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I cannot afford a hybrid, smart car or ZENN at this time in my life despite how much I’d like to. I am quite envious of those that can make this significant environmental change in their lives but if you are like me you may have to settle for some other small changes to reduce your impact.
First of all, the only two cars I have ever owned were bought used. I like to think that this is environmentally sound in the fact that I am trying to use the car to its fullest before it is sent to a scrap yard somewhere. Along with this I pride myself in taking very good care of my car including regular tune-ups and check-ups. The EPA suggests maintaining your vehicle according to the instruction manual will increase your fuel efficiency and decrease your carbon emissions.
Like being tuned up regularly, it is a good idea to keep your car tidy. I am a bit of a neat freak anyway but a well-organized car is more important than you think. The fewer things you have in your car, the more fuel efficient it is because your vehicle doesn’t have to carry around as much weight and work as hard to get you where you’re going.
How does driving an unsustainable fuel hog around contribute to the adoption of solar power? While some purists might point out that RVs are great fuel hogs and a waste of energy, nevertheless, they do offer an educational opportunity to help spread the acceptance and familiarity with solar power.
There is one thing Pittsburghers can agree upon, besides the greatness of the Penguins or Steelers. That is: “there’s way more bikes on the road this year, aren’t there?”
Indeed there are. Whether it’s for economic reasons, or the result of a growing green consciousness, I am one of hundreds of Pittsburgh bicyclists taking to the streets this year.
When I was transitioning into living sustainably, I thought I’d hate bicycling for transportation. But in just a few days, I realized what many other bicyclists in my community have realized, too: that I would honestly never want to travel any other way.
There’s so many benefits to bicycling! In a previous post, I mentioned that biking earned me the healthiest body I have ever had. There’s more than that, however.
In addition to conserving money, what about conserving time? Especially if you work a 9 to 5 job, you can get to work and home again at even half the rate of the cars stuck in traffic. Nothing feels quite so good as whizzing past long strings of cars, idling at red lights, in the downtown district.
Think paying $100,000 for an electric car is obscene? How about $100K for an F-250?
As much was we covet electric cars like the Tesla Roadster, most of us balk at the $100,000 sticker price. But with gas prices at or above $4 / gallon, the cost difference isn’t as dramatic as you might imagine.
The NYTimes reported last week that if you account for total ownership of a full-sized truck, including insurance, interest, repairs, taxes, and gasoline, a big vehicle like Ford’s F-250 will now set you back $100,000 in the first five years of ownership. Five years is the average amount of time an owner keeps one of these trucks.
There are more than 5,000,000 heavy duty trucks running up and down US highways each day. Every one of those trucks gets an average of 7 mpg, carries upwards of 200-300 gallons of diesel, and spews out potentially harmful emissions.
Like it or not, we depend on them to bring us our food, fuel, and products for everyday living. It’s a connection that most of us often forget about, only remembering it long enough to curse them as they slow us down on the highway.
It’s also an industry that has recently been hit hard by soaring fuel prices, and now, with the average price of diesel in the US at $4.70/gallon and climbing, it’s sure to get worse.
Needless to say, there’s a rising cacophony of voices within the trucking industry clamoring for relief. Most of this noise currently comes in the form of wanting a break in fuel prices, but really that’s just a temporary fix. Any solution with sticking power would have to offer both economic and environmental benefit — you know, win-win.
If you want a blissful sex life, don’t ride a bike. I am not a keen biking enthusiast, particularly of the black mamba or Indian type, those old type ugly contraptions that are the primary mode of transport in most parts of Africa, other than human feet.
While walking is good for health and the environment, when you do it for miles and miles on end with a heavy load on your back or head as most men, women and children do in Africa, a bicycle comes in handy for it is in black Africa what a camel is in Arabia or a Llama is in some parts of South America.
Those who can afford a taxi ride take not the yellow cabs you’ll find idling on any street corner in New York City but a boda boda, as they are known in East Africa, literally a bicycle taxi that would take you from one border to another.
But the bicycle taxi riders here have learned the hard way and have taken to heavy drinking of cheap, traditional brew to drown their troubles. Becoming sexually inactive or rather a man who cannot sexually perform is the worst thing that can ever happen to a man, especially if his wife starts looking for fun elsewhere, risking catching the HIV/ Aids virus in the process.
By Gavin Hudson •
June 9, 2008
This week at EcoWorldly, we’re talking about bicycling, bicycling, and more bicycling!
All week long, EcoWorldly writers from six continents will put their heads together to explore the ups, downs, ins, and outs of bicycling in many countries around the globe.
You can stay tuned to this topic by checking in daily at EcoWorldly, or subscribe to the RSS feed to stay tuned in by [...]
By Levi Novey •
June 8, 2008
Note: This article is part of an Ecoworldly series on the topic of bicycling. This week our writers are discussing the activity and its importance in a number of countries around the world. Please check at the bottom for links to more entries and check throughout the week for additional entries in this series.
In some places in Peru it is just as common to see people bicycling as it is driving cars. Most Peruvians cannot afford cars and for this reason, bicycles provide an excellent, inexpensive means of quick transportation. Peruvians also are masters at modifying their bicycles in creative ways so that they can be used to transport goods and tools for their work and businesses. Fruits, vegetables, construction materials, ice cream, meat, bananas, pets, and countless other items can be transported by bicycle, when a cart has been added. Unlike in the United States though, these aren’t your everyday bicycle carts.
Peak driving season, when many Americans hit the road to visit relatives or see the sights, is now in full swing. With U.S. gas prices topping $4 a gallon in some places — and likely to edge up more during summer’s high demand — you may want to consider taking more efficient mass transportation.
But if you travel by car, you can still cut your fuel usage, save money and reduce your carbon footprint by driving smart.
1. Look into going by train or bus instead of by car or plane.
Taking a train or a bus, instead of driving or flying, results in less global warming pollution per person for the miles traveled (and may cost less, too).
On average, taking a trip by bus produces the least amount of greenhouse gas per passenger mile, followed by train travel, then air. Cars, light trucks and motorcycles contribute the most to global warming pollution.
I can’t claim to be a car type person at all. I’m nearly 24, and in a country where the license to drive is provided at 18, let us just say that my friends have fun with my lack of desire to drive. However, I would like to think that, if I were a driver and had enough funds, I would spend my money wisely on Toyota’s new fuel cell hybrid.
Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that the Toyota FCHV-adv will be powered by a new fuel-cell hybrid system, which is powered by hydrogen and electricity. This improves the models cruising range to a maximum of 516 miles, or 830 kilometers for the rest of the world who decided to go metric. This compares favorably to the previous fuel cell model, which only provided for a 205 mile (330 km) range.
CleanTech Biofuels is serious about turning garbage into fuel and sincerely hopes you’ll ignore the fact that your car’s fuel tank could be carrying what’s left of little Timmy’s soiled nappies.
The company has announced that it’s investigating suitable sites for commercial garbage-to-ethanol facilities — leading baby-owners everywhere to rejoice that they may never again have to feel guilty about throwing out enough diapers each day to put the elephant in this commercial to shame (and can I just be the first to say “WTF?” to that commercial).
