GreenYour.com

The average US household has two-mid-sized vehicles, which emit upwards of 20,000 pounds of CO₂ every year.[1] This costs the average household approximately 18 percent of its income, which is more than the amount spent on food.[2] Twenty-seven percent of total vehicle miles traveled by Americans are to and from work, which amounts to 734 billion miles each year.[2] Seventy-eight percent of those who commute to work do so solo.[2] In fact, American workers spend an average of 47 hours stuck in rush hour traffic every year, adding up to 3.7 billion hours and 23 billion gallons of gas consumed.[3] Twenty percent of US greenhouse gas emissions comes from vehicle gasoline consumption.[2]

By choosing less-polluting methods for getting to work, such as walking, running, cycling, carpooling, or taking public transit, many Americans are significantly decreasing the time, money, and fossil fuels they use. For instance, 30,000 commuters can get to work on a single subway train, which would require 10 additional highway lanes if the same individuals chose to drive to work.[4] If 10 percent of Americans used public transit every day, the US would decrease its reliance on foreign oil by 40 percent.[5] If public transit ridership doubled, an additional 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline—equivalent to the volume of more than 2,100 Olympic swimming pools—would be saved each year.[6][7]

Related health issues

Research has shown that employees who walk or cycle to work (15 minutes or more per day) reduce the risk of heart attack by 50 percent.[8]