DRIVE LESS
"Cars are
multiplying faster than people. They're outbreathing
us, too. They're using up our land area. They're using up our economic
strength. "‑Ernest Callenbach,
author of Ecotopia.
BACKGROUND.
Our entire society is built around having and
driving‑cars .... So it probably seems like
we're suggesting the impossible when we propose a cutback in driving. But other
societies have done it: In the Netherlands, for example, 80% of train commuters
get to the station on a bicycle; in
Whenever Americans complain about the shoddy
environmental practices of other cultures (e.g.,
DID YOU KNOW 0 On an average, the 140
million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles a
day...and according to the DOT, they use over 200 million gallons of gas doing
it. * The ecological effects are staggering. One result of burning 200 million gallons
of gas, for example, is the emission of about 4 billion pounds of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere. And that's just one day's worth.
SIMPLE THINGS TO DO For starters, we could
try using an alternative means of transportation‑buses, subways, trains,
bicycle, or walking‑just one day a week. Even that may be tough‑but
it's worth the effort.
RESULTS
If only 1% of the
car owners in
instance.