Reducing the environmental damage caused by individuals' use of cars and light trucks (minivans, sport utility vehicles, and pickups) should be a top priority for our nation. A recent book, The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices (Three Rivers Press, 1999) analyzed all the many things that consumers buy and do. It concluded that "personal use of cars and light trucks is the single most damaging consumer behavior." Not only does car use cause many types of air pollution and a large share of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, but indirectly it is a major source of water pollution (through manufacturing of cars, gasoline production, and runoff from highways) and ecologically harmful land use (for the road network).

What steps can Americans take to reduce this environmental damage? In terms of their personal lives, there are many possible actions people can take, but most of them boil down to driving less and purchasing an environmentally friendly car. In addition, you can use driving and maintenance strategies to reduce air pollution from your car. We Americans can also move beyond personal actions to try to establish government policies that encourage manufacturers to produce cleaner cars and give incentives to consumers to buy them.

Below, we describe the strategies you can use to reduce the environmental damage from cars and provide information about green vehicles you can buy.