As a country develops, more people are able to purchase a car. Do you think the positive for the individual outweigh the negative for the environment?

It is true that more and more people start owning a car when a country develops economically. While I accept that it can be useful for individuals, I believe that the cost of the trend to the environment is far more important to consider. On the one hand, it is understandable why there are lots of advantages of having a private vehicle. Firstly, due to independence brought by a car, you do not have to adjust your schedule according to others. If you go to work from home by public transport, for example, probably there is a tension in your mind whether you will reach on time or miss your bus. Secondly, in case of emergencies, having personal vehicle means you may not wait ambulance, just drive to hospital, saving your time which could be highly important. In addition, even it would be feasible to take long trips by car as it is the most convenient and safest means of transportation. Having said that I would argue that these benefits are outweighed by the drawbacks. Destruction of natural resources more likely to occur since more people purchase a car, increasing demand for private vehicles. Car manufacturing requires not only raw materials like iron, steel and plastic, but also great portion of energy that directly or indirectly effect on the surrounding environment. Apart from cars contribution to noise pollution as well as fuel consumption which is regarded as a scarce resource, exhaust from running a car has been proven to exacerbate global warming. Consequently emitted particles of car pollutants might be responsible for allergies to skins and eyes of individuals. In conclusion it seems to me that the potential dangers of more people driving a car are more significant than the possible benefits.