2008 Woodie Awards
Transportation: rethinking the way we travel
By Ariana Tullai
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Op-Ed
Every morning I wake up, get dressed, and pack my 40-pound school bag. Then I get in my car and drive about one mile over back roads from the South Campus apartments to the School of Music. During those four minutes, I fight some intense feelings of guilt.
Every year, more and more greenhouse gasses, which include carbon dioxide, methane nitrous oxide, and many other gasses, are emitted into the atmosphere, the end result being some drastic changes in climate. We've all seen the pictures, read the stories, and listened to Al Gore's take on the melting ice caps. Even more convincing, I think, are the stories highlighting some of the "side-effects" of global warming, like the startling statistics of polar bears drowning before they can reach the next chunk of ice These animals are are made to swim long distances.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "the Fourth U.S. Climate Action Report concluded, in assessing current trends, that carbon dioxide emissions increased by 20 percent from 1990-2004…" It's really no wonder, though, considering the fact that American society was built around the automobile (which produces an obscene amount of carbon dioxide) and the highway. Our sprawling cities and suburbs are scattered all over, requiring us to use motor vehicles to get from one place to another. How sad to realize that, every day, we do nothing but poison the Earth with pollution and greenhouse gases. What makes this even worse, though, is that in the end we're hurting ourselves, too; we have to breathe in the smog, we have to adapt our lifestyles to the changing climate, and we have to deal with the pollution, garbage, and damage that transportation causes. If you love the Jersey shore, consider its fate if we do not change our ways soon and the ice caps do indded melt.
It's time for us to start making changes. There are 13,000 students at WCU; if every one of us can commit to even a small change, we can be responsible for a large part of the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the West Chester Borough and the surrounding area. This means we have to work, though. We have to make new forms of transportation work for us.
Every year, more and more greenhouse gasses, which include carbon dioxide, methane nitrous oxide, and many other gasses, are emitted into the atmosphere, the end result being some drastic changes in climate. We've all seen the pictures, read the stories, and listened to Al Gore's take on the melting ice caps. Even more convincing, I think, are the stories highlighting some of the "side-effects" of global warming, like the startling statistics of polar bears drowning before they can reach the next chunk of ice These animals are are made to swim long distances.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "the Fourth U.S. Climate Action Report concluded, in assessing current trends, that carbon dioxide emissions increased by 20 percent from 1990-2004…" It's really no wonder, though, considering the fact that American society was built around the automobile (which produces an obscene amount of carbon dioxide) and the highway. Our sprawling cities and suburbs are scattered all over, requiring us to use motor vehicles to get from one place to another. How sad to realize that, every day, we do nothing but poison the Earth with pollution and greenhouse gases. What makes this even worse, though, is that in the end we're hurting ourselves, too; we have to breathe in the smog, we have to adapt our lifestyles to the changing climate, and we have to deal with the pollution, garbage, and damage that transportation causes. If you love the Jersey shore, consider its fate if we do not change our ways soon and the ice caps do indded melt.
It's time for us to start making changes. There are 13,000 students at WCU; if every one of us can commit to even a small change, we can be responsible for a large part of the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the West Chester Borough and the surrounding area. This means we have to work, though. We have to make new forms of transportation work for us.
RSS Feed
Be the first to comment on this story