Cars are used by the majority of the population in my city; some families even own more than one car. Because of this, extremely large amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted into our atmosphere. There are simple solutions, such as carpooling, driving fuel-efficient cars, or using public transport. Recently, some parts of the world have established the concept of bike sharing. Companies basically purchase bikes and make them available to individuals anywhere in the city. All people have to do is pay a nominal fee to rent the bike to get from point A to point B. A study conducted in Denver in 2013 shows that public bike users "spared the atmosphere 1,028,836 pounds pounds of CO2" by riding over 560,000 miles. I think such ideas should be made more prevalent in the US, especially in urban areas where it doesn't take too long to get from one place to another.
Source: http://www.academia.edu/7934412/The_Imp … ikesharing

This is a great post with lots of awesome information! I definitely agree that transportation is a huge issue and is negatively affecting our earth. I do not think that the solution will be as easy to achieve though, if we think about the U.S.A, for example, not everyone can afford a fuel-efficient or fully electric car because most are very expensive. There would have to be a slow movement away from fuel-based cars, like how the France has already set a date to ban gas cars by 2040. On the other hand, is that too late? I think the important point is that we must find easier ways of transportation for people so gas cars will not be a priority.

Resource: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/busi … iesel.html

This is a great post and I totally agree with your point of view on how we need to improve our transportation. Some other ways we could improve and make cities more sustainable is to make our buildings more efficient, boost clean energy, and upgrade power infrastructure. Studies have shown that about 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions comes from heating, cooling, and powering buildings. Other countries are finding a way around this and seeing what they can do to improve their sustainability. This could raise our energy saving up to 30 percent or maybe more. Boosting clean energy means that we put solar energy onto rooftops, capturing and recycling waste heat, and wind power. If we could switch from coal to more natural gases then we could cut down the carbon emissions and other pollutants that are released into the atmosphere. The aging systems in many cities need to be upgraded so they can withstand weather conditions such as flooding and a growing population. Cities will have to build stronger electricity and fuel delivery systems to build a more sustainable city f or basic human services.

Source: http://environment.nationalgeographic.c … stainable/

I agree with all of the ways cities can become more self sufficient. There also are ways that individuals can help affect reduce the amount of nonrenewable resources used to power cities. Every day citizens can inform themselves and each other about the need to make their cities less industrial. This can be done through rallies and presentations to the general public. The government can work to inform children about ecology and environment issues, and society leaders can invest funds in making things more energy efficient. People can personally work to reduce waste and prevent unnecessary purchases. This can make things better for future societies. Even though these things can help, that will not change the mentality of the general public. If citizens were informed like what was said before, they would realize that all the appropriate measures need to be taken in order to make cities more energy efficient. All of these things that different societal groups can do  will help save the earth from being ruined by humans.

Source: https://www.sustainabilitydegrees.com/w … e-society/

I live in Washington and most if not all buses are hybrid-electric, but never in my life have I witnessed these buses using electric power aside from the trolley versions that connect to the power lines.

in response to dereklghif, I'm pretty sure that a bus wouldn't be able to run on 100% electric power even if they wanted to as the battery would have to have immense capacity, what I believe they are doing is using the electric motors to help out the gas engine and decrease the emissions output. It would be interesting to learn more about this but above all, we need an electric subway system. While this may never happen, its probably the best public transportation method.

Yup

In Washington there's bikes you can rent and you can leave them anywhere when you're done and the company can just come pick the bike up, it probably cuts down on C02 emissions a lot for transportation.

Uhhu

Lime Bikes, Ofo, Spin

Do they pick them up though? I do agree completely about the reduced usage of our city's carbon production.

Yeah I think so.