Pimp This Ride
Simran Sethi - August 08, 2005
Every time my sister and I speak, I have to spend a portion of the call listening to her bitch about traffic (she lives in LA). Now I know why she’s complaining.
Traffic is much worse than it used to be. How much worse? According to the Texas Transportation Institute, in 2003 we lost 3.7 billion hours to being stuck in traffic. That’s over 400,000 years.
Planes and cars figure heavily into the ecological footprint equation I blogged about last week. Can we give up our cars? Maybe someday. Until then, we can check the fuel efficiency of our rides, investigate hybrids, buy bikes, organize carpools.
The most and least efficient cars on the U.S. market are here.
Cars generate a lot of pollution, hence the big footprint. When you burn a gallon of gas, about 5 pounds of carbon are released into the atmosphere. If it was solid, you’d notice the equivalent of a five pound bag of potatoes falling out of your tailpipe for each mile you drove. But instead it’s released as an exhaust stream of toxic particles and carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas that’s contributing to global warming/ weirding).
According to the EPA, there are simple ways to make our rides more fuel efficient & reduce our environmental load: keeping tires properly inflated, driving 55 instead of 65mph, changing your air filters, limiting our use of air conditioning.
Who knew mundane changes could make such a diff? Not I.
Okay, traffic. A big reason we’re driving more is because of sprawl. According to Co-op America,
we drive about 45% more per capita than we did in 1980. Researchers have found a link between car-dependent lifestyles and obesity, and we spend more money paying for our cars (fuel, upkeep, insurance) than we do on food and healthcare combined. Our transport needs are responsible for over 2/3 of the 20 million barrels of oil we in America guzzle every year.
Smart growth is the antidote to sprawl. It’s intentional growth: thinking about how we grow businesses, communities, gardens, homes in ways that serve all of our interests. Not just wanting our grocery store to be a 2 minute drive away, but also thinking about how those traffic patterns might impact the ability of our kids to walk to school. It’s about believing gardens are just as vital to a community as parking lots. (Thinking of my Naniji in Chandigarh and what Le Corbusier originally envisioned for the city versus what Chandi has become. . .)
Smart growth suggests that we think not only about where we are today, but about where we’ll be 50 years from now. Here’s one of my favorite Smart Growth sites. I like this model because it’s visionary. It’s predicated on the belief that we can use the knowledge we have now to create a better future.
And the sweetest ride of all? I’Il take the eco-friendly skateboard.
Cruising. . .
Simran
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Posted by Simran Sethi at August 8, 2005 10:24 PM
Comments
yes! yes! yes bharat!
i used to live on chancery hill lane and took the MRT daily. if americans paid the true cost of petrol, if all the externalities of its use were internalized, you'd see a lot more people on skates, bikes, boards, and feet i am sure.
simran
We constantly wonder how it is that we can get involved in conversation or participate in the welfare of the environment. Thanks Simran for the clarity.
Bharat,
The places you hear most about in America are the big populated areas. That would do wonders there! But what about the people who live in the rural areas, like me? Should I invest a couple of horses, to get me from point A to point B. I mean most people were I am from live 30 to 40 miles away from the nearest town or convience store. The majority of the people around me are small farmers and because the big feedlots farmers are over running the agriculture business. Most have to have a second job to pay for the bills and feed their families. It's a catch twenty-two, I know! What would work for a number of people isn't going to make it for those you truly depend on the vechile to get around. There is a solution to the maddness, and the worst of the matter will show through in light. There already seems to be ideas and theories popping up...people are creative! It's who we are! ;)
Hi Simran,you are reading my mind.i was just thinking which car to buy.you wrote the blog. you have given me the answer. i will buy honda insight .thank you so much for trying to save the environment from ignorant people like me.God bless.
Simran,
Thanks for sharing information to live a eco friendly life.
Venky
Ditto Simran...
We seem to have some some conscious youth gangs happening around Vancity...
They spray up "Drive less" "Gas is blood"
Our PTO jacks the prices up while more people take public transportation and we've been using the same buses for about 30 years. They probably have 10 new ones.
Roads? No new roads, lots more cars, no new roads. They got cracks and holes...dangerous. But nobody seems to be responsible.
Well..."some" areas seem to get first class attention.
Ditto Simran...
We seem to have some some conscious youth gangs happening around Vancity...
They spray up "Drive less" "Gas is blood"
Our PTO jacks the prices up while more people take public transportation and we've been using the same buses for about 30 years. They probably have 10 new ones.
Roads? No new roads, lots more cars, no new roads. They got cracks and holes...dangerous. But nobody seems to be responsible.
Well..."some" areas seem to get first class attention.
Thanks to the thugz in the ghetto we get our alley ways upgraded.
test entry. just seeing how this work.
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Recent Comments
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Dalbir commented on Pimp This Ride
test entry. just seeing how this work.
-
Rita Raju commented on Pimp This Ride
Ditto Simran...
We seem to have some some -
Rita Raju commented on Pimp This Ride
Ditto Simran...
We seem to have some some -
Venky commented on Pimp This Ride
Simran,
Thanks for sharing information to -
gjayaram commented on Pimp This Ride
Hi Simran,you are reading my mind.i was just th
i live in singapore where it's prohibitively expensive to drive.... in other words, a cheap, used car, after mortgage, insurance, tax, road tolls, and gas costs over $1,000 per month in a country that's smaller than the city of los angeles. this compared to a two bedroom apartment for the average family which costs $500 a month.
so a lot of people take public transportation, and traffic is not nearly as bad and pollution not as bad as the neighboring countries...
i also have always wondered how quickly the US could shave off its national deficit if it put a 1 dollar per gallon additional tax on gas and put it towards paying off its debt...
might this be a quick and easy (and costly) way to get people driving less?
hopefully their newly found disposable income could get them in the gym as well.
bharat
(who prefers rollerblades to skateboards, and always prefers to walk and carry my bag when golfing over taking a gas or electric cart!)