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Simon

Green Consumer: On the road

Green Consumer: On the road

As a person and consumer you have the power to do something about climate change. Never forget or think otherwise. Sure you may wonder how much you’ll actually help by replacing your CFLs, recycling etc but in the end all small things path up to something bigger and more meaningful, especially when many join in.

This is part two of a series of posts explaining and giving advice on what you can do to combat climate change from your home, in the store, when you travel and on your spare time. All the things listed are easy to do, some things will take a little longer, but most of them will help save you money (besides all the positive effects on our earth).

Going somewhere?

Ditch the car

Leave your gas-guzzling car home. Instead you should take the bike, walk or use public transport on your way to work. If you choose the bike or the walk option you won’t need to buy an expensive gym card. If you choose public transportation you can spend the time (when someone else is doing the work driving) by doing something useful, like your homework’s, reading a book or just take a quick nap.

Sharing is Caring!

If you have to use your car use a car pool instead. Don't forget to change driver now and then so no one feels bad. Think about all the new friends you will make and all neighbours you will “finally” get to know better.

A car won’t make anything bigger (except your CO2 emissions)

If you rarely use a car don’t buy one. Rent a car when you need one instead. If you must have a car buy a “green” car that is smaller and uses less fuel.

Eco-Drive it

Maybe a course in eco-driving could be something for you? When possible try to lower your speed and try to drive as smoothly as possible.

Shut it off and feel all warm inside…

Shut off your air conditioner when you don’t need it. You will save fuel and your car will be much faster if it’s turned off.

Wash it rarely and properly

Is your car really that dirty? An ordinary carwash releases about 400 litres of water polluted with all kinds of bad things.

Just say NO

Avoid taking the plane, anywhere, especially when you are only going to travel nationally. Instead you should take the train, boat or even the car before you think of taking the plane.

Image credit: Jeff Kubina. Image licensed under a

Creative-Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.

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Lots of great tips, though I feel that applying all of them to day-to-day life may be far too much hassle for effective implementation. But the great part about your advice is that most of them hit on points that are useful in addition to being green: Pick the right tool for the job, and if it's a feasible trip and you don't have to take a plan, you can save yourself the misery of the airport and enjoy yourself on the way there. Riding with your friends is fun. Planning your trips so that you spend as little time in the car in order to get what you need done isn't just green practice; it's good practice generally. So is driving your car responsibly and competently, which will save on gas usage as well. So much of what constitutes day-to-day, useful common sense also corresponds with green lifestyle choices. It's a wonderful synergy.

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We can always count on Innovation to come up with solutions to any problem : http://usanewstoday.blogspot.com/2007/11/pacwind-wind-turbine-for-home.html PacWind's portable turbine is small enough to be used at home, as a renewable source of energy.

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