bg
  • Dela
Published: November 29th, 2007

Green Consumer: On the road

As a person and consumer you have the power to do something about climate change. Never forget or think otherwise. Sure you may wonder how much you’ll actually help by replacing your CFLs, recycling etc but in the end all small things path up to something bigger and more meaningful, especially when many join in.

This is part two of a series of posts explaining and giving advice on what you can do to combat climate change from your home, in the store, when you travel and on your spare time. All the things listed are easy to do, some things will take a little longer, but most of them will help save you money (besides all the positive effects on our earth).

Going somewhere?

Ditch the car
Leave your gas-guzzling car home. Instead you should take the bike, walk or use public transport on your way to work. If you choose the bike or the walk option you won’t need to buy an expensive gym card. If you choose public transportation you can spend the time (when someone else is doing the work driving) by doing something useful, like your homework’s, reading a book or just take a quick nap.

Sharing is Caring!
If you have to use your car use a car pool instead. Don’t forget to change driver now and then so no one feels bad. Think about all the new friends you will make and all neighbours you will “finally” get to know better.

A car won’t make anything bigger (except your CO2 emissions)
If you rarely use a car don’t buy one. Rent a car when you need one instead. If you must have a car buy a “green” car that is smaller and uses less fuel.

Eco-Drive it
Maybe a course in eco-driving could be something for you? When possible try to lower your speed and try to drive as smoothly as possible.

Shut it off and feel all warm inside…
Shut off your air conditioner when you don’t need it. You will save fuel and your car will be much faster if it’s turned off.

Wash it rarely and properly
Is your car really that dirty? An ordinary carwash releases about 400 litres of water polluted with all kinds of bad things.

Just say NO
Avoid taking the plane, anywhere, especially when you are only going to travel nationally. Instead you should take the train, boat or even the car before you think of taking the plane.

Image credit: Jeff Kubina. Image licensed under a
Creative-Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.

Simon Leufstedt
Simon Leufstedt is the founder and editor of Green Blog – an environment blog with authors from around the world. He is also the admin of Enviro Space - a place to meet, discuss and interact with other people who share your interests and ideas. Simon has previously studied Global Environmental Justice and is currently busy working with the Swedish TckTckTck organisation and learning everything there is to know about Human Ecology at the Lund University in Sweden.
Advertisement

Related Posts

Advertisement
RSS

Subscribe to Green Blog

Green Blog has daily updates and posts from authors around the world. Get our latest posts, commentaries and articles by RSS-feed or by adding your Email to our newsletter.

Learn More

This blog post has been marked with the following tags. Click on one of the tags to learn more:

You can also learn more about this topic by browsing the post's category: Cars & Transportation

Archives

Browse our archive of over +2 years worth of blog posts, articles and commentaries:

bg
bg

Comment Guideline

Comments with profanity, personal attacks or objectionable material will be edited or deleted. Feel free to refute someone's points or offer counter arguments, but please do not engage in name calling.

You can also customize your links and add some photos to your comments. Green Blog supports the following HTML tags: <a>, <b>, <i>, <u>, <em>, <p>, <blockquote>, <br>, <strong>, <strike>, <img>

We will show Disqus avatars and/or Gravatars next to your name.

  • Lots of great tips, though I feel that applying all of them to day-to-day life may be far too much hassle for effective implementation.

    But the great part about your advice is that most of them hit on points that are useful in addition to being green:

    Pick the right tool for the job, and if it's a feasible trip and you don't have to take a plan, you can save yourself the misery of the airport and enjoy yourself on the way there.

    Riding with your friends is fun.

    Planning your trips so that you spend as little time in the car in order to get what you need done isn't just green practice; it's good practice generally. So is driving your car responsibly and competently, which will save on gas usage as well.

    So much of what constitutes day-to-day, useful common sense also corresponds with green lifestyle choices. It's a wonderful synergy.
  • We can always count on Innovation to come up with solutions to any problem :
    http://usanewstoday.blogspot.com/2007/11/pacwin...
    PacWind's portable turbine is small enough to be used at home, as a renewable source of energy.
  • internetandbusinesspromotor
    now boost ur earning use seo softwares and check out 12 best tips to make money at home
    http://20moneymakingways.blogspot.com
blog comments powered by Disqus
bg
bg
Twitter Bird

    Sustainability: A renewed look at locality in architecture

    By Job Mouwen on February 5th, 2010

    Photo credit: Jeremy Levine Design
    Sustainability has never reached the point where it became so imminent as it is nowadays and at the same time so unperfected in the architectural discussion. We are on the eve of an architectural revolution where situational design parameters are no longer used as a design tool to “catch” the [...]

    We must go from capitalism to socialism to tackle climate change, says Hugo Chavez

    By Simon Leufstedt on February 5th, 2010

    In an interesting interview during COP15 Amy Goodman from Democracy Now asks Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, about his view of the climate summit in Copenhagen, climate change, USA, and the huge oil reserves in Venezuela. Watch it:

    “AMY GOODMAN: What level of emissions are you willing to support reductions of emissions?
    PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ: [translated] [...]

    Climate Racism, Climate Injustice & Copenhagen Greenhouse Gas Reduction Proposals

    By Dr Gideon Polya on February 4th, 2010

    “What can decent people do to save the Planet from the Australian, EU and US climate criminals?”
    The bottom line in the Copenhagen Climate Summit should be (a) equal per capita greenhouse gas emissions for everyone and (b) an additional but equitable penalty for First World countries for their disproportionately huge historical contribution to atmospheric carbon [...]

    Green Resolutions

    By Leah Karpus on January 30th, 2010

    Photo credit: woodleywonderworks
    Chances are, you already do quite a few of these already. These ideas certainly aren’t new or ingenious. However, they are simple, easy and attainable. So if you see something new on the list, give it a go. There are always things we can work on.
    Your Two New Best Friends…
    …are your reusable [...]

    Ice, snow, so where’s the global warming?

    By People's World on December 20th, 2009

    Photo credit: laszlo-photo
    As winter weather hits us again, many people confuse the current weather (cold) with the long-term direction of the climate (warmer).
    Just because it is cold outside right now doesn’t mean that global warming isn’t real. Global warming has to do with the climate, with the long-term trend of the world’s average temperature. [...]

    World leaders apologizes for climate failure in Copenhagen ads

    By Simon Leufstedt on December 20th, 2009

    Our world leaders haven’t yet apologized for their climate failure in Copenhagen so Greenpeace and the global tcktcktck campaign have done it for them in these advertisements at the Copenhagen airport:

    “I’m sorry,” the text of the ad reads. “We could have stopped catastrophic climate change… We didn’t.”
    Some of the so called world “leaders” depicted are [...]

    Watch Hugo Chavez: Capitalism is the way to the destruction of the planet

    By Simon Leufstedt on December 19th, 2009

    Yesterday Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, made a passionate and courageous speech at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Chavez criticized President Obama’s “laughable” promise to help climate change and also said that capitalism will destroy our planet. Watch it:

    Scratching the surface

    By Jonathan Sundqvist on December 17th, 2009

    I was listening to the pressconference that the European Union had the last two days. One would think that by now with all the high level people attending that they would have a clear and effective communication on what they want to achieve here in Copenhagen. More often than not the devil is in the [...]

    Naomi Klein: We want a good deal. And that’s what tomorrows demonstration is going to be about.

    By Simon Leufstedt on December 15th, 2009

    Naomi Klein speaking at the Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen.
    Tomorrow morning another large and important demonstration will be held in Copenhagen. This time the Climate Justice Action network is organizing a huge non-violent demonstration where the demonstrators are planning to march into the Bella Center, where the climate talks are being held. At the same time concerned [...]

    The “Danish text” makes developing nations furious and Naomi Klein says the deal we really need is not even on the table

    By Simon Leufstedt on December 8th, 2009

    Photo credit: adopt a negotiator
    Here are some of the biggest and most interesting news today related to the ongoing COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen:
    A draft text for a potential final agreement in Copenhagen was leaked today to the Guardian. The “Danish text” has made the developing countries “furious” as the draft agreement would give [...]

    Advertisement

    Latest Comments

    Latest Forum Topics

    Green Blog on Reddit

    Green Blog ♥ Reddit

    bg
    bg
    Powered by WordPress. Green Blog is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.
    Creative Commons License
    bg