Lab 6
According to the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], burning fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. The buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases like methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is causing the Earth’s atmosphere to warm, resulting in changes to the climate we are already starting to see today.
Of course, many people drive their gasoline-powered cars to work every day. According to the American Community Survey on census.gov, 85.6% of people in Oakland County drove a car, truck or van to work, and an additional 7% of people carpooled. That’s a lot of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere.
Bridget Janis and Matthew Scheidel decided to partner up for this story and see what we could find regarding climate change and cars. There were lots of questions that we discussed, but here are the three that we decided on:
1. Do you drive to work?
2. How many times do you drive to work per week?
3. How many times do you fill up your gas tank a month?
Janis asked these questions on her Instagram. She got over 100 responses for each question.
For our first question, we got 223 responses, and 203 people [91%] said they drove to work. Obviously this is a much smaller sample size, but it’s not far off from the 85.6% people in Oakland County that drove to work.
For our second question, we got 106 responses, and 46 people [43%] said they drive to work five times per week. 10 people said they drove to work every day of the week.
For our third question, we got 115 responses, and 29 people [25%] said they filled up their gas tanks four times per month, so roughly once a week. Astoundingly, two people said they filled up their gas tanks 10 times per month.
For our third question, we got 115 responses, and 29 people [25%] said they filled up their gas tanks four times per month, so roughly once a week. Astoundingly, two people said they filled up their gas tanks 10 times per month.
What we found in our own data sets lines up pretty well with the American Community Survey. People drive their cars a lot, which leads to them filling up their gas tanks a lot. This in turn leads to a lot of greenhouse gases filling up the atmosphere.
Moving forward as a society, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, transitioning to more fuel efficient, cleaner fuels or electric cars will help slow down the damage we are doing to our atmosphere. It might take a while to adjust to big changes like that, but automotive industries are already heading that direction and trying to make a difference.
Social media posts:
Instagram:
Burning fossil fuels and the buildup of carbon dioxide is affecting climate change and the atmosphere. The graph above highlights how often people are filling up their gas tank a mont, essentially highlighting how much fuel we are burning through. Click the link in our bio or visit https://scheidelclips.wordpress.com/jrn-4100/ to learn more about the affects driving and gasoline is having on our world. #climatechange #fossilfuel #wecandobetter #bethechange
Facebook:
Check out this article about how the burning of fossil fuel and driving to work everyday is affecting climate change. Many people drive to work everyday and burn through many tanks of gas. Educating yourself on what you are doing to our atmosphere when driving your car is important so you can fully understand the effects. Thai graph highlights how many times people fill up their tank a month, providing information on how much fuel we are burning into our atmosphere. #climatechange #bethechange #driving #educateyourself #fossilfuel
Comments