What makes you love the car that you drive in? Could it be multiple factors such as the color, the amount of miles you get per gallon, the number of people that can fit into it, or even how much storage it has? Buying a car makes you feel like a new person, the ability to transport from one place to another and getting to places a lot quicker than the train or bus makes life a lot easier. But does buying a car mean you’re technically safe from the all the dangers that the road ahead brings to you? The one thing that people don’t look for in a car is the amount of safety that car gives to you and every person that drives in. In the book Unsafe At Any Speed, author Ralph Nader discusses the dangers that automobiles not only bring to people that are driving within the car but he also discusses the dangers that the cars bring to the environment. In Nader’s first chapter he discusses an accident that involved a Chevrolet Corvair on October 17th, 1961. On this day a women lost her arm due to her own Corvair flipping over. The question was, was this an act of reckless driving or did her car spin out of control? Before anything could even go to trail General Motors decided to pay the woman $70,000. So why would a motor vehicle company pay a person for any of the injuries they sustained in a crash while driving one of their vehicles? The only possible answer was that it was the company’s fault that her vehicle went out of control. The woman was …show more content…
In L.A. alone there were 2,700,00 automobiles that were burning 5 ½ million gallons of gasoline and a combine 8,000 tons of contaminants. The automobile companies may not have thought their cars were causing all this damage not only to the city of L.A and to the whole entire country but the APCD (Air Pollution Control District)
Andrew Simms, a policy director and head of the Climate Change Program for the New Economics Foundation in England, presents his argument about the impact SUV’s have on our roadways, and the air we breathe. “Would You Buy a Car That Looked like This? “. The title alone gives great insight on what the article is going to be about, (vehicles). “They clog the streets and litter the pages of weekend colour *supplements. Sport utility vehicles or SUV’s have become badges of middle class aspiration” (Simms 542). Simms opening statement not only gives his opinion on how SUV’s are the new trend, but he also paints a picture of what we see every day driving down our roadways. Simms also compares the tobacco industry’s gap between image and reality to that of SUV’s; stating that the cause and consequences of climate change resemble smoking and cancer. Simms comparison between SUV’s and cigarettes shows how dangerous he believes SUV’s are.
For the second part of my plan, I propose that we all take individual action to make the air quality better for ourselves and everyone else, like driving less and not topping off the gas tank. By encouraging local lawmakers to use the effective plans of Los Angeles and by actively taking strides in combating the battle of air pollution in our daily lives, the breaths we take can soon be of clean, ...
Wilson concludes by explaining the reason the campaign against the car will never end, “critics dislike everything the car stands for and everything society constructs to serve the needs of its occupants” (Wilson 22).
With the introduction of the automobile in the early 1900s, laws have been instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their agenda in front of the well being of others. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. billions of dollars have been spent, and pollution has grown exponentially because of this. drivers travelling at high speeds on roads (Hartman).
Ever since the Environmental Protection Agency otherwise known as the EPA, and the Clean Air Act were enacted into law in 1970 the American Auto Industry has been inundated with many environmental challenges such as brake debris/tire particles, paint and coating, auto shredding residue, battery content, smog, and gasoline. For the first time in 14 years, cost reduction ranked 32% compared to environmental issues such as emissions and fuel economy which ranked 53% in consumer reports.
Since the birth of automobiles in 1866, the majority of mankind has relied heavily on this mode of transportation, especially in the United States. According to the California DMV there are 24,290,288 licensed drivers in California (DMV, 2013), which is approximately 63.3% of the population. Ever since the invention of automobiles, gas emission into the atmosphere has become one of the biggest issues for mankind. In Garret Hardin’s essay, The Tragedy of the Commons, Hardin defines a common as a resource that is accessible for everyone in society. Clean air became a modern commons in this sense. The quality of air is especially bad in California where there are 31,388,901 registered vehicles for a population of 37,826,160. In 2012, the quality of air hit a record low in California’s Central Valley. If we continue to dismiss the issue of air pollution, we will gravely endanger our health as current air pollution related health effects already include lung diseases and cancer. The solutions to the smog pollution problem are to develop cleaner emission engines, as part of a technical solution, as well as raise awareness among the residents of the Central Valley.
Automobiles play an essential role in American society. As if being the major means of transportation was not impressive enough, automotives can be seen on T.V., in movies, in magazines, and can sometimes be indicative of a person’s wealth and social status. On average, Americans drive nearly 40 miles and drive for just over 50 minutes driving per person per day (http://www.bts.gov). That means a person spends roughly one-sixteenth of a day driving. It would make sense, then, to make such an essential part of society as efficient, cost effective, and clean as possible. However, that is not the case. As the years have passed cars have actually begun to move away from efficiency. Hawken writes, “[The automobile] design process has made cars ever heavier, more complex, and usually costlier. These are all unmistakable signs that automaking has beco...
When we think of air pollution we think of the refineries in our cities and the exhaust coming from our cars mostly. In reality there are many more pollutants that we don't think about every day. The six most common air pollutants are; “Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxides, Sulphur oxides, Particulate matter, Volatile organic compounds, and Ground-level ozone (nitrogen oxide and Volatile organic compounds reaction)”(David Suzuki Foundation). The fact is people are dying from air pollution and we are doing nothing to make it better, in fact air pollution is getting worse.
For this research paper, I chose to discuss the Louisiana air quality and its effects on the community. I was raised here in Baker, Louisiana which is north of Baton Rouge. Growing up I noticed something very striking and odd. We are overly exposed to chemical plants and their outputs. Driving around Baton Rouge at night and seeing a distant flame I often wonder what it really was. I wonder how this was affecting the community. How was this affecting our health? Upon doing research, I discovered it is called upset emissions. Upset emissions are unplanned events which release VOCs into the air. The Bucket Brigade which is an anti-energy group refers to emissions as accidents. Every year they release an annual report which gives information on the State of Louisiana air quality. A group called Energize LA made a rebuttal against the report. They argued that the Bucket Brigade facts were inaccurate. The views of both will be explained in detail. For this research paper, there will be a discussion on the upset emission effects on communities and health. As well how it correlates to the previous class discussions on the Clean Air Act.
Prior to the industrial revolution the levels of toxic chemicals in the air were low. After WWII and the rise in the popularization of cars air pollution spread to many major cities. In the 1940s citizens of LA began complaining about yellow-brown smog, composed of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Because LA was one of the first cities to experience the impacts of air pollution they were also the first city to raise public concern of car emissions. In 1947 coal and fuel oil was banned from industrial purposes, however smog continued to rise. By investigating the cause of smog even further scientists in LA discovered the main sources of smog were engine exhaust, engine ventilation, the carburetor and the fuel tank. These investigations directly led to the creation of technologies that controlled emissions. Over the next few decades laws were written with the aim of limiting emissions. In 1990 the Clean Air Amendments set strict standards for emissions. This new policy led to more interest in alternatives to the internal combustion engine such as electric powered vehicles or even
...ture a risk-taking species. In ancient times we took risks just to eat. Later we took huge risks by setting out in little wooden ships to explore the earth's surface. We continued as we sought to fly, travel faster than the speed of sound and to head off into space. We rely on increasingly more complex equipment and constantly strive to design and manufacture faster and even more elaborate devices. It goes without saying that every effort is made to ensure our "safety"; to keep us from harm or danger. Every time you slide behind the wheel of your vehicle you are taking a risk. Driving is the riskiest activity in our lives. It is an inherently "unsafe" environment. The most perfect vehicles on the best designed highways on beautiful sunny days driven by fallible human beings crash into each other. The only way to drive "safely" (as we are all admonished to do!) is to learn more about the process. Learn more about your vehicle and how to maintain it; learn how to use your eyes to look far down the road; learn to spot problems before they happen; and also learn to deal with emergency situations. In most cases it's the human element that fails. After all, safe is only as safe does.
Fortunately, Mexico City is doing a lot in response to the problem, including vehicle control, mass transit improvements, required industry emission reductions, and investing in research and education programs. Regardless of these actions, however, Mexico City’s air quality is still significantly affecting the quality of life for its residents, and the city must continue to make changes in order for real progress to occur. Vehicles are responsible for up to eighty percent of air pollution in Mexico. There are close to four million automobiles, buses, and trucks in the city, the average of which is ten years old, and thus in poor repair with ineffective emission controls. Emissions are increased by the excessive traffic compressed into narrow streets with few parking spaces, requiring low-speed cruising (Collins, 125).
One of the most dangerous environment issues Southern California is facing today is air pollution. This includes the burning of fossil fuels and natural disasters. Los Angeles is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and the most polluted city in the United States. I will research information about the causes, the effects, and the history of air pollution in the Los Angeles. For my research, I have relied mostly on, the school’s database and library, as well as current events.
Today, people use their own personal vehicles to travel more than ever before. Personal transportation is no longer considered a luxury; it is now considered a necessity. The number of cars in the United States has been growing steadily since the 1970s. The number of miles traveled by cars has risen nearly 150 percent, yet the United States population has only grown roughly 40 percent during that time (hybridcars.com, Driving Trends). Although it may seem like we are advancing into the future, in reality, we are moving backwards from the effects these vehicles have on our bodies and the environment. The pollution produced by these vehicles has brought us to the day where we must find other modes of transportation that cause less harm to the world in which we live. Advances in technology have developed hybrid vehicles to try and slow down the amount of pollution. Driving a hybrid vehicle, instead of a conventional gas powered vehicle, can reduce the amount of pollution that affects our lives and the environment around us.
There is an estimate of 1.3 million cars in the world, in the United States alone the ration from person to cars is 1.3. That 's almost 255 million cars in the roads every single day. Just imagine, “Burning one gallon of gas creates 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, and the average car emits about six tons of carbon dioxide every year”(Global Warming And Your Car).Imagine how many tons of Carbon dioxide are emitted into the air by everyone in the world. The carbon that gets emitted into the air doesn 't just affect the climate it also affects us by polluting the very air that we breath. Air pollution causes around 3.3 million deaths worldwide every year. One of the biggest places with contamination is China, the main reason for that is because of all of the factories that they have and all the carbon dioxide that gets let out.People and their decisions are the main reason for climate change, they only think about the present and never about the