Category Archives: travel

The Real Cost of Gas

Posted on May 19, 2010 by | 2 Comments

Since the assembly line began churning out Model T Fords, the automobile industry and oil industry have enjoyed government subsidies allowing them huge profits at taxpayers’ expense.   Without highways, roads, bridges and their continued maintenance, there’d be no way to use automobiles.  According to the USDA, a new road costs between $2800 and $3500 per mile.  Providing a means of using cars at taxpayer expense is a subsidy.  It would be no different from the government providing the entire country free WiFi to use their computers.  According to this article in Reuters, the oil industry collects $36.5 billion in government subsidies.   If Enviro Girl understands this correctly, the government charges everyone a tax and then gives the money to corporations that make a profit using our money to operate.  That doesn’t qualify as capitalism, that’s a form of welfare.

Yet the minute Enviro Girl reads about spending government money on mass transit or bike trails, people object.   They whine about the cost of such projects, but no one seems to whine about the cost of building new freeways, interchanges, and bridges.  Our country has invested for decades in allowing people to transport themselves in cars to get from place to place.  The cost of driving is not reflected in gas taxes.

For too long the true cost of driving has been hidden from consumers.  Enviro Girl knows it costs her nearly $400 a month to drive when she calculates the cost of her car payment (spread out over the life of her vehicle–she’ll drive her Momvan until it dies of natural causes someday), auto insurance, registration fee, fuel, and maintenance.  She gets weary of hearing people dicker about the price of gasoline per gallon because in her view it’s not enough.  If she could, she’d ditch her Momvan and ante up for a $50 bus pass.  And Enviro Girl lives in a place where she can usually park for free.  Driving her clan around in a car is the least cost-effective way to travel, and that’s not even considering the environmental costs associated with driving.

Therefore, Enviro Girl was shocked to learn what driving really costs when she went to this website to calculate the true cost:  $12,009.45 a year!  Head over to The True Cost of Driving to find out what you’re paying annually to drive.  It’s time to change our tune, America.  Mass transit, walking, biking–we need to wean our population off the “freedom of the road” because frankly, it costs too darn much.

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Posted in issues, transportation, travel, Uncategorized, websites & blogs

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Going for the green

Posted on February 16, 2010 by | 1 Comment

How many of you Eco Warriors are watching the Olympics this week?

Recycla and her family have been enthralled, from the very first moment of the opening ceremony.

And, of course, every evening, the family has been glued to their TV to see what happened during that day’s competitions.

One thing that Recycla has learned in the course of her TV-viewing is just how green the 2010 Winter Olympics are trying to be.  The Olympics are inherently wasteful, with a large number of people converging in one geographic area and using a lot of resources in a short amount of time; however, the Vancouver planning committee has actively sought ways to reduce the Winter  Games’ carbon footprint.  This goes beyond having a large number of recycling and compost bins in the different venues.

For example, did you know that the medals contain recycled materials?  It’s true.  Each of the medals contains a small amount of consumer electronics waste — such as from old TVs and computers — that would have otherwise gone into landfills.  How cool is that?

But that’s just one of many examples of just how green the Vancouver Olympics are.  Here are some others:

  • Many buildings in the Olympic Village are LEED certified, plus most venues have reduced carbon footprints (as compared to other similar venues).
  • When planning the games and the infrastructure needed to host so many people, the Vancouver Olympics committee installed systems that reused waste heat, irrigated with captured rainwater, and composted wood waste.
  • As for travel around the games, there is a fleet of hydrogen-powered buses instead of gas-guzzling ones.  There is also a “no idling” policy in effect at the games.

While Recycla recognizes that the Olympics are still a drain on Mother Nature’s resources in the Vancouver area, she commends the planning committee for their diligence in trying to reduce the overall impact as much as possible.

If watching the world’s greatest athletes ski, skate, slide, and more has inspired you to get out in the snow yourself, check out this article on 10 eco-friendly ski resorts.

Tell the Eco Women:  What’s your favorite Olympic sport?

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Posted in green around the world, travel

Going Green in the Big City

Posted on February 12, 2010 by | 2 Comments

Living in Gotham City isn’t exactly what many think of as “living green”. Most of us have to travel a bit to just sit under a shady tree, 8 million of us live together in a small geographical area, and  there’s the traffic noise and car alarms to deal with. There’s plenty of ways we can try to do our part, though, and it’s not just by living live in small quarters where we make the most out of the space we’ve got.

Photo from Flickr by Barbara L. Hanson

The first thing that comes to mind is buying local, seasonal food at the green markets — they’re everywhere! Dairy, eggs, fruits and veggies, honey, bread, wine, meats, and flowers! It’s all there. You can even bring your food scraps for composting to many sites around the city. If your window sill isn’t large enough to satisfy your green thumb, you can join a community garden. Don’t feel like cooking tonight? You can always have a meal where local ingredients are on the menu. City Harvest is right there at the end of the day at many restaurants collecting food for the hungry that would normally go to waste. No need to buy bottled water here either — just look for Tap It stickers on cafes and restaurants where you can refill your own water bottle for free.

Interested in beekeeping or raising chickens? You can do that too!

Yes, there’s many vehicles on the streets but most of us do all our shopping by foot and if it’s too far to walk, there’s our amazing mass transit system that will take you all over the five boroughs by bus (some of which are hybrid) or subway. You can even get around like our messengers do by cycling through the city on our many bike lanes or routes.

We can choose “green power” and recycling is made easy in our buildings with bins. There’s even trash cans for recycling around the city for while you’re out on foot!

Photo by The Green Mommy

Let’s not forget the Public Libraries here too. With so many around the city, the book you’re looking for is bound to be at one of them so there’s no need to buy it, which really helps to save a bit of space that you really don’t have anyway!

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Posted in travel

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Traveling green

Posted on June 24, 2009 by | 7 Comments

By Recycla

londonWith summer here, people are traveling more.  Vacations are wonderful for relaxing and recharging, as well as seeing new places near and far, but they are also a time when some people lose their heads environmentally.  Luckily, the Eco Women have some EASY tips for you to keep your Eco Warrior status while you travel:

beachWhen you pack…

  • Don’t buy small travel sizes of your toiletries.  Instead, buy reusable travel bottles and fill them with your shampoo, lotion, and whatnot.  Recycla has been using the same travel bottles for 15 years and they’ll probably last forever.
  • Instead of eating junk food while you’re on the road (or in the sky), plan ahead and pack good stuff.  If you’re going by car, fill some reusable grocery bags and your cooler with fruit, cut veggies, nuts, sandwiches, cheese and crackers, etc.  If you’re flying to your destination, you can still put some snacks on your carry-on bag.  And don’t buy food in single-serving packaging!  Instead, buy the larger packaging and put your snacks in reusable containers — they’ll come in handy for the rest of your vacation.
  • And it goes without saying, don’t pack or buy disposable water bottles.  Tote your reusable one and refill it as necessary.  If you’re going through airport security, leave your bottle empty and then fill it at the food court or water fountain afterward.

parisBefore you leave home…

  • Unplug most of your electronics so that you won’t use electricity you don’t need during your absence.
  • Turn off your hot water heater, because you won’t need it either.
  • If you have air conditioning, bump up the temperature a few degrees because there’s no reason to cool an empty house.

grandcanyonOnce you arrive at your destination…

  • Depending on where you are going, you might not need to rent a car.  If you’re traveling to a large city, use public transportation or even your own two feet to get around.  If you do rent a car, don’t get the gas hog — go for the smaller more fuel-efficient vehicle.
  • Are you staying in a hotel?  If so, now is not the time to be wasteful.  Don’t use the little soaps and shampoos just because they are there.  Many hotels now give guests the option of not having their linens and towels replaced daily — do it!
  • You’ll need to eat while you’re on vacation.  Stay away from fast food restaurants and other places that sell McCrap.  Instead, find good local restaurants — bonus points if they serve only local foods.  For lunches and snacks, visit the market and stock up on your day’s supplies — fresh fruits, flavorful local cheeses, melt-in-your mouth breads.  Fill your water bottle and you’ll be set.

So those are the easy things you can do.  If you want to be a truly committed Eco Warrior, buy carbon offsets from a place like TerraPass.

Tell the Eco Women:  Where are you going this summer and what kind of Eco Warrior will you be when you travel?

Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win the Eco Women’s latest giveaway!

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Posted in travel

Eco-friendly Canada

Posted on August 19, 2008 by | 4 Comments

Recycla has just returned from a fabulous vacation in Canada. Specifically, she went to Niagara Falls and then spent five days in Toronto. Recycla wasn’t specifically looking for how eco our neighbors to the north are, but the evidence presented itself within minutes of crossing the border.

Some examples:

  • Recycling bins EVERYWHERE — no exaggeration. At tourist attractions, on street corners, on sin subway stations, and even in the family’s hotel room. If there was a trash can somewhere, almost 100% of the time there were recycling bins there too.
  • According to the friend Recycla visited, Toronto and the surrounding suburbs have excellent curbside recycling. In fact, homeowners and businesses are required to recycle and compost and must use clear trash bags so that the trash collectors can look inside and see that there’s nothing recyclable in there.
  • There is a wind turbine in downtown Toronto, right on Lake Ontario. You can’t miss it, because it’s massive.
  • As Recycla’s train was passing through town after town after town, she saw a massive metal recycling facility and even a factory that recycles dry wall.
  • The country has excellent rail and public transportation systems so that people don’t have to rely as heavily on their cars.

Recycla isn’t saying that Canada is the perfect eco country — our neighbors to the north use vast amounts of oil, just we Americans do — but they certainly seem to be doing a better job of at least recycling more and producing less waste.

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Posted in 3 Rs, issues, travel

Fast Fact: Carbon offsets

Posted on June 19, 2008 by | Leave a comment

If you’re planning to jet off to some far-flung locale — or one that’s not so far off — without hurting the planet, offset the carbon from your air travel with TerraPass.  It’s easy and a great way to be not just an Eco Warrior, but a SUPER Eco Warrior.

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Posted in fast facts, travel

Eco practices abroad

Posted on April 18, 2008 by | 7 Comments

Two weeks ago, Recycla wrote about her eco travel tips and promised that she would write about her observations after she returned from England.

Did you know that gas is over $8/gallon in England? Recycla knew it was expensive but still nearly had a stroke the first time Mr. Recycla filled up the gas tank in their rental car, which they needed for six days of the vacation. This was a car that averaged 36 mpg, but a full tank of gas was still more than $100.

Because gas is so expensive in England, most of the cars one sees on the roads are fuel efficient. No gas guzzlin’ Hummers for the Brits; instead, they drove tiny little fuel efficient cars, some of which average 40 or ever 50 mpg. On the other hand, when Recycla (or, more accurately, her husband) noticed gas hogs, they tended to be luxury vehicles, such as Porches and Land Rovers, and presumably their owners are somewhat immune to high gas prices. Diesel gas is quite a bit more fuel efficient than regular gas — by about 30-40% — so diesel cars are much more common in England than they are in the U.S.

In general, the British are a nation of walkers and bikers, and Recycla saw many people choose their feet or their bikes for getting around. In Oxford in particular, bikes were everywhere — the streets around the university are not car-friendly. Mr. Recycla claims he saw many more people riding motorcycles, but since Recycla is blind to any hobby that could kill her husband, she refuses to verify the accuracy of this observation.

In London, there is a congestion fee that discourages drivers from coming into the more crowded parts of the city. Luckily, the Tube and buses are inexpensive and easy to use. Recycla’s daughters loved flagging down buses and their ride on a double-decker bus through Central London was a highlight of the trip. On the Tube, Recycla’s daughters rode free, which was nice, although they learned a great many, um, interesting things from the ads on the walls.

In the hotels and B&Bs that Recycla stayed in, she noticed several eco practices, including the use of fluorescent bulbs in lights, water-saving showers, and reusing towels instead of washing them daily. Every single hotel or B&B had small trashcans in the rooms, so as to encourage guests to recycle when possible. Instead of individual bars of soap and mini bottles of shampoo, bathrooms were stocked with refillable dispensers of liquid soap in the showers and by the sinks.

Another thing Recycla noticed was that all electric outlets had an on/off switch. Even when turned off and not in use, appliances and lights still use a little electricity, so turning off the power completely at each outlet saves more energy.

From what Recycla observed, the British seem to use less STUFF in general. Fewer plastic shopping bags, less packaging on products, etc. Recycla even learned about a campaign to cut back on food waste: Love Food Hate Waste. She saw recycling bins in a variety of locations, including Heathrow Airport and Royal Victoria Park in Bath.

Recycla feels certain that there was more, but this is what she personally noticed. While she doubts that each and every Briton is a committed Eco Hero, she suspects that, as a whole, the Brits are a little ahead of Americans in the crusade to save Planet Earth.

Recycla’s daughters on the top level of a double-decker bus.

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Posted in travel

Travel for the Eco Warrior

Posted on April 4, 2008 by | 4 Comments

bigben.jpgBy Recycla

Recycla and her family are heading to London today. Yeah, yeah, it’s a rough life for an Eco Warrior.

While Recycla could tell you about how she’s going to offset her carbon use by donating to a worthy cause, she is instead going to tell you about the EASY green steps she has taken in preparation for this trip.

First of all, before leaving the house, Recycla and her family will unplug most electronics so that there will be no unnecessary use of electricity during the family’s absence. Recycla’s husband will turn off the hot water heater and turn down the heat. They will then drive their fuel efficient Mazda 3 to the airport two hours away. (Bet you thought the family’s ride was a Prius. See, they’re normal Eco Warriors, just like you, and are green even without a hybrid car. )

suitcase.jpgThe family tried to pack light and have only two medium suitcases, for all four of them, but then Recycla checked the weather forecast in London and added more sweaters to the pile, which lead to the addition of another suitcase. When packing, instead of buying small sample sizes of the family’s toiletries, Recycla instead poured shampoo and other products into small, reusable travel bottles that she’s had since the 20th century.

Recycla and her family will not be buying junk food at the airport in anticipation of all those hours of captivity and near starvation on the airplane. Instead, Recycla will pack snacks, some of which will be healthy (raisins, nuts, granola bars) and others of which will be less so. (Chocolate goes a long way toward keeping children well behaved on a plane.) Rather than buying single-use packages, Recycla will pack the snacks in reusable containers that will come in handy during the vacation.

nalgene.jpgIt’s a well known fact that airplane air is dry and that everyone should drink lots of liquids while en route. Since the TSA has decreed that no one can bring liquids through security, Recycla and her family will have empty reusable water bottles. Once they’ve gotten through the long painful ordeal that is American airport security, they will go to the closest food court and fill their water bottles with water and ice.

Once Recycla and her family land in London, their plan is to walk or take public transportation as much as possible. Why add another car to London’s already congested roads? They will be renting a car for their days traveling through the countryside, but they made a point to rent a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

In hotels and B&Bs they’ll be staying in, if given the option, Recycla and her family will opt not to have their linens changed daily. Since they packed their own toiletries, they won’t use those little sample bottles available in each room.

As for food, the plan is to visit markets to stock up on fruits and veggies for snacking and some lunches. For meals out, the family will choose local restaurants and pubs instead of international chains or the American stand-by — McDonald’s.  Recycla loathes McCrap.

Beyond that, Recycla doesn’t have any other definite plans about how she’s going to save the planet while on vacation. She’ll figure things out as they happen — recycling when possible, not getting plastic bags when she makes purchases, and so forth. Mostly, she’s just looking forward to traveling and experiencing another culture. She plans to observe British eco practices and share then with you when she returns.

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Posted in 3 Rs, food, issues, travel