A Cleaner America

Walking to school today, my friend looked down the street and then turned back towards me.  “What type of car is that?  I want one!!” he said.  I looked in the direction he pointed and saw a silver Tesla Model S, one of the hottest (and in my opinion one of the coolest) cars on the market today.  I’m sure you all have seen Teslas being driven around – they’re everywhere!

Tesla Model S (left) and Model X (right)

Alan Onsman explains in his article “Tesla unveils gull-wing electric SUV: Model X” (http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Tesla-unveils-gull-wing-electric-SUV-Model-X-3263048.php) how the car company Tesla recently revealed their new Model X SUV.  Deliveries for the car will begin at the end of 2013 and are expected to skyrocket in 2014, just like demand for their Model S sedan did in late 2012 and 2013.  Currently, the Model S is sold out through March of 2014.  Both the Model S and Model X are electric cars and need no gas at all.  The Tesla sedan is capable of traveling for 300 miles on a fully charged lithium-ion battery.

As I’m sure many of you know, we Americans tend to be very wasteful and do not usually treat the environment as well as we should.  For example, in an article titled “11 Facts about Pollution,” the author states that “Americans make up an estimated 5% of the world’s population. However, the U.S. produces an estimated 30% of the world’s waste and uses 25% of the world’s resources.”  This shows just how wasteful we are as a country, and I believe that our careless disregard for the environment is one of the main problems in America that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.  It should be a top priority.

However, many people have started to take initiative.  Tesla owners, although perhaps not the best at saving their money, do show concern for their environment and have taken the first step to a more environmental-friendly America by purchasing these new cars.  Pollution created by cars could be completely eliminated if everyone had electric cars like the Tesla.

Even though Tesla’s cars are very expensive (generally 50,000-100,000 dollars), there are cheaper electric cars on the market.  Just one example is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which generally sells for about 20,000 dollars.  Because electric cars are not much more expensive than regular cars and because they are so much better for the environment, I don’t think it is that far of a stretch for me to say that there should be some sort of law that only allows people in the United States to buy electric cars from now on.  What do you think?  Please respond with comments.