If I was the original city planner as well as the mayor of a medium sized city I would have     public transportation and not allow just one person per car. People have to carpool or         use the public transportation so there is less carbon released from the vehicles. Public         transportation would run at certain times and will only leave when there is a majority of         seats filled so there aren’t too many trips made. There wouldn’t be an excess amount of         cars driving around and just being a waste. Also in homes I know people take very long         showers so there would be time limits on the time spent in there. The max time allowed         would be 5 minutes because it really doesn’t take that long to shower. In order to get in         the shower you would have to push a button to chose the time and then it would start. I         wouldn't really want to live in this city but I would because I know it would help the Earth.

Hi Ashley. I agree with you! We should carpool more to help save the earth.

Ashley, I agree that using public transportation is an important way to decrease a carbon footprint, but I disagree with the idea that public transportation should wait to leave until a majority of the seats are filled.  The purpose of public transportation is to get a person from point A to point B faster than if that person was to walk or bike.  Waiting for extended periods of time at stops will cause departure and arrival time to be unpredictable and unreliable; thus, ignoring the purpose of the service entirely.  My suggestion is to keep a set schedule in public transportation, but to improve the engines and fuel to cut down on the carbon emissions.  On the other hand, I completely agree that carpooling is a valid way to decrease a carbon footprint.  It would be even better if all of the participants would walk to a central location for the driver to pick everyone up at the same time instead of wasting gas driving to each individual house.

I also agree that short showers are important to conserve water.  I live in California where there is currently a major drought,  so I am doing my best to save water.  I have found that it is easier to save water by turning the water off when using shampoo, conditioner, and soap.  Then the only time you need to turn on the water is to rinse off quickly.  This is easier than taking short showers, in my opinion, because you feel less rushed but still save many gallons of water.

I definitely agree with the idea of public transportation and carpooling. I am trying to carpool more to reduce my carbon footprint as well. I think another great idea would be if everyone were picked up at one location instead of everyone's houses. That would reduce the amount of carbon significantly. There should also be more bike lanes so that people can ride their bikes from one place to another safely. I don't normally ride my bike because there are no bike lanes on the sides of the streets where I live. I definitely would ride my bike more often if there were more bike lanes. Also, I think taking longer showers will help too. It would help even more if people took colder showers. Cold water uses less energy, keeping the hot water heater from using electricity. I know all of my friends and family take hot showers, so imagine if we all started taking colder showers. We would have a major effect on the carbon we use. Additionally, you're likely to be in the sho wer for a less amount of time, decreasing the water usage and reducing your carbon footprint. These few tips can help make our city more sustainable.

What if schools started rewarding carpoolers with premium parking and bike parking with security?

the thing is, the idea of carpooling and riding bikes is only efficient in countries like the U.S which are safer than most countries. I live in Guatemala and it would be a total miracle to ride my bike  from home to school and feel/be safe and I also say this because I have experienced getting robbed which is pretty common in here.

If schools were to reward carpoolers with premium parking, it would absolutely increase the amount of people that carpool, because it is added convenience.  I do believe, however, that there should be a surveillance system in place to identify the number of people that exit the car and distribute parking tickets to those who park in the premium zone without a carpool.  Without this extra incentive, it would be too easy to ignore the parking regulations.  If successful, the rapid increase in carpooling can save thousands of gallons of gas.  According to the Commuter Choice Program (link below), “Assuming a 50-mile round trip commute, two people ridesharing five days per week, 45 weeks per year would save 502 gallons of gas if the vehicle taken off the road was a passenger car, and 621 gallons would be conserved if the vehicle removed from the road was a light truck.”  Using less gas means releasing less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

An increase in students biking to school will also decrease the carbon emissions.  If schools rewarded biking with more security, I  believe the number of bike commuters will increase slightly but not much.  In my opinion, the main reason people do not bike to school is the location.  It takes more time to commute and high school students already have so little time.

https://www.bnl.gov/rideshare/benefits.asp