Drive- thrus are a large part of American eating. Nearly all of the major prepared food chain stores have drive- thrus, with McDonalds, Burger King, and Starbucks bringing in most of their sales via drive thrus. Drive- thrus are the backbone of the fastfood industry, mostly for their convenience and speed. However, that convenience comes at a price to the environment.

McDonalds, for example has an average wait time of about 3 minutes and ten seconds.  In that 3:10 per car, they burn through over seven million gallons of gas per year in America.  That costs about 21 million dollars for their consumers, and even more for the environment. That releases over 150, 000 tons of carbon dioxide.

The entire American fast food industry burn through about 50 million gallons of fuel per year. That results in about 10 million tons of carbon emissions. America’s fast food “success” has resulted in other countries taking our lead, and China and India, more populous countries than the United States, are rapidly adding drive- thrus, and have the potential to burn far more gasoline than the US.

Besides the environmental impact, there is also a health impact. Drive- thrus make buying unhealthy food more accessible to people. Also, instead of parking and walking, people just sit in their cars when they purchase their food.

America is one of the leaders in the world in both obesity and carbon emissions. Removing drive- thrus would reduce emissions, and at least help with America’s obesity problem.