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Nicola Anderegg
Driving: A Controversial Fascination
Driving, the dream of freedom and independence became reality when Henry Ford invented the
first ever mass produced car, Model T. Today we know that our source of energy, also know as
„Black Gold“ is not going to be available for ever, there is only a limited amount of it on our planet.
In todays society mobility is one of the most valued things, we are buying gas at all cost and we
are not afraid of destroying our environment. But is the freedom of mobility actually bound to
environmental damage, what other options do we have and what are the drawbacks?
The price of a barrel oil on the market is as low as its never been before. Meanwhile every country
needs to reduce their amount of emissions produced in a year, according to international
standards. Today everyone knows how much we are damaging our environment but mobility
becomes more and more important. People all over the world value the freedom of mobility more
than the money it costs them and the emissions their putting out there. Driving even became a
status symbol in todays society. It starts at the car your driving it represents your income, also the
fact that you have and therefore can afford a car is a statement you make as a person.
In todays world you can not refuse mobility, it is needed for everyday things such as going to work,
getting groceries and visiting friends. Besides that, our whole economy depends on trucks and
trains who transport the goods to the consumers.
Americas oil industry is currently trying to enlarge the amount of oil they sell by using methods like
„Fracking“ and everyone is trying to find new oil sources, but there is a other option we have due to
technical progression. One of them being cars who run on electricity. The range of those cars is
getting bigger and the time to charge shorter. If you want a range of 500km and you can afford a
100’000 dollar car , go ahead and buy one of the latest Tesla cars. But for most of the people these
state of the art electric powered cars are way to expensive. It will only be a matter of time until
these cars get affordable for nearly anyone. Right now you still have the option to take trains and
other public transportation services, which are a lot more efficient than regular cars. Only the fact
that you are not moving a 2000 kilogram, only to get yourself around, makes public transportation a
lot more efficient. But to all these alternatives there are also quite a few drawbacks. You can for
example not decide when you want the train to leave and it might be hard to get to special
destinations, also you need to consider that your electric cars battery is not going to work for ever
and you have to replace it about every 2 years and we all know that modern lithium batteries are
not recyclable. The main reason why nearly all people stick to their cars is the fact that they're not
willing to take those drawbacks in freedom and independence of more efficient ways of mobility.
I think it’s only a matter of time until the drawbacks of more efficient ways of mobility will be not
