Overconsumption in America Essay

1. Americans are known for their long-term love affair with their cars. But as gasoline prices soar and concern about the environment mounts, the standard of living by ordinary people on a daily basis also become difficult; the need to conserve gasoline has become increasingly clear. What would it take to reduce the overall demand for gasoline in the United States most especially as we see it now?

Gas mileage, carbon footprint, these are phrases you might hear someone say if they oppose large SUV's. However after considering Hochswender's article on the matter, I find countless people who oppose the usage of SUV's rather hypocritical and close minded. For starters, to judge a person at first sight is juvenile. Therefore no matter if it's your appearance, clothing or what you drive, it's not wise to judge a book by it's cover. Everyone's situation varies, there may be a reason they dress the way they do, also they may have a justifiable purpose for driving a SUV. Consequently you don't become a awful person or component of a problem by the vehicle you choose to drive. The social and economic climate in the middle east is not determined

With the automobile, came one of the most widely used technologies in the world, the invention of the internal combustion engine which has left a noticeable impact on many parts of today’s world. One of the most widely debated and controversial topics having to do with the automobile is its effect on the environment. Al Gore, former United States Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize award winner, has spent many years trying to argue the negative effects that the internal combustion engine leaves on our planet. In his presidential campaign in 2000, he preached the ideas of a cleaner environment and better ways of living. He said, “When we seek to artificially enhance our capacity to acquire what we need from the earth, we do so at the direct expense of the earth’s ability to provide naturally what we are seeking. We frequently ignore the impact of our technological alchemy on natural processes. When we manufacture millions of internal combustion engines and automate the conversion of oxygen to CO2, we interfere with the earth’s ability to cleanse itself of the impurities that are normally removed from the atmosphere.” He has led many people to believe that the automobile of today is leaving a terrible and lasting effect on the earth’s atmosphere, and that it is one of the primary causes of the term “Global Warming.” Although Gore has had a giant following and

One of the most unhealthy diets in the world is that of an American. It is made up of processed foods and a good amount of television. America easily has the most fast food restaurants in the entire world. Leave it to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King or any other fast-food restaurant to serve extremely cheap and even unhealthier food at any time during the day or night. ”It tastes good so why not?” That seems to be the question many people are asking now-a-days. Because it is so easily accessible and processed, it is made to be very tasty and extremely unhealthy. Many Americans find his or herself indulging on the these fatty foods of America on a day-to-day basis. While it may taste good at the time, it has a terrible effect on your body

Over the weekend, I attended an Overeaters Anonymous meeting at the Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills. This meeting was open to OA members and non-OA visitors. Each meeting is composed with special topics such as, a book study, lifeline, speaker, or newcomer’s stories have a defined topic of discussion. However, these meeting have certain bylaws that are strictly followed, which is the only requirement for OA membership and that is the desire to stop eating compulsively. Each attending member is asked to respect the meeting’s group conscience and give a voice to any person who has the desire to stop their addiction of overeating.

Some of them are not even aware the environmental issues are important. The United States has such high quantity of human activities to support people's daily functioning. In the article “Climate of Denial,” Al Gore points out, Americans have quadrupled the global population in the past century. Simultaneously, they depend on almost 85 percent of the world's energy by burning coal, oil, and gas. Americans are cutting, and burning forests, but the trees are supposed to help the atmosphere by reducing some added carbon dioxide (p110.) In the United States, most of the household owns at least one car, and personally owned vehicles are the primary transportation for Americans. These cars are burning a significant amount of gas, and release tons of wasted gas to the air. Compared to other countries that feel guilty, the report shows that they use public transportation more than personally owned cars, and they promote using electric scooters or bikes. If there are not enough trees to reduce these wasted gas, the wasted gas is going straight into the atmosphere and eventually undermine the environment. It is not only affecting the environment of the United States; it is polluting globally. Therefore, some Americans choose to deny the problems because they do not see the impact of global pollution has direct

The second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is related to transportation, the burning of oil to produce energy in a combustion motor. The combustion process inside of engines is what produces the carbon matter that is emitted into the air through the exhaust system on gas-powered vehicles. Gas-powered transportation is accountable for 24 percent of the global carbon emissions; this should not come as much of a surprise given the amount of urban sprawl that is being seen in the United States and across the globe. In the past decade, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States government, and major car manufacturers have been working in conjunction to find ways to provide a “greener” form of transportation (EPA, 2011). This has included testing the use of hydropower, ethanol, natural gas, biodiesel, and electricity as a means of powering vehicles, which has led to the introduction of hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles run on electricity and gasoline, the byproduct of oil that is generally used in the engine combustion process of vehicles (U.S. Department of

Andrew Simms, a policy director and head of the Climate Change Program for the New Economics Foundation in England, presents his argument about the impact SUV’s have on our roadways, and the air we breathe. “Would You Buy a Car That Looked like This? “. The title alone gives great insight on what the article is going to be about, (vehicles). “They clog the streets and litter the pages of weekend colour *supplements. Sport utility vehicles or SUV’s have become badges of middle class aspiration” (Simms 542). Simms opening statement not only gives his opinion on how SUV’s are the new trend, but he also paints a picture of what we see every day driving down our roadways. Simms also compares the tobacco industry’s gap between image and reality

Chapter 6, “The Burden of History: Expectations Past and Imperfect” from Kirsch’s book, The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History, focuses on the problem of automobiles in the modern day. Kirsch states that internal combustion engines release greenhouse gasses, which harm the environment. Each individual contributes to air pollution

Cars, just about every household in America has probably at least two parked in their driveway at any given time. The dependency on the gas powered car has substantially increased since it’s invention and production back in 1908 by the Ford Motor Company. As of 2014, it was estimated that there were over 88 million cars produced world-wide and growing every day. (Fig. 1) Even though a lot of these vehicles might be the new Hybrid edition, the majority of them have a dependency on oil and gasoline products for their survival and existence. Petroleum products, such as oil and gasoline do not come cheap or even free to the consumer, even the

Why is it important to have a vehicle with good gas mileage? Miles Per Gallon (MPG) is the environmental issues. Driving any vehicle pollutes air, however, automobile will decrease the pollution in the air by improving the fuel efficiency. Consider buying cars that are fuel-efficient, it will reduce the destruction of our environment that is being done. Gasoline or diesel burns fossil fuels and it causes few environmental problems, such as smog which is the air pollution, and global climate change. Also, in another complication, spills from refining and transporting oil and petroleum products damage ecosystems and pollute groundwater and streams. Throughout the essay, it will be analyzed the effects, determining and explaining the different political cultures that would consider a personal viewpoint in the traditionalist, individualist, or

America today has an addiction, gasoline an overpriced fuel that we use daily in our lives. In the film Who Killed the Electric Car they talk about the murder of the electric car, a car that is eco friendly, reliable, and is not costing us lives in the middle east. This addiction we have is costing us lives, over using natural resources, and prices are going up every year. The electric car is not just a social problem it is a political problem that has gone for profit than to actually solve economic issues.

     The sports utility vehicles harm the environment more then cars do. It takes more gas to fill up these vehicles, and the big engines consume it as if they’re where no

Hybrids are deservingly known for their fuel economy, a 2016 Prius c can get up to 50 MPG (FuelEconomy.gov, US Department of Energy). They are also known for being kind to the environment: Toyota advertises the Prius c, as seen below, as an “everyday eco fun sized for the city” on their website (Toyota, toyota.com/priusc). In Kia’s Super Bowl LI commercial for their new hybrid crossover, the Niro, they use the tagline: “it’s hard to be an eco warrior, but it’s easy to drive like one.” Hybrid owners agree with this; they can be seen driving around with proud smiles on their faces, knowing that they are saving the earth. But they have likely done little research, because

Transportation is the number one thing we consumers do that harms the environment. Transportation causes the highest amount of environmental damage overall - nearly half of the toxic air pollution and more than a quarter of the greenhouse gases traceable to household consumption. Over time, however, sales of trucks, vans and SUV's went from 16% market share to over 50%. One big auto manufacturer even shelved their work of the last three years, spent updating their most popular selling economy car, so they could spend the money getting SUVs to market faster.