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.

LET’S TALK ABOUT PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES!

I hope you are taking it all in as the News exclaims the hype on bottled water… Are you making the switch from plastic personal water bottles to reusable glass bottles or a stainless bottle? I am not talking about “sometimes”, “when it is convenient” - I mean - why not eliminate plastic bottles completely from your life, your recycling bin, your personal contribution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Hey - I know I sound harsh, and really - This is not a lecture, it is about your health and your pocketbook. Bottled water is simply a BIG WASTE OF MONEY! The bottled water industry expects that you will pony up $100-400 per year for their special water because you have become scared of tap water by years of advertising spin, and besides - the drinking fountains are hard to find, or it tastes weird - or…hey, have you even tried drinking it recently? I find tap water to be pretty good, actually!

In fact -

“about a third of all bottled water comes straight from our municipal water facilities”.

The New York Times Week in Review section calculated that drinking eight glasses of water a day will cost you about 49 cents a year if you take it from a New York City tap and $1,400 a year if you buy bottled.

Ok, here’s more facts….

There is a limit to plastics recycling and that we should be more concerned with reducing consumption of plastic packaging at source….that means – don’t use it! Only about 12 percent of “custom” plastic bottles, a category dominated by water, were recycled in 2003, according to industry consultant R.W. Beck, Inc. That’s 40 million bottles a day that went into the trash or became litter… I got about 100 in a few days from just a couple of local parties – most of them I scooped out of the trash. Pathetic. In fact, at Earthdance 2007, I had an informational display about plastic water bottles, with a big bag of 100 plastic bottles to make a point.

I was also selling stainless bottles and water bottle carriers while across the bowl from me was a brand new start-up plastic bottled water dealer who had sponsored the show. He was getting 1/2 hourly advertising from the main stage - what seemed like constant spin to go and buy their plastic bottled water right away, stay hydrated, support the sponsor…blah, blah. Well, this was not just any old tap water in a bottle, but was bottled tap “water with intention” Yep, that’s right - they had put words like “Gratitude” and “Love” on their labels, so that you could have a better life merely by buying and drinking their water! I am all for positive thinking, and in fact - as part of my obsession about water in general, botled water in particular, and the amazing capacity of water to offer us all life on this small planet - I often give away lots of great positive word/stickers that can be put on bottles - DIY style. But, really - by the end of Earthdance, there were huge piles of water bottles in the Recycle area, almost mountains - to my eye - perhaps as many as 5000 plastic bottles were brought and bought by us Eco-educated Earthdance Greenie types and to not taken home to reuse, to “create intention” and were NOT being “safely reused” beyond a quick hydration in the hot sun.

More bad news-
Your personal plastic water bottle contains toxic plastic traces….chemical names that you or I cannot pronounce…these chemicals end up in your fatty tissues…yuck!

 

<>Did you leave it in the car – did you wash it with hot water in order to reuse it? nice idea – to reuse it – but the hot water leaches out even more weird chemicals!…and never use the dishwasher !!! In other words, it is hard to safely use or reuse these things, so why get one at all?
Toxic Production of plastic bottles – Producing a 500 ml PET bottle (PET is the abbreviation of Polyethylene Terephthalate - a type of plastic) generates more than 100 times the toxic emissions to air and water than making the same size bottle out of glass.Problem chemicals are used in the manufacture of plastic containers for heat stabilization and as plasticizers. 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year.

Some good news-

*city water in almost every town is as pure or better than the water the bottle was filled with – if you don’t like the taste, get a filter and refill your GLASS or STEEL bottle with that!!

*Let’s talk about glass- Compared to plastics, glass is a far more environmentally friendly packing container. First, chemical contamination of food in a glass container is not likely. Second, glass containers can be used up to 25 - 30 times, as they can be easily washed and refilled. Third, glass can be recycled because of its short molecular structure, whereas plastic becomes brittle with recycling. We (of a certain age) are all familiar with the soda bottles of yesteryear, which were refilled dozens of times till they became chipped or broken at which point they would be sent for recycling… glass can be reused over and over if only it were produced somewhat locally, made durably, and was part of a continuous cradle to cradle sytem of recycling back to the maker/bottler. More info - from the WWF-

“Bottled water may be no safer, or healthier, than tap water in many countries while selling for up to 1,000 times the price,” the World Wildlife Fund says. Bottled water market is partly fueled by concerns over the safety of municipal water and by the marketing of many brands which portray them as being healthier than tap water.”

*if you have to use plastic- ( I hate this part - ok, yes - you will use plastic sometimes, I know, I know…) avoid polycarbonate plastic . Check the bottom/underside of the product. If you see “PC” (usually in or near the recycling triangle) signifying polycarbonate plastic, do not purchase it. Often a number “7” on the bottom in the recycling triangle, by itself, also means the material is polycarbonate, but not always. To be safe, avoid #7 plastic. Choose plastics labeled #1, #2, or #5 in the recycling triangle, but do not heat beverages or food in plastic containers of any kind.

Optional but fun and safer too….Put your glass or stainless bottle in a carrier bag to mark it as your own, to keep it cooler, to make sure you don’t break the glass anywhere except in the bag.

Ancient Circle water bottle carriers are one great source for your bottle bag. They can be had by calling 800-726-8032 Priced at only $12 and up – many are made locally from reclaimed fabrics and trims They have heavy fabric construction – in order to protect inside glass bottle from breakage, and use recycled factory fabric scraps, cotton remnants to save money, reduce cost, and also is in keeping with your Green Values

STOP USING PLASTIC BOTTLES

USE GLASS

REDUCE TOXIC CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING

YOUR BODY DESERVES the SAFETY OF GLASS

-Annie Green jeans wishes you health and happiness, and hopes that you drink filtered water from your own reusable bottle!