By Claire Biggerstaff
As my freshman year comes to a close, I have to begin thinking about how I will get to school each day next year. This year, it was a matter of rolling out of bed, pouring a cup of coffee, and walking to class. Now, I am living off campus and some days I might need a quicker way to get to school than the long walk from my townhome. At first, the answer was obvious. I would have my car in town, so why not get a parking pass? This way I would not have to get on a bus with strangers and germs each morning and I would be in control of when I departed and arrived each day. However, as my perspective on the importance of respecting the environment changes I realized I needed to make a more conscious decision to opt out of a parking pass and ride the bus.
This may seem like a small change, but consider this: the average vehicle emits 404 grams of CO2 per mile, so if I drove one mile to school each day, I would emit a total of 14,544 grams of CO2 by the end of the school year. Even if you do not believe in climate change, it is important to recognize that the amount of CO2 we emit has made our oceans 30% more acidic, harming thousands and thousands of organisms.
So, what can you do? Take a bus, carpool, or walk. If we all tried to be conscious about our transportation, it would add up to big drop in the amount of CO2 being released in our environment. It may seem like a small change, but big impact starts with a lot of individuals doing whatever is in their power to make a difference.
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/co2-101-why-is…
https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passe…