For decades, a number of environmentalists have been hoping the American love affair with the car would fade away.  A lot of people who’d like this to happen see hope in a survey by Zipcar, the car-sharing firm, which found that a majority of 25- to 34-year-olds say they’d rather drive less. There’s also a drop the number of 17-year-olds with drivers licenses, according to The New Republic.

In reality, it doesn’t really matter if people love their cars, so long as they need them to live their lives.

Consider this: there are about 250 million motor vehicles in the United States, a country of a little over 310 million people. Only 9 percent of American households make