[SIZE=18pt]WARNING: THIS IS A BIG PET PEEVE OF MINE!!![/SIZE]
Okay, we are ranting and raving here, which is fine and dandy but look at the big picture. Plenty of people are considering all these major life style changes, but there are small things that can be done, and I don't think anyone is really looking at them.
Riding a bike to work is wonderful, you would get great excercise and probably be a "better person" (mental advantages would be more time to meditate, physical advantages of excercise, and you conscience would know you were doing something for the environment)
BUT the first time it is raining and you have a big meeting that requires a three piece suit, your going to drive, and then there will be that 100 degree day where you don't want to end up at the office in the morning all sticky and smelly so you'll drive and your plan to bike has now turned around and you are driving most days anyway. On top of that, the time you have to invest in the morning has probably doubled or tripled depending on your physical fitness level so now your getting up earlier just to get to the same place on time,
AND as stated earlier, many metro areas are not well suited for commuting on two wheels. (I have been at a place where driving was not an option, and can give solutions to many of these issues but not all as I either biked or walked to work every day, but I was in a city that it was not dangerous to share the road)
For us here, public transportation sucks. The stops are on the major arterials but the subdivisions are so large to get to the bus stop, I would have to walk a few miles, and then once dropped off walk another mile thru the crack house neighborhood that I work in. Maybe it's the military town feeling, but I don't think the bus system will ever really take off despite all the plans to improve it and for many people it's just not an option.
I have never lived in a city that was so spread out as Fayetteville, NC. I think the tallest building here is maybe 12 or 13 stories. I live with in walking distance to the mall, but I'm not gonna do that because even though it's right around the corner, I would have to cross 6 lanes of traffic on one road and then another few with about 4 lanes. It's only 8 miles (one way) to work for me, and I considered riding a bike, but again, I would be on a four lane road for more then half of that and none are designed for that purpose (ie. one road in particular considers the two foot curb as lane so we are talking what feels like a ten foot lane going 45 mph next to you)
Another thing, while we complain, most of us have options of going out and buying a more fuel efficent car, or as big of a change as looking to relocate to an area to cut back the commute, and although we are all talking we probably can afford the increase by tightening up our wallets... a great portion of our society is forced to do the list below out of necessity because they are living pay check to pay check. (I'm not just plain assuming that because this is an engineer website that those options are true options, but we can all afford internet, so we can't be too bad off...)
Other options that should be considered possibly would be...
- hey, does anyone you work with live near you? CARPOOL!
- make your kids use the transportation provided by the school or work it out with other parents to arrange rides
- make a shopping list and only go to run errands once a week (by the way this will save you more money then just gas money and take the car that gets the best mpg to do the errands, just switching from me doing them with the ford to our VW passat cut back my trips to the pumps)
- brown bag your lunch at work so you aren't cranking up your car to go get food at noon (another way to save money while saving money)
- Do you ever use your personal vehicle for work? Keep track, if your company doesn't do the whole reimbursment it will pay off during tax time. If required to use your personal vehicle, schedule your field work and meetings considering the locations.
I promise I won't go on much longer, and if you have made it this far please hang in....
There are research projects that have been in the works for YEARS to address our resources, and these are often ignored by the media.
http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/willow/willow.htm Just one example and there are others. There are renewable resources available, but they are being ignored. AND I could also start in with the amount of resources that go untapped due to political issues..... or the profit margins remaining somewhat unchanged for the oil companies despite the increase...but that's a whole other posting. Oh yeah, and what about the whole supply and demand thing.... if any of us as a large mass were actually doing what we say and cutting back the demand would go down... increasing the supply... lowering prices and the cycle starts... I think that was like 6th grade economics or something.
Personally, I might get a new car if when I find a new job my commute is what I expect it to be (after all I only get about 16 mpg on the highway, and we just bought a house WAY out in the country), but I'm not going to stop going to the movies, or stop taking vacations or anything of the like just because gas prices have gone up. Things are gonna balance themselves out, the price will stop increasing and eventually we will all adjust our own lives accordingly until the next time.
Ok, I'll shut up now....
opcorn:
