P
English 1301

On a weekly basis i produce trash from:
- Cigarettes
- Microwave meals
- Cans
- Glass bottles

I believe that the author was right saying that as americans we are producing much more trash by the day, and the more people we produce we are polluting this planet with unnecessary garbage. Americans are very wasteful with everything they have, Like the author said all though we are not the largest nation we are spoiled and get everything we want, and that is producing garbage at an alarming rate. There are ways to prevent this from becoming a problem but a lot of society is unwilling to change until the consequences of their actions catch up to them, and by that time it will already be too late. Electric Versus Gasoline Vehicles: Which One is Better? Over the past few years, electric vehicles have been popping up all over the place. Why you might ask; well electric vehicles are one of the latest trends in staying “green”. Even though Americans have been using gasoline power since the invention of vehicles, electric vehicles are viewed as better than gasoline vehicles because of fuel efficiency, carbon emissions, decreased reliance on imported petroleum, and overall cost.
One of the main reasons of using electric vehicles is reduced carbon emissions, carbon emissions are the byproduct of burning fuel. Electric vehicles have no exhaust which means no carbon emissions, which means using an electric car does not have any effect on global warming. Recent studies have compared global warming pollution from HEV’s (hybrid-electric vehicles) to gasoline powered cars. “Plug-in cars have several advantages over gasoline-powered vehicles. They produce less global warming pollution, emit little or no pollution from the tailpipe, and reduce our dependence on oil. Battery-powered vehicles also have practical and environmental advantages over many other types of alternative-fuel vehicles (Healey).” Although there are some differences between experiments, for example, the gas mileage of the HEV’s are being compared against and the amount of electricity the HEV’s uses, but more than 30 experiments have shown that HEV’s produce less carbon than gas powered cars. Although there are some cons to electric cars, such as, where does the electricity come from? The most common way that electricity is produced is by burning coal, “About 49% of U.S. electricity is generated using coal, so in some regions a plug-in running on its batteries is nearly the equivalent of a coal-burning vehicle. The trade-off is one that even plug-in backers acknowledge. It could undercut the appeal of vehicles that appear capable of using no gasoline in town and hitting 50 to 100 mpg [miles per gallon] overall fuel economy (Macleans 2002).” and coal emits carbon just as much if not more than a gasoline vehicle. So with more people “saving the environment” with a HEV they are increasing the amount of electricity being produced which in term is increasing “global warming.”
When you buy a car the first thing you want is reliability, and a HEV gives you just that with no exhaust system, no radiator, no oil, no belts or hoses. All of these wearable parts are not in an electric vehicle, this means no breaking down on the side of the road because you forgot to change the oil, and the best part is there is no unpredictability. “Of course we won’t really know how reliable they are until they’re parked in every driveway, though this should give you an idea: Electric motors are predicted to take the average electric car owner at least one million miles before needing its bearings replaced. Once the bearings have been replaced, you’re good for another million miles.
That’s another million miles without buying a single drop of gasoline. Another million miles without a tailpipe to produce pollutants. It’s also another million miles using locally made electricity instead of imported oil from the Middle East (gavins).” In most