A Car-Dominated World (PSP)

Currently, our entire planet is infested.

The automobile has taken over every piece of land in the world. This beast has adapted to every climate, terrain and weather type. It has become tolerant to its environment through the innovation of progressive man.

Unfortunately, the car has become almost entirely integrated into not only or social structure but also our economic and environmental sectors as well. Socially, we rely on cars to move us from place to place quickly and efficiently. What kind of costs does this have though? Individually, the costs are not very high despite the costs of the car itself, maintenance and fuel. Economically, these machines are in first place. They have created a demand for oil that supersedes that of food and water in Westernized societies. This neoliberal viewpoint is unsustainable. This leads to the environmental impact cars have. Not only are cars burning fossil fuels thus releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, increasing the global temperature but the infrastructure or habitat required by these vehicles are immense. Cars are an invasive species and destroy local ecological habitat. The establishment of roads and highways create rifts in ecosystems, cutting off ecological pathways and reducing the amount of resources available to local vegetation and wildlife. Not only are cars affecting the environment at a local level but have massive impacts in different parts of the world. The Alberta Tar Sands are a good example of what happens when cars have infiltrated our minds, causing us to value their convenience rather than look at what the costs are. The environmental destruction due to the extraction of oil sands is tragic. The operation has resulted in the degradation of the local water table, the destruction of the boreal forest and thus the destruction of many species’ habitats.

Cars have wormed their way into our lives and continue to strive to be at the top of the economic, social and ecological food chain. It’s our responsibility to re-think and re-evaluate what’s important to us. The creation of the car was in fact, our doing. It can also be our undoing. Let’s make a change for the better and think on a holistic level.