Are We In The Wrong Here? Car Enthusiasts And The Environment #Blogpost

The automotive world is vast and continuously growing, with changes coming everyday. From beginnings little more than a horseless carriage. To modern hypercars which bend the limits of what we perceive possible. For us enthusiasts, there is no shortage of cars to choose from and there’s probably a car we don’t even know of yet we’re destined to fall in love with. But there is one thing which every car we see has in common, they are all detrimental to the environment.

Let’s take a brief look at the environment before I explain how bad cars are for them. Also I want to make it very clear, I am not a scientist, the only things I am going to say are things I know. If I give an inference, I will make it obvious. The environment is our surroundings and the things within them. So our environment can range from a country home surrounded by woods or can be an apartment in a congested city. But these vastly different places still share the larger environment of Earth. And what makes up Earth? Well, we have the ground we stand on, the water we drink, and the air we breath. For good measure, let’s include the life on the planet as well.

The environment is what sustains life on this planet. So many things have to go right just to make life possible. There is a big swirling ball of molten metal at the Earth’s core creating a magnetic field which prevents solar winds from blowing our atmosphere away from Earth, like Mars. The Earth features an ozone layer which prevents the bad kind of radiation the sun produces from reaching our surface, which would increase cancer rates. We have a finite amount of fresh water which all life barring ocean life requires to survive. As well we have our land which on its surface contains the chemical requirements to support plant life which begins the food chain. I’m not going to harp on what the Earth has that we need for survival because I would literally be here forever listing the reasons we can actually be here today. But be aware that we can’t let the components of life fail or else, obviously, life fails.

So, cars, why are they so bad for the environment? One of the most obvious problems cars pose to the environment is the gas they burn. Petroleum based fuels are hugely detrimental for the environment for many reasons but the two most obvious ones are the volumes of carbon dioxide they release, and the pollutants which accompany them. The carbon dioxide is the issue people are more likely to have heard about. The burning of hydrocarbons is a chemical reaction which has at least two products. Water, and carbon dioxide. And carbon dioxide is a huge part of what is known as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect if you don’t know already is how solar radiation is trapped in our atmosphere and keeps our planet warm. Basically radiation has enough energy to pierce our atmosphere to reach earth initially, but after hitting Earth’s surface, not all of it escapes back into space. With carbon dioxide being emitted from the ever growing number of cars and petroleum engines, this effect is more prominent as less of the solar radiation can escape back into space.

The pollutants, including carbon dioxide, are another issue. These pollutants pose serious problems for life on earth, particulate matter, sulfer dioxide, carbon monoxide and many more are all present when petroleum based fuels are burnt. Now I can’t say that I know every single side effect of these different pollutants but I know carbon monoxide is extremely bad to breathe, and when carbon dioxide mixes with water (both present in this chemical reaction) the water becomes acidic and leads to acid raid. And also part of why drinking soda frequently is bad for your teeth.

Also the processes which we use to obtain our petroleum are not the kindest actions to the environment either. I’m not well versed in the ways by which oil is pulled from the Earth, but drilling has risks of oil leaks and really problematic spills in the ocean. Fracking is shown to both release natural gas into the air and into waterways, as well as highly increased seismic activity. I’m sure there are other methods to extracting oil, some worse than others, but I can’t speak with much real confidence, so moving on.

Another detriment to the environment is just the activities which make driving vehicles on the road a possibility. I unfortunately can’t find any number heavy sources for these but I do want to mention these. The oil which cars use for lubrication does come from crude oil, roads made of asphalt are petroleum based, and the pipelines which move oil have to be installed, they don’t just occur naturally. I wish there were some numbers to see the impact on the environment from these activities, I can only imagine that they are rather significant. As well the numbers would probably be rather shocking to know.

Now that I’ve covered some of the issues which result from just the use of vehicles. Let’s briefly look at car enthusiasts and how we impact the environment.

There is almost no action which can be taken with a car which doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment. The core of our passion is based in burning fuel to move our cars from point a to point b. And almost every enthusiast has some desire to alter the way that car moves from point to point. Even if someone has a car they love and want to keep it entirely stock, the way they drive the vehicle affects its impact on the environment. If someone adds a spoiler to their car, it is going to increase drag and weight, resulting in more gas being used to move the vehicle. If someone upgrades their turbo, they are going to burn more gas to go faster. If someone takes the catalytic converter off their car, they probably are going to drive harder to hear the car scream, and also produce more harmful pollutants in doing so. But what am I trying to say? That we should simply drive our cars like we are on empty all the time and never enjoy our cars? No, the solution is both simple and complicated, it is simply going to depend on our own desire to change.

Now we’ve finally reached the topic I’ve battled with for weeks now. Is it truly possible to have a passion which is inherently bad for the environment, and still actually care about the environment? I firmly believe that it is, but it’s not easy.

First of all, we have to know ourselves. We have to know if we have even a shred of interest in preserving the environment. If someone doesn’t care at all about the environment and everything it provides for us right now and in the future, there will be no convincing them to change their ways. But if someone does have some urge to enjoy the world outside of the driver’s seat, they are faced with a world of choices they have to make if they want to conserve the environment.

Next is knowing what it is that you want to get out of being a car enthusiast, and if it’s possible to achieve those while trying to avoid harming the environment. If someone has truly convinced themselves that their daily driver is actually a race car, and it needs to be built as such, the odds of them mitigating the damage to the environment with their car is slim. They are likely to build their car to produce as much power they can afford, handle producing that much power, and drive it everyday producing that much power. Now more likely, you are a sane person, you don’t drive your car like you stole it everyday. You probably want to do modifications which will improve your experience driving the car, maybe a tighter suspension for a canyon drive, possibly a louder muffler because you don’t mind the way the car sounds.

Lastly, you have to know what it is you are willing to give up for the sake of being environmentally friendly. This is something to consider both while in and out of the car. What you give up can vary greatly but still will produce a noticeable effect on your life. You can choose to forgo using the AC and leaving your windows up to conserve fuel. You’ll be hot, but save some money. You can convert your car to run E85 to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (coming back to this) but it will certainly cost you a pretty penny. Another possibility is buying another car which you won’t drive as often, but delegate the more harmful actions to that car. There is a world of choices which people can make, and it only extends the more you look.

If you like cars, and you choose that the environment is something important to you. It can seem that there is an endless amount of information to have to learn if you choose to defend this position. Because, the world is going to say that you can’t be both. I firmly disagree. There are two reasons which I use to maintain that position. The law of conservation of energy, and the carbon cycle. The law of conservation of energy is that you can’t change the amount of energy present in a system. The energy simply changes state. Basically you can’t get something from nothing. You have to use what is available. With gasoline, you have, I think I’m using this term right, chemical potential energy. When it is burnt in an engine, that energy changes into heat, light, and an explosive force which is transferred through the piston, against the crank and eventually to the wheel. Petroleum engines are overall very inefficient being anywhere from 20-50 percent thermal efficient. The rest of the energy is just wasted in terms of moving cars. So either the cars have to utilize their fuel more efficiently, or change the fuel to be less harmful.

This is where ethanol comes in as it is much better for the environment because of the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is very similar to the water cycle. Basically, plants take in carbon dioxide and it is used for growth, animals consume plants and take in the carbon, and as they breath they expel carbon dioxide and when they die and decay they release carbon dioxide as well. The system works in that carbon dioxide is moving from place to place but it isn’t increasing or decreasing in quantity. Where conventional fuels cause a problem is that they introduce more carbon into the atmosphere than the cycle can manage. Ethanol is made from plants which took in carbon dioxide and took the carbon atom, and released the oxygen back into the atmosphere. So when they are turned into fuel, it is burnt and the carbon dioxide produced was already in the cycle. Ethanol is going to be the savior of the internal combustion engine and car enthusiasts in its current state. Otherwise, our cars will have to switch to batteries and solar power if we want to help the environment. Because burning fuel to create electricity is no better than just using gas.

The environment is what keeps us alive, and we need to do everything we can to keep it alive. For enthusiasts, it can seem that we really can’t help the environment and retain our passion. But this is simply not true. Ethanol development is going to continue and grow faster as we move into the future. We can keep our more harmful choices to cars we don’t drive as often. As well we have the same options available to us as non enthusiasts, little things such as turning off the lights, recycling, and planting trees and shrubs all help the environment last and protect us. So if anyone ever calls you out that your passion is bad for the environment, you can say, “Yea it is, but I turn off my lights when I leave, and recycle. And the future holds technology to let me drive without adding to the carbon dioxide problem.” And that is a much better answer than stooping to the level of the person calling you out, trying to add to a self righteous, more worthy image of oneself.

So there it is! My very late Earth Day blogpost which I stand by completely. The topic of caring about the environment gets wrongly associated with hyper-liberals when it is something which directly affects us all. I wish I was more knowledgeable on all facets of the environment and how our actions affect it. So let me know, what do you all think? Have I convinced you of anything? What’s your stance on the environment and car enthusiasts? Anyway, happy belated Earth Day, Happy Mother’s Day, and Happy 21st to me. Take it easy.