A World Without Cars Essay -- Environment Pollution Ecology Essays

A World Without CarsJames Q. Wilson the author of the phrase Cars and Their Enemies briefly ponders the possibility of our innovation without personal railcars. He speculates whether our current society would welcome the invention of the personal automobile into a fictitious world without cars. Wilson immediately answers no. Wilson knows, as umteen well-informed individuals and experts do, that the personal automobile is responsible for contributing to pollution, destruction of rural and wilderness land, and depletion of natural resources. And an advanced society such as we live in today would not likely choose to burden our health, land, and resources for the sake of luxury and thingmajig, or at the very least, the personal automobile would not be as accessible as it is today. Because, in all reality, our current society does embrace inventions that compromise our societys well-being such as oil and chemical refineries, pesticides, and even convenience foods such as fast food a nd many refined prepackaged foods. Wilsons opinions in his article, Cars and Their Enemies and discussions I have had on-line in the 305 class about Wilsons article have demonstrated to me that the personal automobile is an example of how many people are unwilling to acknowledge how personal convenience and luxury contribute to the disablement of our world. Wilsons encouragement to the readers of his article to imagine life as we presently know it without the automobile begins with Wilson outlining exactly why the personal automobile is destructible in so many ways. He points out that academic and social critics believe that cars burn fuel inefficiently (304) ejecting large amounts of unpleasant gases into the air (304) vast quantiti... ... of the personal automobile has damaged and continues to damage our world certainly provides a more informed awareness. Awareness, knowledge, and understanding possibility can lead to solutions to work towards improving the world we currently l ive in and the world in the future. However, I feel that it is a battle between selfish and personal desires and the urgent needs of our society and world. sluice if an increased awareness and desire to work towards alleviation of the problems of pollution, outward expansion, and depletion of natural resources occurs, Im afraid, as time goes by, it is becoming increasingly too late. I think the cliche, hindsight is 20/20 is certainly applicable here. Works CitedWilson, James Q. Cars and Their Enemies. The Presence of Others. Ed. Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruskiewicz. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 303-313.