^ :lol:

My office is a 45 minute drive from home. Sorry, I'm not cycling or recycling to work.

My office is a 45 minute drive from home. Sorry, I'm not cycling or recycling to work.

 

I completely get that. I realize it's not realistic for everyone to bike to work. But taking my math a step further, if I myself can save 115 gallons of gas a year, what if 100 million other Americans did the same thing? That's less than a third of our population. So we could save 115 million gallons (or 2.7 mill barrels) of oil over the course of a year. Now I realize that isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, because it basically only covers two days worth of our oil imports from Saudi, but that also means we're healthier (cutting health-care costs) and have about $315/year to put back into the economy. Yes, I get it's all a drop in the bucket, but we don't have to sit and wait around for legislation to make changes in our own lives. Why don't we stop complaining about our addictions to foreign oil and do something about it?

I completely get that. I realize it's not realistic for everyone to bike to work. But taking my math a step further, if I myself can save 115 gallons of gas a year, what if 100 million other Americans did the same thing? That's less than a third of our population. So we could save 115 million gallons (or 2.7 mill barrels) of oil over the course of a year. Now I realize that isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, because it basically only covers two days worth of our oil imports from Saudi, but that also means we're healthier (cutting health-care costs) and have about $315/year to put back into the economy. Yes, I get it's all a drop in the bucket, but we don't have to sit and wait around for legislation to make changes in our own lives. Why don't we stop complaining about our addictions to foreign oil and do something about it?

 

Dang it! You think just like me! :eek:

 

I'm not here to admonish anyone to do anything. I simply have decided to do my part. I realize that many 1) can't, or 2) won't. Either is fine. That's your choice. But, I sure do feel a lot better about believing what I do when I can back up my beliefs with my lifestyle. It's been my choice to begin bus riding when I started working downtown and it was a possiblity. It's been my choice to move closer in toward downtown when the opporunity arose for several reasons, not the least of which was not wanting to buy a second car. I share my car with my daughter. I walk to the grocery, to restaurants, to shop, to the library and pretty much take a bus or car pool with friends if the need arises. Every few months or so, I rent a car and go see my son and daughter-in-law. But, I these are choices I made for me. I don't expect that everyone would make or could make the same choices.

 

I, like Zoot, recycle, recycle, recycle. I also don't own a gas powered mower, or an electric mower. I bought one of those little reel mowers, as my yard isn't very big. It's probably not feasible for most, but I like it, and I feel good knowing that when I cut my grass I'm not using gasoline.

 

There are so many things people can do, from being conscious of the packaging their food comes in, to knowing how to make good use of things that can't be recycled. It also takes an ability to be inconvenienced at times.

 

The last line of your post is the best, Zoot. From re-using Ziploc baggies to reducing our gasoline consumption, there are thousands of little ways we can EACH do something about it.

2010 is on pace to be the hottest year on record. Probably just a coincidence, though.

2010 is on pace to be the hottest year on record. Probably just a coincidence, though.

Last summer was the coolest I can remember around here. I bet we did not have much more than 15 days above 90 degrees. This year we have had that many days above 100.

My office is a 45 minute drive from home. Sorry, I'm not cycling or recycling to work.

It is obvious you are not doing your part, polluter.

 

 

Last summer was the coolest I can remember around here. I bet we did not have much more than 15 days above 90 degrees. This year we have had that many days above 100.

 

In Cincinnati area July 2009 average temp was 69!