DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Please see my new post on trying to find an Eco-Overlander . . .
Quest: Eco-Overlander
It's a tough search!
Quest: Eco-Overlander
It's a tough search!
Can I be an environmentalist and also enjoy vehicle dependant travel?
- Thread starter Martyn
- Start date
I consider myself a conservationist yet I drive a 1998 GMC Yukon. However, in the last year I have only rolled 3,000 on the clock as I ride my bike to work when the weather allows. My vehicle of choice due to the fact that I have 3 children and need the space to hold my kids. I choose to live in a smaller house that is located a mere 1.5 miles from my office. I have a co-worker who was constantly harrassing me about my truck so I challenged her to a comparative study of our fuel usage. She drives a small "Shoebox" and drives 15,000 miles per year. Her car does get 30+ MPG, and I only get around 14. However, since she drives 5X the miles each year than I do, who is the one who is "harming" the environment?
DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Beerman said:
I'm glad you brought up context, too - people tend to focus on one thing (vehicle, or dietary) and forget it's all part of LIFE, which consumes and kills things, period. People who think they're Virtuous because they drive a Prius and drink soymilk are not quite getting it.
calamaridog
Expedition Leader
I'm going to say this. Unless your current engine is unreliable, then I wouldn't even consider a swap right now. Run it until it is no longer reliable and maximize the service life of the equipment.
If the vehicle is still serviceable at the end of the engine life, then by all means, consider a re-power. What better way to recycle a whole vehicle???
Frankly, if you live in CA, I would not ever do a swap. You are one legislative session away from losing your registration at any given time.
And living a lie but writing a fat check to the environmental lobby complex does NOT make you an environmentalist.
I think Scott has stated that you can have your cake and eat it too if you try to limit the mileage and increase the service life of your expedition/recreation vehicle.
Not only that, but look at the big picture. Do you waste in other ways you could reduce???
If the vehicle is still serviceable at the end of the engine life, then by all means, consider a re-power. What better way to recycle a whole vehicle???
Frankly, if you live in CA, I would not ever do a swap. You are one legislative session away from losing your registration at any given time.
And living a lie but writing a fat check to the environmental lobby complex does NOT make you an environmentalist.
I think Scott has stated that you can have your cake and eat it too if you try to limit the mileage and increase the service life of your expedition/recreation vehicle.
Not only that, but look at the big picture. Do you waste in other ways you could reduce???
DesertRose
Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
calamaridog said:
Great point - But I have a Tacoma, I'll be an old lady before it dies :sombrero:
No, I'm sorry to be flippant. I have considered all that indeed. But would I be neutral-consumption if I sell the 2000 Taco and buy a 1998 RAV4 and then drive it til it's pooped, then put a Toyota diesel in it? The Taco will still be servicable for someone for a long time, as would the RAV4, for me.
calamaridog said:
I'm struggling with this topic as "carbon credit trading" is gaining steam in the Third World. I hate the fact a polluter can buy a free pass - but then again, if the money is used to support significant assistance to quality of life in a country that has no means - is that bad?
calamaridog said:
I can only speak for myself: I work at home, we live in a solar powered home that is tiny, we are building a bigger house with 60% recycled material (rastra block), we have our own well, we don't buy hardly any packaged food, I buy local meat and produce when possible, and re-use and recycle almost everything I can. In my consumer lifetime (I'm 42) I've bought 2 new cars (both Toyotas) and both are still on the road (current one is my Taco). I consider my personal footprint pretty small.
DesertRose said:
It has worked pretty good with sulfur emissions in power plants to fight acid rain in the NE. I am far from an expert, but it is a market based method to achieve long range reduction in pollutants. The key is how the overall cap is managed and the program for overall reductions of the cap over time.
DesertRose said:
I struggle with credit trading due to the fact that it is a thinly veiled wealth redistribution system. This plan would discourage countries that have yet to develop industrial capabilities to enhance their own local capabilities. Basically it is just a tax placed on successful corporations.
pwc
Explorer
yeah, but if you're being successful by polluting the air my daughter breathes, I don't think that's right either.
Some countries, like Costa Rica, have made big gains in buying back land they couldn't otherwise that had been forested and turned into farms. If you look at deforestation maps it's pretty ugly down there in the last 30 years. They get money from the likes of Germany and other industrialized countries. Without this money, the people, in the name of profit, would deforest the whole country to raise cattle, which is more profitable.
Some countries, like Costa Rica, have made big gains in buying back land they couldn't otherwise that had been forested and turned into farms. If you look at deforestation maps it's pretty ugly down there in the last 30 years. They get money from the likes of Germany and other industrialized countries. Without this money, the people, in the name of profit, would deforest the whole country to raise cattle, which is more profitable.
Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
How much an I actually polluting the environment? I see us all measuring our impact by placing the positives and negatives on a scale and seeing how they weigh out. It’s as if we are all trying to justify our impact by taking all the factors and judging them against an other person, family or corporation that does better or worse than we do.
Is there a formula to work out what my impact is? Is there a web site I can enter in all my data and come out with the amount of energy I consume and the amount I pollute? If I had an absolute number I could see how any change in my behavior would impact the environment in a positive or negative manner.
And yes I have broken my own rule of only relating this to vehicle effects, but it’s OK I gave myself permission!!
Is there a formula to work out what my impact is? Is there a web site I can enter in all my data and come out with the amount of energy I consume and the amount I pollute? If I had an absolute number I could see how any change in my behavior would impact the environment in a positive or negative manner.
And yes I have broken my own rule of only relating this to vehicle effects, but it’s OK I gave myself permission!!
Martyn said:
This is a fun calculator
http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9008204&contentId=7015209
pwc
Explorer
here's one calculator. it's on the internet though, so it may not be accurate. 
http://www.zerofootprintoffsets.com/calculator.aspx
http://www.zerofootprintoffsets.com/calculator.aspx
FortyMileDesert
Adventurer
That was fun = 20 tonnes per year (slightly above average).
PhulesAU
Explorer
Amusing thread, did you figure in all of the pollution required to produce all of the stuff your " expedition equipment" is made of? You can tread lightly, but you're just fooling yourselfs if you think, driving anything burning any fuel crushing tender vegatation and microbes is eco-friendly. Oh and would some of the Global warming people please get off their butts and turn the sun down a notch???? That all knowing often misquoted source NASA, has determined it's burning hotter than it has in the past. But I'm sure we can solve this by banning the backyard BBQ.
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Martyn
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
There must be some recognizable stages in the learning process that people go through to arrive at the conclusion that their actions have repercussions on the environment, and that modifying their actions could have a beneficial or detrimental effect on the environment.
In Sports there are three recognized stages;
Incompetent – Incompetence
Competent – Incompetent
Competent – Competence
I think I have outgrown the incompetent –incompetence stage and I’m in the Incompetent -Competence phase. I realize I have an impact but I’m uncertain as to what to do. I think that we all have to travel through these stages and rather than ridicule those with less competence it is our job to enlighten them.
With this goal in sight Adventure Trailers is starting an Alternative Technologies Division that will start to concentrate on alternative power, diesel, and diesel electric.
In Sports there are three recognized stages;
Incompetent – Incompetence
Competent – Incompetent
Competent – Competence
I think I have outgrown the incompetent –incompetence stage and I’m in the Incompetent -Competence phase. I realize I have an impact but I’m uncertain as to what to do. I think that we all have to travel through these stages and rather than ridicule those with less competence it is our job to enlighten them.
With this goal in sight Adventure Trailers is starting an Alternative Technologies Division that will start to concentrate on alternative power, diesel, and diesel electric.