A World Without Cars

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A World Without Cars

James Q. Wilson the author of the article "Cars and Their Enemies" briefly ponders the possibility of our world without personal automobiles. He speculates whether our current society would welcome the invention of the personal automobile into a fictitious world without cars. Wilson immediately answers no. Wilson knows, as many well-informed individuals and experts do, that the personal automobile is responsible for contributing to pollution, destruction of rural and wilderness land, and depletion of natural resources. And an advanced society such as we live in today would not likely choose to burden our health, land, and resources for the sake of luxury and convenience, or at the very least, the personal automobile would not be as accessible as it is today. Because, in all reality, our current society does embrace inventions that compromise our society's well-being such as oil and chemical refineries, pesticides, and even convenience foods such as fast food and many refined prepackaged foods. Wilson's opinions in his article, "Cars and Their Enemies" and discussions I have had on-line in the 305 class about Wilson's article have demonstrated to me that the personal automobile is an example of how many people are unwilling to acknowledge how personal convenience and luxury contribute to the deterioration of our world.

Wilson's encouragement to the readers of his article to imagine life as we currently know it without the automobile begins with Wilson outlining exactly why the personal automobile is destructible in so many ways. He points out that academic and social critics believe that cars "burn fuel inefficiently" (304) ejecting "large amounts of unpleasant gases into the air" (304); "vast quantiti...

... middle of paper ...

... of the personal automobile has damaged and continues to damage our world certainly provides a more informed awareness. Awareness, knowledge, and understanding possibility can lead to solutions to work towards improving the world we currently live in and the world in the future. However, I feel that it is a battle between selfish and personal desires and the urgent needs of our society and world. Even if an increased awareness and desire to work towards alleviation of the problems of pollution, outward expansion, and depletion of natural resources occurs, I'm afraid, as time goes by, it is becoming increasingly too late. I think the cliche, hindsight is 20/20 is certainly applicable here.

Works Cited

Wilson, James Q. "Cars and Their Enemies." The Presence of Others. Ed. Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruskiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 303-313.

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