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Transportation and Global Warming:

A Contributor to Controversy

In today's political and scientific realms no issue has been so publicized as global warming. From the dramatic the Day After Tomorrow to Al Gore's informational an Inconvenient Truth, even Hollywood has offered its opinion on the environmental issue that threatens to significantly impact the earth's atmosphere, and therefore the lives of animals and humans, in the near future. Although most scientific and political officials agree that global warming is an issue of importance, some controversy exists over the degree to which human activity worsens the issue. In one form, however, human activity has been undoubtedly linked with an increase in global warming -- transportation.

In both urban and rural areas, people have become increasingly reliant on personal vehicles to get from place to place, a lifestyle choice that has adverse implications for global warming and the planet. For their morning commutes, vacations and day trips, billions of people all over the planet turn the key in the ignition and drive their personal vehicles each day. Similarly, commercial transporters driving trucks, piloting airplanes, and captaining ships, traverse the world each day. While these actions do not seem volatile, vehicles increase the amount of carbon monoxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere. This substance, which is emitted from vehicles' exhaust pipes, is responsible for most of the "man-made greenhouse gasses" associated with increased global warming. In fact, according to a recent study, these emissions are responsible for 15% of all C02 emissions, with the other 85% being linked to manufacturing and industry (Rice).