Problem/solution paper - Essay Example

In the past, there were no vehicles, so man had to resort to walk to reach places. This, in itself, used to be too much an exercise to leave any need for proper morning walk or gym exercises. Unlike then, people now have all kinds of transport ranging from bicycles to double deckers. The increased transportation has facilitated man extensively and there is little need left for any walk. The distances that consumed days to cover in the past are now covered in hrs, though this has had innumerable negative impacts on human health.

First, there has occurred a rapid increase in the pollution. Global warming has intensified in the last few decades as a result of increase in the concentration of chloro-flouro carbons in the atmosphere. Much of the increase in their extent can be attributed to the increased release of pollutants from the vehicles. More and more vehicles are appearing on the roads with every passing day to accommodate the needs of ever growing population. Increase in the volume and density of traffic has caused irreparable losses to the environment.

Increase in global warming has caused glaciers to melt, which have in turn caused the sea-level to rise. As a result of this, there has been an increase in the number of natural disasters, specifically tsunamis and floods in the recent decades. Abrupt climatic changes have occurred. Every year, millions of people die because of unbearable heat of the climate. Moreover, new and deadlier diseases have surfaced in the last few decades all of which do have a strong relation with global warming and environmental pollution one way or another.

Figure below shows that transportation was the second largest source of increase in greenhouse gases in the US in 2008. Greenhouse gas producing sectors in US by percentage in 2008 (Pew Center). Apart from causing global warming, increase in vehicular availability has generally increased the body mass index of public. It seems strange and absurd to relate body mass index to the vehicular traffic increase, but there is a very strong relationship between the two in reality. Almost every single individual in most of the industrialized countries has a vehicle of some sort, so he/she uses that to go from place to place, and walk has almost extinguished or become limited to the office, park or home space.

There are no lengthy journeys on foot. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles, buses and wagons are all there to serve the purpose. This has generally made people sluggish and has sapped their agility. Older people used to be more agile than modern age people. If we come across some old documentaries from the 19th or 20th century, we can clearly see that people almost used to run. They walked so fast and with such agility that with a little bit of exaggeration, it is comparable to present day jogging. Modern age people eat more and walk less, and have thus acquired obesity in large numbers.

Obesity is one of the biggest social problems of advanced countries. Although there are many factors that cause an individual to acquire more-than-normal weight including excessive consumption of junk food, yet, lack of walk because of availability of transport plays a cardinal role in making an individual obese. Last, but not the least, vehicular increase has caused an abrupt reduction in the volume of natural resources. There has been a rapid decrease in the oil reserves all over the world since the invention of oil consuming vehicles.

According to an estimate,