I am from the town Kennett Square, which is located in south-eastern Pennsylvania. Kennett Square is split into two different types of neighborhoods. My house is located in an automobile suburb because due to its placement one will typically need a car to go anywhere. Located five minutes from my house is downtown Kennett Square which can be considered a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood. All shops and houses are located walking distance from each other for those who choose to live there. According to statistics taken in 2013, the population of Kennett Square is about 6,000 people. I have lived in Kennett Square for about six years now and I believe the community has a huge impact on the environment. Though we have a centrally located pedestrian neighborhood, it is only a fraction of the size of the automobile suburbs surrounding it. The only buses in Kennett Square are those for school children otherwise everyone is driving, which hurts the environment.

On occasion Kennett will close some of their streets for festivals or parades, but only for these certain events. On those days where the streets are closed the community will fill the streets and truly enjoy what the town has to offer. In Bogota, Colombia there is a program that closes 120km of road on Sundays so that people may enjoy the outdoors. It’s interesting how much the community enjoys and takes advantage of this road closing. As we saw in Columbia people were not only happier with being outdoors, but it also reduced the amount of pollution cars were having on the environment. In order to become more sustainable, I think that Kennett Square should close down the streets more often just as is done in Columbia. It will not only encourage the community to grow and thrive, but also reduce the amount of car pollution by reducing the amount of cars on the road.

Located in Curitiba, Brazil there is a bus system that mimics the efficiency of an underground subway. This bus program has greatly reduced the number of cars on the roads, which greatly increases the city’s sustainability. In my opinion Kennett Square would benefit from a bus program such as the one in Brazil. Currently our biggest environmental issue is that there are too many cars on the road and the environment is suffering. If implemented, the bus system is Kennett Square would be significantly smaller than the one in Brazil, but it would still have the same benefits just on a smaller scale. The buses in Kennett Square would mimic those of State College. There would be different loops running different directions, but all together reducing the number of people who drive. The car pollution in Kennett Square is a collective action problem. It takes the community to cause this problem, but it also takes the community to reverse it.