The Automobile: A Criminal to the Environment


The Earth is our home and was granted to humans as a shelter for advancement and health many years ago, no matter what religion one might believe. We were placed into a beautiful Eden, but today it is becoming a playground for the industrial human imagination. What once helped us to achieve greatness among all species is now becoming harmful to us. A prime example of an industrialized world is the automobile and its effect on society’s advancements, but at the expense of these advancements the automobile is also arguably the most harmful to the environment and to the people who invented it.

While it was first created to make travel and society superior and more advanced, it is now causing just the opposite contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer and natural resources, the terrible air quality and the greenhouse effect. Ozone depletion is mainly caused by chlorofluorocarbons which are found in car air conditioners. Most are now being banned, but many are still present in other fields and still contributing to skin diseases and deformed human traits or children. Natural resources, mainly petroleum, used in automobiles have been used in excess without regard for the future, and today scientists are making predictions of when oil will run out. As cars and many machines continue to run on petroleum the estimates keep mounting and many speculate that the world could be in ruins without it. Automobiles also contribute to the atrocious air quality that many major industrial cities are known for which is not good for many of its citizens. In major cities bad reports about air quality are prevalent and are seen on the news numerous times. It causes harm to many peoples bodies, not to mention the excruciating affect it has on citizens with asthma and respiratory or lung conditions usually related to the elderly or to the young. The use of petroleum by cars also contributes to arguably the largest environmental issue, the greenhouse effect. Cars produce many carbon compound gases, due to the burning of oil, and therefore when emitted into the atmosphere they retain heat causing an increase in temperature, a decrease in rain, and the melting of the polar ice caps.

Many scientists are beginning to see the appalling relationship between cars and the environment and have made the superior alternative, the hybrid automobile. The hybrid works by using two engines one in which uses gas while the other uses electricity and they work together to decrease the amount of smog and greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. The main feature of the hybrid for the non-environmentalists is the great fuel mileage it gets, and when gas can be seen as high as 4 dollars and 70 cents a gallon, the hybrid is extremely useful. The switch seems apparent, especially when governments are offering tax breaks to hybrid owners as well as free parking and unlimited HOV access, but the high cost seems to be holding many back.

Hybrids are not available to everyone due to money restraints, but if a system similar to “Fordism” can, ironically, once again be applied it could be possible for hybrids to be obtained by everyone. As many know Henry Ford invented the cheap automobile which has sophisticated and is harming the world today, but if a system for cheaper and faster production can be made available for hybrids the world’s air and natural resources would have a bright and healthier future.