Banning drive-thrus to fight societal problems is irrational
Society has many problems, including climate change. Consistently, people have been trying to prevent further problems, but how do various cities think they can help? By banning the world’s drive-thrus.
Many states have adopted similar bans on fast-food windows as they attempt to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles. Among all the cities, Minneapolis, MN approved the ban as it tries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050. In Long Beach, California, they imposed a six-month ban on new drive-thrus while the city studies their environmental impact. Although many cities are beginning to pass bans, some in Southern California enacted restrictions more than 20 years ago.
Many consumers are worried about the ban, while others are in favor of it. Those in favor believe the ban not only helps with climate change, but aides to the high obesity rate issue as people would rather pass through a drive-thru than take the time to enter the restaurant. Others say that in spite of everything, cars are still a prevalent device in society. Therefore, no change will genuinely transpire.
Personally, I think banning drive-thrus in order to benefit society does not seem reasonable. Caring for the environment is important, but how does banning drive-thrus really correlate? People use drive-thrus for quick runs on the way to where they need to be. Turning off your car to run inside and order will just lead you to come right back out to turn it on again. Whether they choose to use the drive-thru or to dine in, people still have a destination to go to, so their cars still release carbon emissions during traffic jams and driving in general. This cannot be fixed, and cars continuously release emissions while driving. So, why are drive-thrus specifically a problem?
Another point to bring up is climate. In Illinois or nearly any place that has winter, the weather can get very cold and bring the possibility of blizzards. People often use drive-thrus to avoid the cold as best as possible. Even though states on the west coast such as California or Nevada may not have this problem, such states have the potential to become very warm and have possible heatwaves. Either way, banning drive-thrus won’t necessarily accommodate for climate change- or anyone, for that matter.
At Metea, students have their own vehicles, so on the way to school, they go to drive-thrus to grab a quick breakfast. Overall, banning drive-thrus should not be a primary solution to fight the problems of our society. Climate change cannot suddenly be changed by a single car driving through a McDonald’s drive-thru, and society should take note of that.
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M Reed • Nov 3, 2019 at 1:58 pm
The idling school buses at SD204 are a huge pollutant. I’ve never understood why that’s necessary. It pollutes the air and is horrible for anyone near the buses.
Anon • Nov 3, 2019 at 11:57 am
One more thing to add: “Climate change cannot suddenly be changed by a single car driving through a McDonald’s drive-thru, and society should take note of that.”
This is the attitude that is the reason nothing will change. I don’t mean to call any one person out, because I know many of us live our lives believing this. But remember, if everyone has this attitude, not even one person will feel the need to step up and cause change.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the only one doing the right thing. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching, even if its inconvenient. Don’t mean to sound like a martyr, but maybe something will change if everyone can do something good once a day.
I’m done ranting, but here’s an actual article because the one before is a bit outdated (but still accurate)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02992-9 (scroll down and read the discussion section, if you don’t want to read all the numbers)
Anon • Nov 3, 2019 at 11:26 am
While I agree, locally shutting down drive-thrus doesn’t do much for the globe as a whole, it’s absolutely incorrect that shutting down drive-thrus won’t help at a larger scale. If the federal government makes the drive-thru ban a national policy, then we’ll see results.
The science behind this is that when a car is stopped in line, and is on, it produces more CO2. Now, if you’ve been to McD’s at peak hours such as breakfast time, or lunch time, you will see a long line at the drive-thru. Each car is producing more than they would if they were off. They would also produce less if they just didn’t go to McD’s and instead made their own breakfast and drove right by (this is because they’re going at higher speeds, which is less CO2 emitted). This is worse at Portillo’s. At any time of the day you have cars that are on and idling, this produces much more CO2 than if all those cars were OFF or driving at a higher speed.
Imagine if the whole world stopped drive-thru’s that’s; that’s when you’d see a change. Look, yes there are more things to do, such as discourage air-travel, produce less babies, drive Tesla’s, and have only one refrigerator in your home, but every little thing can count if its done at a large scale.
And as response to someone above me: yes, obesity is our problem. That’s like saying “Yeah let people die! Them wearing seatbelts isn’t our problem”.
The problem isn’t that solutions aren’t working, its that people don’t care enough to see a change because they genuinely think that their own comfort in the present is more important than a future that couldn’t POSSIBLY happen to them (newsflash: it already is, you can thank climate change for November snow: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-snowfall).
symore butts • Nov 1, 2019 at 10:48 am
This isn’t true if people wanna be obese let them be obese not our problem.
Используйте свои чертовы мигающие огни • Nov 1, 2019 at 8:52 am
To those who don’t wipe the snow and ice off their cars,
A several pound chunk of ice going at a relative speed of 20+ mph is going to do massive damage to other cars and could be fatal. This is why most truck drivers take time to scrape the snow off the trailers, only now if they didn’t remove the snow, its close to 100 pounds of snow falling down onto other cars or your noggin.
Отправь их в ГУЛАГ • Nov 1, 2019 at 8:45 am
Don’t forget, if you have to drive, CARPOOL! This puts less cars on the road, reducing commute times and traffic. Less traffic and shorter commute times means you spend less time burning gas waiting in traffic or driving to your destination. Another bonus is that if everyone spilts the fuel costs, you pay less overall.
high impact lifestyle choices • Oct 31, 2019 at 2:18 pm
I agree. On a more general level, I think many of the environmental things that are pushed or encouraged tend to be minimal (https://phys.org/news/2017-07-effective-individual-tackle-climate-discussed.html). While small changes don’t necessarily replace large changes, I find it strange that we talk so much about the more contentious ways of saving the environment while not focusing on proven, large-scale ways of reducing the effect on the environment, such as eating less meat, having less children, flying less, etc. Obviously, some things are impossible or extremely undesirable for many to do, but nevertheless I think there’s too much focus on the small things.
A Concerned Metea Student • Oct 31, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Absolutely unfathomable that you are still discussing the fabricated topic of global warming. Did you not witness the October snowstorms?
Banana Man • Oct 31, 2019 at 11:54 am
“…At Metea, students have their own vehicles and so on the way to school, they go to drive-thrus to grab a quick breakfast…”
Make your own breakfasts BEFORE you go to school then you lazy people.