The biggest problem facing the world right now is climate change. We’ve heard it a million times, how the Earth is in danger and everyday we dig ourselves a deeper hole. That the ice caps are melting and extreme weather events become worse and appear more often every day. This issue is nothing unfamiliar and we’ve heard the solutions. Yet one solution to alleviate the climate crisis is our car-dependent infrastructure. Rather, transitioning to infrastructure more dependent on public transport. Here in the United States, we are far-and-wide dependent on cars. As of 2021, 86% of workers commute by car. Automobiles and combustion engines as a whole are terrible for the environment, requiring fossil fuels and therefore the production of greenhouse gasses aid in trapping heat and warming our atmosphere. That forces us to use gas-guzzling highway vehicles that pollute the environment with 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gas every year worldwide. We can look to our neighbors in Japan as an example of what a better public transit system looks like. As of 2020, about 77% of workers in Japan solely commute by train. Having cities that are more compact and less filled with expansive parking lots, highways, and outdated roads allows for more trains, buses, and even walking. All of which facilitate compact land use and exist as low emission alternatives to driving. Modern trains around the world run on electricity, straying way from fossil fuels. Even combustion engine busses, for example, remain a better choice for the environment than cats, as are much more efficient, space and energy-wise. Here in America, for most of us it feels we need a car to just live and get around. 88% of Americans cannot reliably get to school, work, or the grocery store by public transport or walking.