Hunter Cowles                                                                                               275 words

hc17@geneseo.edu

INTD 105-19

A huge controversy has come to many environmentalists’ attention recently due to Volkswagen’s most recent blunder.  Many popular shows including John Oliver’s, Last Week Tonight, have expressed their displeasure with Volkswagen after they openly admitted to tampering with a car so it would appear that it had lower emission levels than the legal requirements. Emission levels recorded from the Jetta, one of Volkswagens most popular models, were recorded to be up to 35 times than the accepted amount. It’s also become common knowledge that many other companies, not just Volkswagen are involved in these scandals as well. Groups such as the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) have made strides to make more realistic road tests so the results can’t be that misleading. Many of the cars were intentionally placed on a sort of “lower energy mode” for the in lab testing so when the results came back, it appeared as if the car was running more efficiently than it actually was.

William Cronon wouldn’t be surprised by this at all since he’s always had such a cynical view of humanity. It’s extremely discouraging to hear that people would rather try to cheat an emission test than find an alternate source of energy that is cleaner. These emissions aren’t just harmful to plants and the environment, but can be harmful to people. Particularly in Europe where diesel cars are used a lot, there have been thousands of deaths a year as a result of nitrogen dioxide levels. These companies should have their experts try to explore alternatives such as electric and hydrogen fuels, since they have shown so much promise in recent years.