California to Ban Petrol Fuelled Cars by 2035
New Laws Set in Place to Change the Californian Auto market
A. T. B. Gilchrist
ON THE 25th OF AUGUST, the California Air Resources Board voted to only allow non emission emitting vehicles to be sold by 2035. Although California has been steadily progressing to zero emissions under the Board’s guidance, this has been their most drastic change, and comes as a surprise to much of the country and the world. However, it is a key move as many states are expected to follow California’s lead in some sense, with Washington having already matched California’s plans. This is all part of the state’s fierce battle with their increasingly polluted air that has haunted much of their urban areas for almost 8 decades.
Since 1943, reports of smog and smoke have been made, initially thought to be from nearby power plants and oil refineries as, since 1977, California has been the largest manufacturing state within the US, with currently over 25,000 residing manufacturing workers and over 1 million industrial workers (with a total of more than 13% of America’s manufacturing workers). Additionally, like Australia, they face raging bushfires during the summer months which causes further air pollution and smoke, however, it’s the residual vapours that are the most paramount issue due to their year-long persistence. And it isn’t just the obscuring visibility of the thick smog, but also its adverse effects on human health, as it causes burning lungs and eyes, and nausea. It was only in the 1950s when Dr. Arie Haagen-Smit discovered that it was the two main components of automobile exhaust, airborne hydrocarbons (a compound of hydrogen and carbon, chief components of petroleum and natural gas) and Nitrogen oxides (NOx), that with industrial fumes react with sunlight to form the smog, that they were able to act on the issue. The Board was subsequently created in 1967 by the elected leaders to address the inherent air pollution. Thus far they have helped spearhead progressive legislation against internal combustion vehicles, leading to the promotion of Hybrid, Hydrogen and Electric Vehicles. Just last year, over 16% of vehicles sold in California were Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) and Plug-In Hybrids (PHEV), more than any other state in America. While this new vote represents a great leap forward for California in battling the climate crisis, it is a step the world must match in society’s progression to a carbon neutral future.
