Quote:
Originally Posted by copacabana
How about cutting down on the use of oil? Americans do a lot of driving ...
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Not as much as they did six months ago. But even if we embarked on cutting-back miles now, it'd still take decades to achieve significant reductions. You have to understand: This country's property development model has been predicated on the availability of relatively cheap, individual transportation for... well, just about ever since the automobile was developed by Henry Ford.
My commute distance is about exactly average: 34 miles/day, round trip. My commute time is about double the average, at about 1-1/2 hours (avg. is 46 minutes). There is no public transportation between home and work. None at all. So it's either move (cannot afford to do that, in any event) or live with it.
That being said: There's lots individuals, companies and government can do to ease the pain. Individuals can stop driving over-sized, gasoline-guzzling, behemoth SUVs, vans and trucks. Individuals can stop jack-rabbit starts, screaming up to stops and then standing on the brakes, and speeding from place-to-place like their back-sides were on fire. I increased my average gas mileage from 22 MPG to 27 MPG,
just by moderating my driving habits.. And that's w/o even entering hyper-driving territory.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: As long as I continue to see a lot of people driving big, gasoline-slurping vehicles with only one individual in them, esp. doing things like
greatly exceeding the speed limit, jack-rabbit-starting, rushing up to red traffic lights, weaving through traffic, etc., I'll continue to believe gasoline is too cheap.
Companies can implement "green initiatives" to reduce their carbon footprint. Ship by train, instead of air or truck, when possible. It is incredibly inefficient to ship large amounts of goods long distances by fleets of trucks, rather than by train. Speaking of trucks: I will continue to believe diesel fuel is still too cheap while I continue to see trucks sitting idling for long times, with nobody in or around them.
What governments can do is things like synchronizing the damn traffic signals. Even simple synchronizations will help. It is mind-bogglingly stupid to have a light turn green, only to be stopped at a traffic light
just a couple hundred yards away.
Jim