Did you know that transportation causes 56% of air pollution (Rashidi, Rameshat, Gharib)? Furthermore, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development imported that the United States is the largest consumer of energy in terms of transportation (Belvarker). Most vehicles consume gasoline which is an non-renewable source of energy and produces harmful chemicals to air such as Carbon monoxide(CO) and Nitirc oxide(NO) when it is burning (www.eia.gov). Thus, the thing our society has to do is to lessen the number of cars on the road by implementing carpooling officially. The Government and companies should actively implement carpooling, and let people know about the advantages or benefits of carpooling to inspire them to carpool.

Carpooling tremendously impacts our environment by reducing a traffic congestion, usage of gasoline and construction of road which can definitely contaminate air. Traffic congestion increases CO2 emissions by 30% because gridlock makes cars waste and burn 1.9 billion gallons of gasoline per year (Stoller).  However, carpooling reduces the number of cars on the road, therefore, preventing a traffic congestion effectively. Also, carpooling can obviously decrease the usage of gasoline tremendously. If 4 people commutes everyday by their individual vehical, each of them consumes 22 gallons of gasoline monthly, which means roughly 265 gallons annually. But surprisingly,  if they carpool together with using one vehicle, they consume 60 gallons per year (Belvalker)! Hence, several kinds of air pollution such as smog or particulate contamination can be reduced significantly by lessening usage of gasoline. Carpooling not only reduces gasoline, but it also reduces construction of road. Mostly, the Government expands road or constructs new road due to overflowing vehicles on the road which can incur air pollution as well. For instance, in South East London, while wideneing two roads, air quality monitoring sites observed coarse particles (PM10), fine particles (PM2), Nitrogen oxide, Nitrogen dioxide, and  other meteorological variables which are definitely harmful chemicals to air on both roads (Font, Baker, Mudway, Fuller).
     

Carpooling is a great method to progress in many economical aspects. The total amount of money that was saved by carpooling every year is approximately 1.1billion dollars with gasoline $4.00 per gallon based on the report by AAA, American Automobile Association (Carpool Statistics, statisticbrain.com). Hence, from the survey in 2013 by AAA, 33% of drivers who are actually practicing carpooling in their daily lives said that they are carpooling to save their money from increasing gasoline price (Smith). Carpooling also affects to buisnesses which include employers and employees. There are several companies which recommend people to practice carpool by implementing ‘Carpool Incentive Programs’. It is a program that can give benefits to employers by reducing the number of parking space which can save at least $360 and up to $2,000 (United States Environmental Protection Agency). Also, tax provisions does not require tax for carpool parking which is also known as a tax-free fringe benefit, therefore, it provides financial benefits to both employers and employees. Implementing carpooling system affects the Government as well as the buisnesses. Practicing carpool helps to decrease the costs for the construction of new roads and road maintenance (Spance). Thus, the Governemnt can use money in more efficient and practical thing for the nation.
     

Carpool also impacts to the society by reducing commuters’ stress, preventing people from wasting time and making people avoid diseases or deaths from air pollution. On the basis of the U.S study in 2005, ‘Commuting in America’, the United States drivers wasted 4.2billion hours on account of traffic jam (Bloch). However, carpooling solves this problem by using a high-occupacy vehicle lane, which is also known as a carpool lane, the number of traffic congestion was obviously reduced. Thus, commuters can make their commuting time more usable and practical such as eating breakfast or reading books. Carpool also makes people less stressful. According to the data from a survey of North American workers in 2013, workers who experienced traffic congestion for more than 3 times a week got significantly higher level of stress than those who experienced traffic congestion infrequently (Haider, Kerr, Badami). Carpool reduces traffic congestion, therefore, the great solution to decrease people’s stress. The United Nation (U.N) reported that about 3.3 milion deaths a year are caused by an outdoor air pollution which is much more figure than the total deaths caused by AIDS and malaria combined (Richard).  It is a self-evident fact that carpooling prevents air pollution, therefore, enables people to stay healthy.
     

Carpooling helps to purify air, save money, and make people both mentally and physically healthy. Therefore, the Government and companies should advertise the advantages of carpooling to people and let people actually practice carpool in their daily lives. While I was studying information about carpooling, I figured out that carpooling prevents not only air pollution but also soil pollution, global warming, and water pollution. It helps preventing soil pollution by reducing rates of constructing roads and parking space. Furthermore, soil pollution incurs water pollution due to water cycle system. Air pollution mainly caused by transportation makes greenhouse gas increase which is the primary problem of global warming. Thus, reducing the number of cars by practicing carpool can prevent numerous environmental problems.

“Air Pollution and Death Due to Cardiovascular Diseases” Masoumeh Rashidi, Mohammad Hossein Rameshat and Hadi Gharib, 2012  http://www.intechopen.com/ [22 August, 2012]
“Why is carpooling good for environment” Mrunal Belvarker,2012, http://www.buzzle.com/  [5 Jan. 2012]
“Gasoline use contributes to air pollution” eia ,2014 http://www.eia.gov/ [15 Aug, 2014]
“traffic costs average U.S household $1,700 a year” Gary Stoller, 2014 http://www.usatoday.com/ [21 Oct, 2014]
“Why is carpooling good for environment” Mrunal Belvalker,2012, http://www.buzzle.com/ [5,Jan. 2012]
“Road construction: Emissions Factors and Air Quality Impacts” Anna M. Font Font, Timothy Baker, Ian Mudway, Gary W. Fuller,2014 ,http://www.meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/
“Carpool Statistics”, 2014, http://www.statisticbrain.com  [ 2 Jan, 2014]
‘Commuter Carpools save time and money’ Justin Smith, 2013,  http://www.edmunds.com [23 Aug, 2013]
“Carpool incentive program”,2005, United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.bestworkplaces.org [Nov, 2005]
“Benefits of Carpooling” Daniel Spance, http://www.protection.uottawa.ca/
“Car pooling – good for your pocket and the environment” 2007, Michael Bloch, http://www.greenlivingtips.com [18 Sep, 2007]
“ Does Commuting Cause Stress?” 2013, Haider, Kerr, Badami,   ,http://www.papers.ssrn.com [2 Aug, 2013]
“Fact: Air pollution kills more people than AIDS and malaria combined” 2013, Michael Graham Richard, http://www.mnn.com/ [26 Apr, 2013]