Instead of burning fossil fuels as gas for planes, cars, etc. We could use a greener alternative such as burning plants such as tobacco or even using electric cars or bicycles as a standard of transportation. It would be a healthier way of living and better for the environment.

I agree, but wouldn't electric cars have to  be charged? and that electricity would be coming from coal or other fossil fuels...

@Alisha C (USA) That could be an option but there are better, healthier sources such as solar, water, and wind.

@Alisha C (USA) Just as @Jenna H (USA) said just because the cars are electric does not necessarily mean the means of charging would be made by coal or by burning fossil fuels the cars could be charged by solar, water, or wind power.

You could use watermelon juice instead of gas because watermelon juice can be converted to ethanol fuel, and the leftover watermelon from harvests can be used. SOURCE: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … elons.html

I agree with @Ashleigh S (USA). According to a new study, 20% of watermelon crops don't go to markets annually because of "imperfections, bad spots, or weird shapes." Since they don't end up in the marketplace, they are plowed back into the ground. But Benny Bruton, Vincent Russo, and Wayne Fish (the authors of this watermelon study) have shown that watermelons could be used to produce the biofuel ethanol. "The results of this investigation indicate that watermelon juice as a source of readily fermentable sugars represents a heretofore untapped feedstock for ethanol biofuel production." However, I don't think that watermelon juice could be a total replacement for fuel. But I do think that it can certainly help reduce the amount of CO2 emissions even if it's just by a little. Every bit helps.
SOURCE: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/27/wat … le-energy/

Also, if you think about it, burning plants will still pollute the air and could potentially hurt the land if your burn plants too much.

Greener Fuel may help combat our carbon footprint. Today we use various types of fossil fuels that power our cars, computers, washing machine, etc… and slowly the supply of fossil fuels in this world are being depleted. Greener fuels may able to replace fossil fuels, but can greener fuel be efficient as the fossil fuels we use today.

Green Fuel, biofuel, is a renewable type of fuel in which biomass, energy from plants and plant-derived materials, is turned into liquid fuel which can fuel cars and other things that require fuel. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) the most common biofuels that are used today are Ethanol and Biodiesel. Ethanol is a type of alcohol which is also found in beers and wine, although ethanol itself is modified to be undrinkable. Ethanol is usually made from starches and sugars however scientists are developing ways in order to make ethanol by using cellulose and hemicellulose which are fibrous material from plant matter. Biodiesel is mixed by a type of alcohol (usually ethanol) with vegetable oil, animal fat, and recyc  led cooking grease. Biodiesel could replace diesel using engines in the future.

                 Ethanol’s advantages are that it’s completely renewable and can come in different types such as, E10 which is 10% Ethanol and 90% Gasoline and E85 which is (50-85% Ethanol. Ethanol also reduces carbon dioxide emissions, and greenhouse gasses are reduced on average 40% from corn-based Ethanol products. However, ethanol has a lower fuel economy than regular petroleum gas, E85 has 27% less power than regular petroleum. Biodiesel however has reduced many countries dependency on petroleum and often lowered their carbon dioxide emissions, because they’re made from biomass. However even though they are made out of biomass, they will still create carbon emissions because they’re burned in the engine to power the cylinders of an engine.

In the end, no matter if we use biofuel or electric car's, carbon emissions won’t end. Although carbon emissions will be greatly reduced if people start using ethanol and biodiesel, it could slow climate change around the world. Biofuels will greatly help the environment, even biofuels can’t really stop carbon emissions.

Sources:
http://energy.gov/eere/energybasics/art … uel-basics
https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/re-biofuels.html
http://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/re-biomass.html
http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Advan … f_Biofuels
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_benefits.html

If we aren't able to obtain enough greener fuel options, electric cars could also benefit the world. Still, these both will transmit unwanted gases into our atmosphere but won't be as much as with burning fossil fuels. Another way for cities to decrease pollution could be to form more or better public transportation.

I think that switching to bicycles is a great idea, but I know that the weather where I live can get very hot. This is why
I'm not sure to many people will be willing to ride a bike. I also agree with the other responses that electric cars need a source of energy which could be fossil fuels which can actually increase the carbon footprint. Instead of electric cars you could use solar paneled cars. The burning of plants can send unwanted fumes into the atmosphere, and if burned to much could result in destroying the soil.

Using watermelons to fuel our cars doesn't seem very realistic, because even if 20% of watermelons are not put into the marketplace for various reasons as Sophia previously stated. There just simply are not enough watermelons for it to be efficient. Watermelons are seasonal fruits that do not grow in a large quantity year round, instead only from about May to September (http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats … atermelon/). It would be a lot more beneficial to try to switch to other methods of powering such as solar power. As Mary Margaret also said, burning the fruits would cause damage to the environment by producing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as well as damage the land where the burning is taking place.