Give Up Long Commutes

Was there anytime in your life that freezes your thought just to think that what if there’s no single automobile that would exist in the world? How would these people of today survive? We actually enjoy the benefits we are getting from every automobile we ride in. But haven’t you realized that we could actually enjoy more of our life if we are not going to contribute, or at least limit ourselves in the destruction of our Mother Earth? Global Warming has always been our concern, that is, if we are all aware of how it can devastate our lives, much more to the “youngs” who haven’t even done anything bad to the world.

I was surprised to read the ideas of an Economist named Paul Krugman. He had this written article in the New York Times that talks about a very reasonable, yet middle-of-the-road approach to cutting fossil fuel consumption. He caught my interest when he said that we have to “Be more like Europe.”

It froze me for a while, analyzing what he had just said in that article. Alright, so what’s with Europe that we have to look up to? Until I found out that most Europeans seldom drive an automobile. Not because they can’t afford to have one, but because they are disciplined enough to limit themselves from causing added pollution to the earth.

So I found myself reading further to his ideal thoughts. He mentioned in his article that to be able to cope up with expensive oil, there are actually two secrets that must be done. First, own fuel-efficient cars and secondly, don’t drive them too much.

The first secret he revealed could be quite easy as long as we are able to successfully find a real fuel-efficient car. However, the second secret he revealed is somewhat difficult to ponder and even to do.

I once have been in Germany, and compared it here in the United States; I must say that the vast majority of families there do own cars. The number of German households is lesser as compared to U.S., which has multiple-car owners. But to make it a balance comparison, I could say that despite the lesser number of car owners in Germany as compared to U.S., German people still managed to drive a car that uses about a quarter less gas per mile than the average American car. To sum it all up, I can say that Germans don’t drive itsy-bitsy toy cars. Instead, they’d rather drive a modest-sized passenger automobile than an S.U.V. or pickup truck.

Mr. Krugman also pointed out that the option of changing what we drive is not enough. People could also change the way they live as it also affects the amount we drive.

Say for instance, you live in a kind of neighborhood where you have an easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping malls; you don’t have to drive a lot because you can just make use of your two feet to walk through places you want to go.

He got a point there when he explained what he wants people to learn from his ideals. You see, what if time comes that there would be scarce, expensive oil? That could only be the perfect time for people to realize how it is to live like Europeans. Well, maybe not that soon or tomorrow, but it’ll be for the rest of our lives that we will be able to benefit from it. Should we start doing our own share of fuel conservation, or lessening the tailpipe emission from our cars could help us save Mother Earth as one?