Public Transportation Essay

Padilla, Therese Resuello, Majah Senior B Public Transportation Will Reduce Our Pollution Problem — Discuss Different Public Transportation Systems

Pollution is what hinders change in the atmosphere of the environment. According to (Smith, n.d.), our transportation produces 30% to the totality of carbon dioxide emissions. Studies by the American Public Transportation Authority show the positive effect of using public transportation. This is because public transportation creates less pollution since a single vehicle carries a number of passengers compared to a private vehicle. Pollution is evident in developed countries such as the United States of America and China because of their high population and progress. One of the root causes of pollution is the everyday transportation we use such as personal cars which spew carbon dioxide emissions into the air. According to Conserve Energy Future, "pollution disturbs our ecosystem and the balance in the environment." Due to the progress of countries and technology, we pay the price of increased air and noise pollution caused by the transportation systems we use daily. Air pollution gives rise to more problems in health related illnesses such as asthma and lung cancer. Noise pollution produced by transportation, such as the honking of horns that cause stress, hypertension and impaired hearing to people exposed to them. All of this is rooted to the congested and high density transportation we have, where private cars are favored over public transportation such as trains and buses. With every problem comes a solution, just as Noel Claraso said, "Every problem has its solution, the problem is where to find it." For this situation, we can find the solution in public transportation. Private cars produce majority of the carbon emissions at present, this is because of the large population of private cars that are being used. Compare the carbon emissions of 50 individual private cars with one driver each and a single bus that can carry 50 passengers. It is

seen that less carbon emissions will be produced since only one vehicle is used to transport the same amount of people. This will not only reduce the amount of air pollution produced but also noise pollution. Since there are less vehicles on the road, there will be less traffic noise produced thus improving the overall environment of the area. Not only buses may be used to reduce pollution, but also trains. Using trains will prose more benefits such as reduced traffic since people using cars will be riding trains instead. Not only will using public transportation benefit our environment, but it is also a chance to be more economic with your money. Public transportation is exponentially more cost effective that private transportation because one doesn't have to account for gas, the vehicle itself and gate toll. The time has come for people to realize that public transportation is the way to go in the future. Others may not realize that as we are progressing and getting things done, we are contributing more to the pollution. Public transportation is the most efficient way to reduce a big amount of pollution in our environment in terms of air and noise pollution. Just as what Al Gore said, "Each and every one of us can make changes in the way we live our lives and become part of the solution."

References Smith, Alden (n.d.). Use public transportation to reduce air pollution. Retrieved from http://www.doityourself.com/stry/public-transportation City Windsor (n.d.). Personal vehicles versus public transit. from http://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/transitwindsor/Rider-Programs/greeninitiatives/Pages/Personal-Vehicles-Versus-Public-Transit.aspx

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Huffington Post (2012). Top 10 most polluting countries: who emits the most CO2? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/02/21/top-10-most-polluting-countries-co2emissions_n_1291963.html Ge, Mengpin, Friedrich, Johannes & Damassa, Thomas (2014). 6 graphs explain the world's top 10 emitters. Retrieved from http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world’s-top-10emitters Environmental Performance Index (2014). Who are the largest emitters of carbon pollution? Retrieved from http://epi.yale.edu/the-metric/who-are-largest-emitters-carbon-pollution Wagstaff, Keith (2013). China's massive pollution problem. from http://theweek.com/articles/456979/chinas-massive-pollution-problem

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Conserve Energy Future (n.d.). Pollution: causes from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/PollutionTypes.php

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