As relative of a New Yorker and someone who is truly interested in moving to New York in my close future, Im a truly concerned about the smog pollution in beautiful New York. Smog pollution in the Big Apple is a huge problem. As a civilian living in New York City, think about how do you get around on a daily basis? Do take a cab? Do you take the bus? Maybe you drive your own motor vehicle, who knows? You may ask, why does this matter? Well let me tell you, when you drive around all day in your nice and shiny gas guzzling vehicles, they are doing much more producing than getting you from point A to point B. As a civilian, you may not notice what your vehicles are producing, but let me tell you, it is nothing pleasant. These motor vehicles are releasing chemical burn off and polluting the atmosphere. Now you still may say again, why does this matter to me? Well it should matter to you because it is polluting the air you breathe in on a daily basis to survive. Hello! You may think o’well there are plenty of things that are bad that we breathe and consume in. Yes that is true, but the chemical waste from these motor vehicles you use on a daily basis is poisoning the atmosphere and slowly destroying the Earth which is the place we all call home. Yes, now I see your concern. Now you may ask, what can I do as a civilian of the Big Apple? Well theres plenty of things you can to do to help out to slowing and eventually putting a stop to motor vehicle smog pollution in New York. There are many different ways to compensate for the use of motor vehicles and reasons why to compensate for motor vehicle use. So to avoid this big problem, how about as civilians of the NY utilize something that is beneficial for your selves and those who surround you, because in the end you are all in this together as the people of the Big Apple.
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| "financial district nyc."MKE-girl via Flickr |
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| "New York Traffic." by ktnl via Flickr |
As civilians, there are many reasons for why you should just do away with motor vehicle use. Reason as to the effects of what the smog pollution has on the human body and environment, travel and traffic, car payments and maintenance, and paying the large expense of gas. As civilians of the Big Apple one must know what the huge life changing effects smog pollution from motor vehicles. Most may not pay attention to it, but New Yorkers spend about a forth of their day driving or riding in public transportation. Yes, I know that’s a bunch of time to be sitting in a damn car. After being tired of driving, can you imagine all this smog from these vehicles each and everyday filling the air? Yes that is a lot of smog that is produced. Just think, all that smog filling the air, the air that the civilians breathe in and consume. This is very harmful to the human body. It can effect the body in many ways. Ways like a constant cough, lung failure, or even lung cancer, but you know thats not that big of a deal. Just human life ending, no this is actually something really serious. These are all huge consequences that can result from smog pollution produced from motor vehicle use. Not only can smog pollution affect the human bodies of the Big Apple civilians but also the environment and Earth. In ways such as Global Warming. For those who do not know what Global Warming is as state by NationalGeographic.com,
Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.We call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. As the Earth spins each day, the new heat swirls with it, picking up moisture over the oceans, rising here, settling there. It's changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely upon.
Okay maybe that sounds a little extreme, lets just say its when the earth is heated by things like smog and its trapped by the sun’s energy causing the earth to over heat causing destruction. Still this does not seem or sound right. Reason being, because it is not safe or right at all. This can easily be slowed down by doing things like avoiding motor vehicle use.
Another reason why to do away with motor vehicle use in New York is because of the long travel and the; ongoing, overbearing, exhausting, and annoying traffic. Like seriously, think about the long hours spent in a car just to go ten miles. That is beyond ridiculous, and think of all that extra time spent in the car in traffic that could be used towards another aspect of one’s life. Think of all the extra things that could be done. According to VosIzNeias.com, “New York - Drivers in the New York area wasted nearly 380 million hours stuck in rush-hour traffic in 2007”. Yes, Its shocking that New Yorkers can spend this much in a vehicle in traffic in only one year. Now thats jus one year, now think about years. Thats a lot of wasted time and smog polluting the sky of New York. Like seriously one can get a job with that extra time, oh wait we forgot that fast we would be stuck in traffic.
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| "Chevron Gas Station." by marsmet501 via Flickr |
The last reason why to do away with motor vehicle use in New York to prevent smog pollution is because all the money that can be saved. The money of a car payment, maintenance and the biggest mind blowing one,.... Gas. The money spent to get, manage, and keep a motor vehicle is insane. Think about it. On , a nice middle class car cost about, “MSRP $19,200 - $26,200”, according Yahoo Autos.com. Yes, its expensive to own a car. Not only own a car, but the cost of the maintenance. Things like brakes, tire, oil changes, wheel alinements, new batteries, etc.. These are all the basic needs to keep a car up. It just gets pricer and pricer. Then to insure these things to keep the car up, we new car insurance and warranties which just makes the cost of the car more expensive on a monthly basis. And how can the biggest expensive be left out which is gas. No gas no go. The average gas price according New York gas prices.com is about four dollars a gallon. Yes, thats right four bucks a gallon. Thats a lot a money being spent daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly on an motor vehicle that can be spent elsewhere. These are all the reason why motor vehicle use should be done away with.
There are many reason why motor vehicles should be done away with, but then the next question might be if we do not use motor vehicles, then what do we use to get around? Simple, there are alternate forms of transportation that is better in the all around aspect of life far as the economy, environment, health, etc. There are transportation like walking, biking, subway, electric scooters, and even electric cars.
Walking is one of the major ways of transportation that is very beneficial. Its very beneficial when it comes down to the environment, and health. Its beneficial far as the environment because walking is not producing any chemical waste like smog. The only polluting
walking is producing is carbon dioxide from breathing. Like breathing is so harmful, we’ve only been doing it for 2012 years. Not only is its beneficial for the environment, but also for the health of the civilians of New York. Walking makes your risk of heart disease lower, less likely to have a stroke, increases the brain and blood flow, and is a great overall exercise. According to Miriam Gorecki of the NY Wellness Guide,
Walking is probably the oldest and simplest form of exercise ever known to man. But do you know that walking has a lot of benefits aside from building your calf muscles?If you want to save on transportation, walk. It's as simple as that but if you look at the big picture you won't just save money if you make walking a habit, you actually minimize your risk for heart disease. This is because walking even just for 15 minutes a day can help you manage stress which we know is what cause most chronic diseases. Not only can walking a few minutes a day help you reduce the risk for heart diseases, it can also reduce your risk for stroke.Walking is also good for the brain. When we exercise, the blood flow to our brain increases, and the result is a sharper memory.
Walking is a great alternate transportation that saves money and increases good health that should be taken advantage of more often by New York Civilians.
Bicycling is also a great alternate transportation that can be used instead of life draining motor vehicles. Bicycling has many benefits that most motor vehicles do not have. Benefits like getting exercise that most New Yorkers have no time to get out of their busy days. According to New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2011, “ The benefits of increased physical activity from shifting from driving to bicycling (3 to 14 months gained) outweigh the effects of increased inhaled air pollution (0.8 to 40 days lost) and increased traffic accidents (5 to 9 days lost)”. Wow those are some serious changes that helps the civilians of New York in tremendous ways. Not only does bicycling allow civilians to benefit from health, but also economically. The money saved from bicycling compared to motor vehicle use does even come close. According to J.D. Roth, “ Someone who can go car free for 35 years can save a million dollars. While the maintenance for a year for a bike call $100, and monthly insurance bill is at least $79 a month”. Wow, thats just one aspect, mind you the maintenance of the car and gas monthly was not mentioned. Just imagine that money that is being saved by bicycling instead of driving a smog producing motor vehicle in New York.
Another type of transportation that can be used instead of motor vehicle use are the subway systems. The subway systems are very beneficial when is comes down to the economical side of the lives of the civilians of the Big Apple. The cost of taking the subway versus driving ones own car is much cheaper and beneficial for New Yorker. According to MTA New York Transit, “ The fare for a subway or local bus ride is $2.25*. The fare for an express bus ride is $5.50. If you qualify for reduced fare, you can travel for half fare”. So approximately calculated out it would cost a civilian of the Big Apple $1,980 a year to ride the subway around in the NY. While driving a motor vehicle that is polluting the atmosphere would cost $1,272 at least for gas a year and that just gas, not even the maintenance or insurance. That is a lot saving far as economical and environmental.
The last and final alternate transportation is by far the most important one. There maybe New Yorkers that might say, “ Hey, I still have a family that I need to transport everyday”. That is solved. The last alternate transportation is the Electric ECO friendly cars. As stated by Richard L. Worsnop in his article on Electric cars,
Many other vehicles will run on electricity supplied by rechargeable batteries.Some auto executives predict motorists will embrace electrics once they realize the vehicles are compatible with their day-to-day driving patterns. For sure, electric cars will save gasoline. Electricity, in fact, is a clever means of running cars on coal. Or nuclear. Or wind, or solar. And it's this energy diversity, this freedom from imported oil, that makes the Department of Energy so enthusiastic about electric cars. Battery array in General Motors' Impact contains the energy equivalent of four-tenths of a gallon of gasoline. Electric cars must save energy at every opportunity because the best batteries the engineers can hope for will pack trivial amounts of energy compared with a tankful of regular. Electrics don't idle, so no fuel is consumed at rest, and no emissions are produced.
Basically these electric auto-mobiles are the most environmental friendly vehicles we can use. These vehicles definitely save money far as gasoline and save the environment far as polluting the atmosphere with smog. These Electric vehicles may cost a bit more than motor vehicles, but lets face it, wouldn’t one much rather pay a little bit more money versus living a shorter life and increasing global warming. Hummm which one sounds better.
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"Smart ED electric car." by Smart ED electric car via Flickr |
As we know now, smog pollution is rapidly increasing in New York. The Big Apple is rotting as it sit out in the smoggy air on the window seal of the world. The way we the civilians of the Big Apple can prevent it is by slicing off that bitten part and conserving the rest with alternate forms of transportation. By cutting back and eventually off of motor vehicle use, we can save the economy far as gas prices, by bringing them down rapidly from not being required to utilize it. Most importantly, the smog production will be cut back by a lot, causing to slow down global warming. This is all up to the civilians of the Big Apple. Because in the end, who wants to be consuming in a rotten apple?
Work Cited Page
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Worsnop, R. L. (1993, July 9). Electric cars. CQ Researcher, 3, 577-600. Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.sculib.scu.edu/cqresearcher
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2017, Portland, the city will have invested $138-605 million in bicycling yet saved $388-594 million in health care costs, and $143-218 million in fuel costs. "Health Statistics | Statistics | Stats & Research | Resources | Bikes Belong." Bikes Belong. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. <http://www.bikesbelong.org/resources/stats-and-research/statistics/health-statistics/>.
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