Air Car- Zero Emissions coming to everywhere but the USA???

There really is a car that is running on AIR!!!  Yep - that is right - you heard it here - compressed air instead of explosions of oxygen and gas vapors in the engine cylinders…when you think of it - why not?

Rumors from across the pond suggest that thousands of  these little affordable cars are being produced and will hit the roads soon in India, Germany, France and other forward thinking nations…

How  about us???  Here  in the good ole USA?  I mean - I grew up just over an hour from Ford Motors original production plant…dont I deserve the best car that the planet can offer…not just a 20 miles per gallon vehicle cuz that is all the car dealers have around!!??

OR -Does this mean a road trip to buy an Air Car overseas and ship it back in small pieces so that customs doesn’t declare it to be illegal?  What else can a greengirl do?

By the way -I sold my cute 45mpg biodiesel Jetta and have now gotten a Honda Odyssey Minivan, only 20mpg…so that I can carry around my tons of stuff - like a good American Consumer….seems to be a constant need to carry around stuff!!

And - oh, yes  the best part….I traded out the cars for over $5000 to my favor- now going toward my new solar panels!!  That is one of the real reasons I traded out my sweet little Jetta…go solar!!!

By the way - that terrible $700Billion bail out had a rider for an  extension on  the 30% Federal  Tax Credit for solar panels (eight-year extension and expansion of federal tax credits that will save the homeowner installing an average photovoltaic system an additional $7,000)- and no $2000cap either - so get some installed!!!

Everything has its up and down  side I  guess…

CAR SHARE – YEAH BABY!!!

CAR SHARE – YEAH BABY!!!

Wow – a just in time response from my great friends – Lanny and Karina – got me into a working vehicle - an old Dodge Caravan - which just now carried me 80 miles so that I could play “Nana” tomorrow …

Ok, the full story – I spend every Monday with my grandson – Adrien – so his mom and dad can go to work, and we get to play together. It is important to the continuity of their lives that I make it when I promise - every time!

To my rescue was the loving generosity of my true friends – pure and simple. Now, this is not exactly car share officially – but isn’t it great that we can occasionally help each other out with an extra vehicle?

More on the embarrassing details…of…..BIODIESEL MAINTAINANCE

Despite the benefits of biodiesel- Yesterday I put some bad fuel into the tank of my Jetta, and now the filter is clogged, perhaps even the line – so, my car is out of order…no fuel is getting to the engine…it will cost me to make up for this simple mistake..

I knew better…that is the worst part…having not checked the bottom of my little storage tank in 2 years - not changing the pump filter also - always being in a rush!!!

Anyway, you know that sucking feeling when you suddenly realize that your fuel storage tank is emptying the dregs in the bottom into your car’s fuel tank? No? Well – learn from my story – if you are going to store and pump your own biodiesel, you gotta take charge of details like fuel quality and filtration! I won’t go into it here - click on that link for more…about algae, water, other  potential contaminants and how  to avoid them…

CAR SHARE

For several years in Willits we studied how to create an official “car share” in our small, rural town, and although we have not yet found how to do it economically (without simply creating a commercial rental business)…the unofficial sharing of vehicles is a family tradition that helps everyone get around.  Let’s face it- We have gotten used to the convenience of owning a separate vehicle, hopping in and going…………… wherever!

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

I could also go on a rant about the lack of convenient public transportation such that we could all find ways to get around without needing a personal vehicle. Multimodal transport – rail, bus, transportation hubs and small electric town cars in combination could free us from the burden of true personal vehicle cost. By the way, we are about ready to vote on 2 important propositions here in Calif & Northern Calif..I urge everyoe in Sonoma and Marin counties to vote YES on the SMART proposal this November! And - YES to High Speed Rail as well!

OWNERSHIP COST

Did you ever do the math on your car ownership costs? Try it! If you add up the various costs for registration, insurance, depreciation, maintenance and fuel, you find out that it costs about $7000-9000 per year to maintain a quality vehicle. How many days a year do you work to make up this expense? OR - how many bus tickets, rail trips and short rentals would it take to equal that amount? Think about it!!! I am sure that the recent increases in gas prices have put car trip costs on everyone’s radar, but most of us still have yet to appreciate the full story on the cost of car ownership. Only a few folks get it, although we are all riding more bikes, sharing rides, walking, making fewer unnecessary trips. By the way, my figure on the true cost of driving does not begin to include the subsidized cost of roads, the cost to the environment for cradle to cradle building and junking cars, sequestering carbon and cleanup of oil spills, and more…

So – although I am in total gratitude for the salvation of my schedule trip by my buddies with an extra car, I am still in a quandary about how to release myself from the ownership of this car!! Nearing retirement forces the question for many of us boomers who will not have the ongoing income to afford this luxury of a personal vehicle. What if I could work less, need less, rather than needing to earn more money to cover expanding expenses? Whew – the innovative possibilities in this answer…who will figure this out for the 78 million of us? Break the chain… Challenge. Change.

Biodiesel Jetta - gotta love her!

Let’s talk about diesel…and biodiesel, and specifically about my diesel Jetta…a lovely car – although she is black, and lately these hot summer days are crazy with black seat leather and light skirts - but, lets talk about the CAR…

I flew to Boston to buy this car in October of 2005…since certain newer diesels are not readily available in California, I searched all over the internet for a diesel Jetta wagon, and hard to find they were! Worth it - power sun roof, lots of headroom, fold down seats with plenty of room to sleep in back or for gear - and even a small craft fair booth will fit! The top rack is built on, the lights a gauges are a wild blue neon enhanced with red – feels like a purple haze driving at night…

To get this baby back to Willits a great cross country road trip was created & enhanced by the shooting of a camcorder video of – “The Last Great American Road Trip”. Well, it could be a great video someday – when I have time to learn how to edit it…

Ok, I was a few years before my time – as usual, because for sure - people are still driving cross country in 2008, even in their RV’s - although fuel is now well over $4 and higher prices are certainly in sight. Diesel is even over $5!! With that in mind - Why did I want this diesel car so badly? Try 45mpg for a start, and I have been almost exclusively driving on biodiesel made by Yokayo Biofuels from completely recycled veggie oil… which I pump out of my backyard 200 gallon storage tank! Now – there is fuel security for ya. Much better than a foreign war, huh? In fact, my pal Mikey gets over 50mpg because he got a manual shift, same car - 10 more mpg. You can take that to the bank, er - tank.

To be sure – I have made my share of biodiesel errors…had hose melt downs, clogged fuel filters, etc…but – I still love the idea of driving - yet not supporting our energy wars, esp the one in Iraq which threatens to spillover into Iran, and is costing us Americans over $400 Million a day!! ! If you can even understand how much money that is – I can’t quite comprehend it myself, but I know that we could put a huge number of freight and passenger trains on the tracks, fix those tracks all over the country and build more so we have a 2 track system nearly everywhere for a fraction of our yearly dues in that misguided, may I say – illegal - “war”.

So – I encourage all of you to turn in those gas hog SUVs & cars, and if you must have one at all – go diesel! In fact - go biodiesel! Enjoy the ride…

By the way - I wrote this partially because of the guys who blog at http://thingsthatmakeyougogreen.com/…but, now I can’t find their cool post on diesel…if anyone can find it in their substantial archives…well, let me know and I will link it right HERE!

PACK A PLATE - reuse a party cup…reduce landfills…

Recently my great friend - Diane Darling - had a barbeque and invited everyone to bring their own food serving plates and utensils. Imagine – resting under a shady tree in a fragrant garden, you are eating yummy home cooked food – served on a real plate, eaten with a real fork – now doesn’t that sound better than using plastic forks and a plastic knife cutting through a soggy paper plate? Yep – me too, I loved it! There were all kinds of wonderful, creative and unique styles that people brought for plating their food. Everything from green speckled enameled steel plates and spoons to bamboo forks, to even vintage linen napkins and china! They all made an appearance, were carried around, emptied, and then were rinsed and packed out. I liked it. In fact – I loved it! So, inspired by this and a few other occasions – I have begun making a habit of taking my table service to potlucks, banquets, Festivals, even a Sustainability Conference. Now I am putting together an affordable kit of Green Ware, so you can pack in your own utensils too! Let’s take this Eco Conscious trend, and become a movement! Enough with the plastic forks, they are no fun to use, take tons of energy and create toxins in the making too. Take your stoneware mug to the coffee shop and a conversation will ensue about reuse and carbon footprints. Here are some facts to sprinkle about…

Most disposable cups are made from material that can’t be recycled and are non-biodegradable. An average coffee cup is probably used for no more than about 15-20 minutes before being thrown away – but can then sit for hundreds of years in a landfill site.

Biodegradable tableware is made from sugar cane fiber remaining after the extraction of juice from the sugar cane. This stuff is better than standard plastics and especially good for replacing Styrofoam, as it is a renewable resource and avoids pollution from the standard practice of burning the sugar can pulp after the juice has been extracted. But – even better is the reusable table ware that you can wash and pack into a bag along the way.

The PLA resin that is used to make these kind of cups is only made in the USA by Blair NE for a company called Natureworks LLC. All of the corn cups that Eco Products buys are imports from Taiwan. If you do the math the carbon foot print for taking the resin 22,000 miles to and from Taiwan is worse than simply buying a plastic cup here in the US. Buyer beware of where your environmental cups come from. Look for companies that are manufacturing these in the US. There is only a few but look hard enough and you will find them.
P.S. The resin in compostable cups and utensils may only be compostable in an industrial composting facility. There is a BIG difference…this all needs more study. Lots of disputed facts as we unfold these new technologies.

I remind us all - reduce, reuse, recycle - in that order.

Community appreciates
festival’s reusable plates
Emerald editorial board May 22, 2002 Daily Emerald

Hats off to the unsung heroes of the Campus Recycling crew who broke new ground this weekend at the Willamette Valley Folk Festival by being the first campus outdoor event (and possibly the first anywhere) to use real plates and forks instead of the mountains of disposable dishware usually found at events.

An enormous amount of planning by students and coordinators with the EMU and other University entities made it possible, and it was awesome! As a food vendor, I participated for the first time at this year’s event just to be involved with this worthy project, and I must say it went without a hitch. I was honored to be associated with the event and response from the public was ecstatic.

Thanks go to the ASUO, which allocated funds to buy reusable plates and forks, and to the many student volunteers who made it possible. The University deserves much praise for hosting the event and creating an environment that fosters such cutting-edge projects

- http://www.uoregon.edu/~recycle/events_topics_ReusablePlates_text.htm

People who use real dishes unite!!

talking toilets

Did I dare title this article - “let’s talk shit?”…no! Because we cannot talk about his sensitive topic in polite company…in fact, we cannot pretend that we even have such stuff in our lives, so we flush it away using gallons of ever-more-precious clean water…drinking quality water we have spent much time, energy and money getting to our front door, and yet more energy cleaning up over and over.

This has never made sense to me, esp. since the revelation I had one evening in 1969 - under the influence of an incredible brownie, I bored my friends for hours with my treatise on toilets and the curse of the flush toilet and how it has ruined civilization, blah, blah, blah…

Well, I was actually on to something - but it was 40 years too soon, as usual. Now, things have caught up with us and here in California as we watch the reservoirs dry up and counties begin to squabble over who owns the right to suck out which river…we are beginning to talk water conservation…not toilets – yet - but i predict it is only a matter of time…

I especially am bothered by the sound in women’s public bathrooms – of a toilet being flushed before and after use! Why not let it “mellow”? Of course, we are afraid of contamination and probably rightly so. I had a crazy idea last year of offering a “Flexi-flush” stall in some multi-stall public facility to see if women could be encouraged to flush only occasionally ( every third use?) rather than every time.

They could choose to use that stall, and would get a “GOLD STAR” for not flushing…also a pen/poster on the door could be used to note every time a flush was saved…we could monitor our progress in saving water. Crazy? Maybe not! Maybe we could slowly change some habits.

There are great options to flushing. The best one so far is the composting toilet. I have used a number of these inventions, and can tell you that almost every experience was a majorly smell-free and enjoyable moment, as these things go…of course. So, check out composting toilets as you build new houses or change out old bathrooms, I think we could change the shitty direction things are going! There - I said it.

PAPER or PLASTIC? NEITHER!

Break the plastic bag habit by bringing a reusable bag on your next shopping trip! The bags you choose at the checkout counter are an important part of our habit-breaking new “Green Lifestyle”. Use your own tote to cart your groceries home are also important for your wellbeing and that of the planet. Carrying a sturdy yet style-wise bag that can be left in your car between uses, such as those available from Ancient Circles, will help you break the plastic bag habit.

I take mine back out to the car next day folded up - and leave it in the trunk. it takes a few times to remember to do this simple thing, but the personal reward of “goodness” is worth the effort!Across the globe, plastic bags such as those dispensed in stores are consumed at a rate of one million a minute, yet single-use carriers will hang around long afterwards, polluting soil and waterways. Further, there is 12 million barrels of oil used in this country every year to produce these bags. All of this contributes to climate change.

Paper is not any better, and in fact - some studies agree that paper is more energy intensive to produce, and creates Dioxins in the process.

And don’t forget to take reusable bags to your local farmers markets this summer. Make a difference when you can!

Visit the Conscious Consumer Marketplace for more information about plastic bags and reusable alternatives.