Can I be an environmentalist and also enjoy vehicle dependant travel?

[calamaridog]

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.

Uh yea, corrupt government officials in 3rd world countries love carbon credits. Countries where 99% of the wealth is in the hands of 1% of the people.

Not to mention the number of scams involved in selling these cabon credits to date. People selling the same credits over and over I see the potential for many well meaning people to be taken in yet another scam, which is really too bad

 

[calamaridog]

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.

Specifically, I was refering to Martin, who I believe lives in CA. CA is so wacky, they might pass a law any day making any swap less viable, even if he switched to horse drawn.

I think from the "can it be done" camp, I'd like to see YOU try Worth it for research value alone.

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?

The money is used by the criminals who run those 3rd world governments to oppress their people even further. We are just giving them a new revenue stream I suspect.

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.

:REExeSquatsHL1:

Very cool!

You guys do some stuff that may work for other folks too. We can all look at what we consume and try and be more responsible. I think if everyone does this, things will be much better. I'm trying to improve my household in meaningful ways.

 

[DaktariEd]

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.

I help make up for Roseann's small footprint.
I work 18 miles from my home; I live in a 20 year old house I designed and had built. It's all electric. I don't have a well. I buy packaged foods. I recycle somewhat...
In my consumer lifetime (51 years), I've owned 2 used cars and 3 new cars. The '64 VW Bug I had for 9 years and ran it up to 250,000 miles. The new cars: 1985 Jeep Cherokee (9 years, 175,000 miles), 1994 Ford Exploder (8 years and 135,000 miles), and my current '02 Sequoia (5 years and 85,000 miles and plan another 75,000 miles). I consider my footprint average...
:sombrero:

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

I don't know if this is the right thread to post this........but I didn't want to start another thread.

Saving Water...........

I believe Very Strongly in Saving Water. I've felt this way ever since I was a young teen living in Hawaii.

I have already turned off my auto sprinklers for the winter season.

The point of this post........

The last time I took the SWR out was to the Anza Borrego TACODOC meet up.

I did not wash the truck. (although I have been accused of dirt not sticking to it......hehe).

Tonight we in SO CAL are about to get creamed by a rain storm.

As I type........I left the SWR out in my driveway (which I never do!) and I'm going to let the PH Balanced Rain......wash the SWR!

No Hard water marks! And I bet I can even just let it dry on it's own and it will be fine (if I still have enough wax on it). Unlike having to dry it immediately when using city hard water to wash it.

My little contribution......and it wasn't even hard work!:costumed-smiley-007

 

[Clutch]

Saving Water...........



....I did not wash the truck. (although I have been accused of dirt not sticking to it......hehe).

Maybe you should call my neighbor down the street, he washes his Caddy at least....AT LEAST...4 times a week...umm...dude...we live in the desert.

Same nieghbor I didn't even get a thank you from, for cutting down his couple ton palm tree...that the "land scaper" almost dropped on to his house....I could of got a thank you...wasting water.. dude guy...end rant...heck, the dude won't even wave back...people suck...ok now end rant, period!

 

[Speaker]

Why'd you cut down his tree?

 

[Redline]

Posting about water put this old thread to the top, helping me see it and then stay up late reading the whole thing. I liked the 'conservationist' label described toward the beginning, but maybe I'm an 'environmentalist' too, though not in the modern sense of the label. I agree with many of the posts and will agree to disagree with the others ☺

I have a couple of very economical vehicles, one 4-wheeled, one 2, that I don't always use for a variety of reasons, including some as selfish as I sometimes just prefer to use the ‘trucks’.

My wife and I live in a house much larger than we 'need', though we built it with ease of use for elderly/handicapped (maybe us someday) and extended family in mind, and with a very efficient insulating concrete forms (ICF) framing material. We moved here from an older, smaller, but MUCH less efficient home.

Though we have a large lot, we don't have any grass, nor do we plan to plant any. We don't have a home owners' association that will make us have a lawn, we see it as a huge waste of water (and time) in this high-desert, and we're glad to have a choice.

You guys are great, long live the Expedition Portal.

James

I don't know if this is the right thread to post this........but I didn't want to start another thread.

Saving Water...........

I believe Very Strongly in Saving Water. I've felt this way ever since I was a young teen living in Hawaii.

I have already turned off my auto sprinklers for the winter season.

The point of this post........

The last time I took the SWR out was to the Anza Borrego TACODOC meet up.

I did not wash the truck. (although I have been accused of dirt not sticking to it......hehe).

Tonight we in SO CAL are about to get creamed by a rain storm.

As I type........I left the SWR out in my driveway (which I never do!) and I'm going to let the PH Balanced Rain......wash the SWR!

No Hard water marks! And I bet I can even just let it dry on it's own and it will be fine (if I still have enough wax on it). Unlike having to dry it immediately when using city hard water to wash it.

My little contribution......and it wasn't even hard work!:costumed-smiley-007

 

[Clutch]

Why'd you cut down his tree?

His "landscaper" came over and asked me to. It was odd, rang the door bell, and said "looks like you would own a chainsaw"..."umm, yeah I do."

He said he would give me a $100, if I would help him. I saw them struggling with topping the palm earlier in the week. I went over to help. Oh man, he had it cut all wrong, huge flipppin' plam at least 3 or 4 feet thick! I have a 20" bar on my saw still left about 8" in the middle. Weighed a couple ton, was very close to the house, he had no wedge cut it, just a cut all the way around level...(scary!)...plus he was using a tiny electric saw, they had no idea what they were doing. So before anyone died, or the palm would of went into the house, or crush the guy's sheds. It was a bit scary, here I am being mr. nice guy. Trying to drop this huge palm with only about a 2 foot room for error, it already had a bad cut in it, it could of spun and took something out, including me.

Well I got it to land it where I wanted to, cut into peices so they could load it into the truck...(palms are very heavy, full of water)...too bad, it was a nice palm. I even cut the stump level so the owner of the house could make a table out of it.

Yeah, I could of turned down the job, if I did, I really thought someone was going to die, or at least take out a shed, or part of the guy's house. (Sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice, literally!)

The "landscaper"...said he would swing by and pay me....never did,....nor did the owner of the house ever thank me. I talked to him during the whole process, he asked if i did this for a living, I told him no, I am a hair dresser, he kinda gave me a strange look and went inside...Huh? I think he thought I was a h omosexual or something...(I am not) I didn't feel I had to give him my life story, why I know how to run saw. I grew up in the country, we sold wood burning stoves at our business, we heated our house with wood back East, one gets pretty good at dropping trees.

So, anyway, the dude guy...won't even wave back, when I wave...maybe he thinks I am flirting with him...people I tell you! It makes me want to run the saw down the side of his Caddy, that he washes 4 times a week. I wouldn't, but, that would be on the list if I had 6 months to live.

 

[Speaker]

Weighed a couple ton, was very close to the house, he had no wedge cut it, just a cut all the way around level...(scary!)...plus he was using a tiny electric saw, they had no idea what they were doing.

:yikes:
The words landscaper and chainsaw should never appear together. You did the right thing, bummer neither one paid up.

 

[Clutch]

:yikes:
The words landscaper and chainsaw should never appear together. You did the right thing, bummer neither one paid up.

It's not even about the money, it's only $100. He totally looks the other way when I wave at him. Instead he could have.."Hey there is that nice neighbor, that saved my house, my sheds, prevented the landscaper from killing himself"..."hey nice neighbor"...*wave*

 

[Desertdude]

Can we get this thread back on topic, with a bit less name calling please?

Thanks

 

[Clutch]

Can we get this thread back on topic, with a bit less name calling please?

Thanks

Fixed, sorry I got carried away complaining about my water wasting neighbor.

As for being an enrivonmentalist and doing overland travel, I would have to agree with DaveInDenver posts eariler in this thread, can't have your cake and eat it too.

To me when I hear the word "environmentist", it is a person or group that is against the very things I enjoy. The very core of what this website is based off, "Vehicle Dependent Travel"

 

[Skylinerider]

As for being an enrivonmentalist and doing overland travel, I would have to agree with DaveInDenver posts eariler in this thread, can't have your cake and eat it too.

To me when I hear the word "environmentist", it is a person or group that is against the very things I enjoy. The very core of what this website is based off, "Vehicle Dependent Travel"

IMO the word "enviornmentalist" has been twisted to fit a very specific group of people now. And as such I prefer the term "conservationalist". I conserve our resources so they will last for all men to use and enjoy. Key words use and enjoy. I love overland travel, and I love to use the outdoors, at the same time I love doing these things so much that I want my children to be able todo the same things. That requires a certain level of responsibility and stewardship on my part.

 

[Clutch]

IMO the word "enviornmentalist" has been twisted to fit a very specific group of people now. And as such I prefer the term "conservationalist". I conserve our resources so they will last for all men to use and enjoy. Key words use and enjoy. I love overland travel, and I love to use the outdoors, at the same time I love doing these things so much that I want my children to be able todo the same things. That requires a certain level of responsibility and stewardship on my part.

I totally agree with you.

Go back and read DaveInDenver's post, he hits the nail on the head.

 

[Skylinerider]

I totally agree with you.

Go back and read DaveInDenver's post, he hits the nail on the head.

Yeah, I kinda posted without reading the whole thread. (It's starting to be a looong thread. :jumping: )