clark and Mike Berners-Lee wrote an article for The Guardian and stated that, "Producing a medium-sized new car costing  pounds 24,000 may generate more than 17 tons of CO2e --  almost as much as three years' worth of gas and electricity in the typical UK home" (to put this into perspective of us in the United States,  pounds 24,000 is roughly $34,150.80) (Berners-Lee, Clark). This amount of CO2 being released just from one car being produced can add up quickly and can cause major pollution across the world.  Although these cars can be seen as being bad for the environment, some believe these cars might be helpful to the environment and to the world if we can harness the technology in the right ways.


Jane Goodall, a long time environmental protection activist and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, speaks about how she feels that technology is the key to how we as a society can protect the environment. In a report to USA Today, Jane Goodall says that she feels that technology "be used as a force for advancing the work of environmental conservation" and that "technology alone will not solve every problem, but it is part of the solution" as we work towards saving the environment (Goodall). Although many argued before that electric vehicles were destroying the environment, in some areas they can be beneficial.  Throughout Europe, these electric cars are in fact beneficial due to the fact that majority of their electricity is produced through other methods than coal-burning.  Not only are these cars beneficial if the electricity is produced in an environmentally friendly way, but these cars are known to have longer lives compared to that of traditional cars. Since these cars do not use oil and other chemicals found within a typical gas-powered engine, their engines are better for the environment and are known to have longer "lives", as well as having a lower repair cost.  However, although these cars may have lower repair costs, the cars themselves are not as affordable as other cars found on todays market.  Electric cars have a price range of newer 2015 models from around $25,000 to  $70,000 (Edelstein), compared to that of an average of the most popular car models of 2015 being in a range from $16,000 to $40,000.  This price gaps range is from about $8,000 to $30,00, which is a very wide margin to have in a car, which also is enough money to buy a new or used vehicle.  Although these new electric cars might not be the only way that we can help take car of our environment, but there are still a large amount of options that the world can use to promote a healthier future for the environment. 


One possible way that the environment could be helped, is the popularization of public transportation.  Public transportation has been around for decades with the use of buses in many areas around the world to transport a larger quantity of people around their town, without these individuals using cars.  Many individuals have chosen to use this option as a way to help the environment, while others simply do not have any other form of transportation to be used to get around their towns. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a non-profit organization aimed at making public transportation more widespread around the United States. This organizations website, found at www.apta.com, contains any new information the group has on the benefits of using public transportation for many areas around the country. Found on their website, the APTA lays out how public transportation "Saves Energy and Helps Our Environment" (APTA). Throughout the document, the APTA states different ways that public transportation helps the environment. With this being a government funded agency, we can see that the government is aware of this issue and working to achieve any answer to these problems that they can solve and help get people get around at the same time. This document lays out an idea that of one-person switches a 20-mile round trip commute from a personal vehicle to public transportation, that "his or her annual CO2 emissions will decrease by 4,800 pounds per year" (APTA). Now think if an entire group of people switch from using a personal vehicle decides to make this switch. Not only will it cause CO2 emissions to decrease by tens of thousands of pounds, but also each person will decrease their carbon footprint by roughly 10 percent while making this change.  The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) released an interactive map of the state of South Carolina, which lays out the average daily number of cars on specific areas.  Looking at one area in particular, I decided to look at Gervais Street, a popular street for any native of Columbia or student who drives at the University of South Carolina.  The SCDOT stated that in 2014, there were around 25,300 cars daily driving down Gervais Street (SCDOT). Looking at the number of cars on that one road in our state compared to how many pounds of carbon could be prevented if a small group of students decided to carpool one day to classes is staggering.  If a group of four students took a form of public transportation, it could save a yearly average of 19,200 pounds of Carbon Dioxide emissions, or roughly 10 tons.  Now think if an entire town started using a public transportation system to get to work, the store, etc. The numbers grow exponentially as the number of people that use a form of public transportation increases.  With just four people saving almost 10 tons of CO2 emissions, if the numbers grow to 100 or even 1000 people, the benefits brought upon the environment can become widely seen in a small amount of time.

Through the environment, we can see what our society needs to fix in order to preserve a world for our children and other future generations to come. I believe that with the technology available today, we should be creating better, healthier technology that can be more widespread around the world and easier to use.  Along with this, I believe that areas with high density of car traffic should be promoting better public transportation systems, while also making them more desirable for consumers to use or making them very affordable so that any one person can be able to use it. Through harnessing technology available in today's world, we should use it for good and promote the positive impacts it can have on the environment while being knowledgeable about it.  

