- Erin S.
The sky was blue and the air was clean during COVID. How do we make it last?
During the infamous year 2020, many stay-at-home orders were in place. Less cars traversed the roads, some construction was halted and less people were out and about. This minimal activity resulted in less CO2 emissions, causing significant benefits to our environment. Reduction of CO2 results in less air pollutants, benefits human health and improves air quality. CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Reducing it can significantly help climate change. So how can we work to keep this same trend going?
One of the possible solutions consists of phasing out gasoline-powered cars, one of the biggest factors of CO2 emissions. Electric Vehicles can reduce car-related carbon emissions by almost 50%. Electric Vehicles will only be effective if everyone has one and the way to ensure that would be to subsidize electric vehicles and have a phase-out plan for gasoline-powered vehicles as well. Although we must all do our parts to achieve sustainable practices, lawmakers and business owners must make the right decisions to impact the future.
California’s governor Gavin Newsom proposed a plan which would ban the sale of gasoline powered vehicles by 2035. Although this plan could drastically reduce our carbon emissions, the plan does not call to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles currently on the roads, meaning that many gasoline cars can still cruise around the state. Despite the benefits of those plans, it just would not be effective enough.
However, there are certain tax incentives for electric vehicles and hybrids which can amount to upwards of $7,500 depending on the type of car. These incentives could be the deciding factor for many people as to whether or not they purchase electric cars.
At any rate, in order to reap and keep the benefits of cleaner air, electric cars are the way to do so...as long as everyone plays their part.
Sources:
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-ins-and-outs-of-electric-vehicle-tax-credits.html