In the U.S., tailpipe emissions from the cars and trucks we use to move around is the largest source of carbon pollution. Photo: Shutterstock
Have you ever found yourself walking along a busy road where cars and trucks whizz by, or worse, idle?
If so, unwittingly, you’ve had a brush with tailpipe pollution, the noxious fumes produced by gas and diesel engines that choke your lungs, sting your eyes, and take a toll on your health. And all this, while also heating up our planet.
For far too long, we’ve accepted the vehicle exhaust that clouds our roads and cities as just the price we pay to move from one place to another. It’s become normal. Our acceptance of this status quo is part of the reason that the transportation sector was the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States in 2024.
But we don’t have to live with this status quo. Solutions abound, from re-thinking our laws to re-thinking our transit options.
Here are a few more facts to know about what’s coming out of the end of that tailpipe.
Cars and light-duty trucks are responsible for almost 60% of our transportation-related carbon pollution nationwide.
That amounted to 1.03 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the air in 2022, according to the Center for Sustainable Systems. A typical car emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Multiply that by 237.7 million licensed drivers in the U.S. who drive on average 12,200 miles per year, and it’s easy to see why our planet is reeling from climate change.
The more tailpipe pollution vehicles emit, the hotter things get.
Carbon dioxide and other gases emitted from tailpipes, including carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, trap heat in the atmosphere. The trapped heat warms the atmosphere like a blanket, leading to flash floods, fierce storms, heat waves, and massive wildfires. All that extreme weather has its root at the tip of your car’s tailpipe.
That brown haze that vehicles create lingers in the air as smog, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.
Fumes from gas-guzzling cars create inflammation in human cells, which lays the foundation for chronic diseases and cancer. Studies have shown that even short-term exposure to higher levels of outdoor air pollution is associated with an increased risk of asthma, heart problems, emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and death.
Consider these sobering facts:
- A study of more than 57,000 women found that living near major roadways may increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer.
- Researchers using a database of older adults found that 10-year-long exposures to fine particulate matter and nitrous oxide, both found in car exhaust, increased the risks of colorectal and prostate cancers.
- Children (often exposed to exhaust from idling school buses) are particularly susceptible to harm from tailpipe pollution. Those living near busy roadways are more likely to develop asthma, bronchitis as an adult, and more likely to get sick with short-term respiratory infections.
Tailpipe emissions affect some communities more than others.
The deadly effects of car exhaust fall disproportionately on some communities and not on others. Those living near truck routes, alongside busy highways, and on major roads are more likely to be exposed. Discriminatory zoning practices have landed that kind of infrastructure in lower-income and Black and Brown communities. This may explain, in part, why people in these communities experience more chronic disease and illness.
We don’t have to live with tailpipe pollution.
What’s the solution to all the pollution?
Let’s begin with stricter tailpipe emission standards for cars and trucks. Right now, we’re driving in the opposite direction and right off a cliff. As scientists learn more about the deadly effects of dirty air, Trump’s EPA, illogically and foolishly, is repealing all greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles. They claim that carbon dioxide and all the other pollutants coming from tailpipes do not endanger human health, in stubborn contradiction to science.
Better yet, let’s go even further by parking our cars and finding alternative ways to move around. That includes creating walkable cities and building extensive public transportation networks – including electrified rail and buses – that allow you to live anywhere, rural, suburban, or urban, and still get around without a car. And, of course, affordable, electric vehicles supported by robust EV infrastructure are critical, too.
It’s no longer a dirty little secret that tailpipe pollution is destroying our planet and our health. Too many of us are inhaling fumes we shouldn’t have to breathe because we know better. Let’s wake up to the fact that car exhaust fumes will linger – not only in our skies, but in our lungs, and our future – unless we do something about it.
