• We produce things with a short lifespan to keep people buying new things (what is generally known as "consumerism")
• We lavish huge resources on producing weapon systems, which are only means of destruction
• We waste energy; many of our production facilities are not as efficient as they could be.

Motor vehicles are the major polluters in the cities! This is true even in third-world countries, where only a minority of people own motorcars. Consider, for instance, the Indian capital of New Delhi, a city which in year 2003 had about 14 million inhabitants and 4 million motor vehicles. The sources of air pollution there were:

New Delhi, India	From private households:	8 %
	Industries:	12 %
	Power plants:	16 %
	Motor vehicless:	64 %

1. The share of fossil fuels in the world´s energy consumption is slowly increasing. In the year 2010, according to present estimates, the total energy consumption the world over will to about 90 % consist of fossil fuels. The oil consumption will clearly play a dominant part! About 60 % of the yearly oil production will be used up by the road traffic. The oil price will, according to estimates from IEA, in 2012 be 60 % higher than today (2004).

2. The road traffic in the world would double within the next 30 years, were it not for the coming oil shortage which will probably dampen this development. This is faster than the population explosion, which will cause a doubling of the world's population in 40 - 50 years time. This is all assuming that something drastic isn't done! The priorities should be on technical development, public transport systems and city planning. This, however, won't be enough! To steer development in the right direction, the price of oil and gas need to be about 4 times as high as today by the year 2015. This should be done gradually, be means of taxation.

3. An American company has investigated the changes in 21 different environment factors during the years 1970 - 1992, in 9 industrial countries. The environment in all those countries got worse by almost 1 % per year, all factors taken together. The pollution from road vehicles, consisting of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon hydrates are the dominant reason for this development.
   Concerning the diagram at right; the dominant "pollution" is carbon dioxide. It is wrong to consider this as a pollutant. If it were, we would all have to stop breathing! It is included here as an indicator how much chemical fuel of various kinds is consumed. Almost half of all carbon dioxide comes from the road traffic. The diagram also shows that 85 % of the very poisonous carbon monoxide comes from the road traffic!

4. Air pollution in Western countries is actually causing more deaths than vehicle accidents! A study in Austria, France and Switzerland regarding the impact of small particles called PM₁₀ in the air revealed that:
   • 33% of all PM₁₀ came from road traffic. In the cities, this figure was around 50%.
   • long-time exposure to traffical pollution caused 21 000 premature deaths a year in these countries, beacuse of breathing disorders and hearth failures. This figure is twice that of traffic deaths in these countries (which were about 9900). Granted that this effect is hard to measure, since the general condition of individuals also come into play.
   • During one year, air pollution caused 300 000 cases of bronchitis among children and 557 000 asthma attacs.
   • The total costs to society because of road traffic pollution were estimated to 27 billion EU (about the same in $ US) for one year in the 3 countries. That corresponds to 1.7% of the GNP, or $ US 300 per person and year.

The yearly emissions of carbon dioxide is roughly 20 billion tons! Some of this is absorbed by new growth, a lot is absorbed by the oceans, about half of it stays in the atmosphere. What effect will this have?

A spontaneous reaction with many people is that a couple of degrees warmer won't make much difference. On the contrary, in colder climates it could be seen as something positive. But the effect is not going to confine itself to warmer temperatures.

Rather, it will lead to a destabilisation of the earths weather, as compared to what we are used to. The precise effects are, however, hard to predict with any certainty, because of their complex nature. There might be desertification in some areas, colder in other areas, melting of the polar icecaps, more storms, violent downpours and inundations, and so forth. The rise in violent and unpredictable weather patterns have already been noted, but to what extent they are caused by rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is hard to say.

Insofar as much of this is caused by exhaust fumes from road vehicles, different modes of transportation could make a considerable difference.

Traffic congestion: In urban areas where beam-carried traffic is introduced, the ground could be rendered entirely free from motor vehicles. The traffic will be moved up in the air, indoors or below the ground, and at a considerably lower cost than with all other alternatives.

Barrier effects and land reclamation: Pedestrians, bikers, greenery and buildings will reclaim the ground that used to be streets, highways and parking areas.

Exhaust fumes: In urban areas which have thus gotten rid of motor vehicle traffic, there will no longer be problems with air pollution and consequential diseases, cancer and allergies, etc.

Noise: The fuel engine will be replaced by the electrical motor. The motor and the roadway will be sealed inside a hollow beam. All noise will disapper, only the soft aerodynamic "whosh" in the air will be heard, as a car pass by.

Accidents: All meeting and crossing traffic is eliminated. All uncoordinated mixing of vehicles with unprotected pedestrians and travelers is also eliminated. The use of computers in the "driver´s seat" will eliminate the "human factor" as a cause of accidents.

Spreading of the cities: Parking areas which adjoins shopping malls and work places could be put to other use. The need for roads, roundabouts and parking garages would gradually be reduced.

Pollution: Soot, rubber from tyres, auto parts, etc. will disappear. A limited build-up of rubber particles from the wheels inside the beams will regularly be vacuumed by maintenance vehicles.

Chemicals: Glycol, oil spills, metal rust etc, will be reduced as the use of motorcars disappear.

Forest damages: Ozon-, Nitrogen-, aluminum-, lead- and quicksilver damages on the forests will be reduced.

Agricultural damages: Corresponding damages to agriculture will diminish.

Freshwater pollution: Quicksilver- and aluminum poisoning of lakes and subsoil water will be reduced.

Coastal water damages: Oilspills and seepage from oil refineries will be reduced.

Oil damages to the seas: Oil drilling in the seas and transport of oil by ship are presently a big source of sea pollution. The beam-carried traffic goes a long way to eliminate the need for oil.

Acidification of the ground: This is caused by acid rains, and makes it harder for most plant life to survive. This acidity is caused by the pollution of the air of nitrogen oxides, and it also poisons lakes. The short-term remedy is calcification of forests and lakes, which is both expensive and inefficient. The long-term solution is the replacement of combustion engines with other kinds of engines.