To give or not to give..

So I have two cars, one of them is a 1993 Saturn SL2, which I am planning to hand it off to CN. Now you might say to yourself, that's pretty generous BT, I suppose it is but mind you that the insurance coverage is worth more than the car. I could have easily donated to a charity and redeem my free cruise & $25 tax deductible for my tax returns next year. But I did not know what their intentions were, it would probably be the same as me giving it to CN. But I ran into a moral issue, should I have had the car recycled for parts, potentially doing my part in helping the planet? Unfortunately no, instead, I am leaving it out on the road for it to contribute its harmful fumes to the environment.

It's only one car, what harm could it possibly do the environment? Well, one gallon of gasoline produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide (one of the leading causes of global warming), the average car has a 13 gallon gas tank, 13 times 19 = 247 pounds of carbon dioxide per re-fill. Now lets say you've used up 800 gallons of gas a year, that equals to 10,400 pounds or 5.4 tons a year of pollution coming out of the car. Now take that amount and multiply that with the amount of cars in the U.S alone, which is roughly 200 million.

The decision has already been made, it's out of my hands now. It's up to the new owner to determine his carbon footprint.