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The environmental cost of cars

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The widespread use of cars has real environmental and economic costs. Vehicles are major sources of urban air pollution and greenhouse gases emissions. They make our towns and cities dirtier, noisier and more dangerous places to live. Vehicles also resent an important threat to the economic security of many nations because of the need to import oil to fuel them.

The motorcar industry requires a vast quantity of raw materials. It uses 20% of all world’s steel, 10% of aluminium, 7% of copper, 50% of lead and 60% of natural rubber. Besides this, the transport sector consumes about one half of the world’s oil production, the bulk of its as motor fuel.

Vehicles accounted for 35% of all oil consumed in Japan, 44% in Western Europe, 49% in the Third World and 65% in the USA. Canadians and Americans together use about 125 billion gallons of fuel per year – about 500 gallons and Europeans about 300 gallons per car.

Car engines use only 10 to 20% of energy in the fuel – the rest is lost as noise, heat and pollution.

Road traffic is the source of one third of all harmful air pollution in the world. Car exhausts contain nitrogen oxide, which contributes to acid rain, carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming, and lead, which damages human brain and kidney.

Worldwide, vehicles currently emit well over 900 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. These emissions account for more than 15 per cent of global releases of this greenhouse gas. Because of their large vehicle fleets, developed countries are responsible for a large share of emissions. These countries represent only165 of the world’s population but they accounted for two thirds of total world carbon dioxide emissions from cars.

Besides greenhouse gases, car exhausts contain lead, which is added to gasoline to improve the engine performance.

Lead is particularly toxic to the brain, kidney, reproductive system and cardio-vascular system. It is very dangerous because it can accumulate in the body. Lead is a special hazard for young children. Lead exposures can significally reduce the IQ of school-aged children; they also cause aggressive behavior, delinquency and attention disorders.

Many countries introduced catalytic converters into their cars, which require unleaded gasoline. But despite widely recognized damage to the health, most countries still use leaded fuel. By 1996 only 14 countries had completely phased out the use of leaded gasoline.

Gasoline and diesel fuel are distilled at huge refineries, which produce both toxic waste and toxic air emissions. The refineries are located in towns, which have the highest cancer rates and are populated by workers with the highest occupational disease rates.

Road building withdraws large areas of land from agricultural use, requires tremendous amounts of resources and causes great changes in the environment. Motorways and the associated interchanges, exits and entry ramps cover thousand of acres of prime food-producing land in Europe. In the USA 60 thousand square miles (10 per cent of the country’s arable land) have been paved. That is the area the size of Europe. In places where roads are built, the topsoil is pushed aside, the vegetation is stripped away and animal habitats are destroyed.

Asphalt is made from toxic tar, which remains from coal and oil processing. To that is added aggregate, which often comes from incinerators and power plants, and is laden with dangerous heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. These materials slowly leach their contents into the soil and water.

In cities close to one third of all land goes to accommodate the car-parking lots, expressways, roundabouts, bridges, petrol stations and garages. Parking lots devour huge stretches of land and are empty 80 per cent of the time. Between parking spaces at home, at work and any the shopping centers, the average car uses three times the space of the average home. Parking lots for shopping centers are the most environmentally destructive. Car berths are marked by thick puddles of oil and transmission fluid and the water run-off from these places violates environmental standards set for industrial discharges.

People have been encouraged to use cars by the changing design of towns and the growth of large workplaces, shopping centers, hospitals and schools. People who do not have access to a car find life more and more difficult and the decline of public transport often adds to their difficulties.

Large numbers of women, all children, most young people, the elderly and the poor cannot or do not want to own or use a car. Building more cars and roads does not solve these people’s transport problems.

From the 1960s onwards more and more people protested against the motorcar. Some pressure groups and local council opposed traffic in towns, the building of new roads, the closure of railways and the loss of bus services. Some councils restricted the use of cars, improved public transport and created better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

Now car manufactures are trying to make more environmentally friendly cars, which use fuel more efficiently and cause less pollution. From 1992 all new cars in Europe had to be fitted with catalytic converters.

In the future cars may run on solar power, alcohol from plants or fuel cells using methanol or hydrogen. They will be much lighter with aerodynamic design and advanced electronics.

 

What can you do to reduce the cost of the car to people and their environment?

1. Walk, cycle or take public transport wherever possible. Shop locally when you can.

2. Maintain and drive your car carefully so that it uses energy efficiently, does not cause unnecessary pollution and lasts as long as possible.

3. Buy a small, fuel-efficient car with a catalytic converter.

 




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