Thread: Earth Hour
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Old 03-29-2008, 05:20 AM   #35 (permalink)
Cynthetiq
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smoore
This is not a bicycle:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=124705

Earth Hour is also not a bicycle, yet:

Hate to start trouble my first day and all but: Uhhhh, what? Preach radically changing lifestyles and lust over a BMW? Something doesn't quite click. If you need links I can show you really expensive bicycles to covet.

Offsetting one vehicle for another saves little, as I'm quickly learning trying to get out of my cherished '90 Jeep Cherokee into something that will carry my butt and all of my tools through snow reliably (for under $8k, please). Surprisingly, the F150 4x4 would fit the bill circa 2001. Bigger vehicle, smaller footprint. Anything Toyota is out of my price range to increase efficiency. Strange days indeed.

I support Earth Hour and our family will be participating. We will wander around our house with the kids and *think* about what can be turned off or unplugged. Maybe it'll even get my kids to think about phantom loads a bit more.

GO EARTH HOUR!

Cynthetiq, I don't want to pick on you but I saw the major opponent of this protest/advocacy/awakening in this particular thread lust after a brand new internal combustion powered automobile. That tripped my BS meter.
Welcome to the TFP smoore!

Actually, you should spend more time reading and getting to know me. I've never once preached for anyone to radically change their lifestyle. What works for me is what works for me. I'd never impose my way of life upon someone else. I prefer to live by example. I'm not about radical changes, but if you are interested in the change then do the change. As Mr. Gandhi stated, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

I made the lifestyle statement because if you really are about saving the environment and such, 1 hour does something. I don't see this much different than saving $1 day and then when you go out another day splurging $10 when your normal averages are $8. People rationalize things all the time, "I jogged yesterday so I can have an ice cream" mentality is what I'm getting at or even "I did this X thing, so I can treat myself/deserve Y thing." In doing this rationalization, they don't help anything.

You have to have an SUV to haul you and your tools. I can assume from that, you've got a career/job living location that REQUIRES you to drive. The idea "drive to work, work to drive" doesn't apply for me.

I may covet a BMW, but look further at more of my posts, and you'd see that I live in a major city. I do own a car because I can afford to own one. I have many friends who don't even have a driver's license or even know how to drive. I didn't have a driver's license or a car from 1995 until Dec. 2000. I take public transportation EVERYDAY. I can CHOOSE to walk to work EVERYDAY if I want to. If everyone in NYC would bike to work, you'd have plenty of bike storage problems. Not every employer has a bike room. Locking up your bike in NYC on the street? You may just return to see something like this:


I drive less than 8,000 miles a year. I have the odometer and insurance policy to prove it. My 2001 Plymouth Neon has roughly 36,000 miles on it. I drive for complete 100% PLEASURE. My car is 100% a luxury item. It is paid off yet still costs me $325/mo to park the friggin' thing. It is also parked about 4 blocks from my apartment so I have to walk to retrieve it, sucks in the rainy and snowy days. Parking on the street while free (and risk to break ins) is a pain in the ass due to having to move the car every other day due to alternate side parking rules. If I miss a day it is a $150 parking ticket. While I could have easily bought something that matched my fellow colleagues (income/status) I did not as I am a practical man. Car XYZ still gets you from point A to point B just as fast and just as furious as Car ABC here in the NYC area. Car XYZ will still only get driven less than 8,000 miles a year. My car gets driven approximately 1-2 times a month as a means to go places that buses and railroads do not go easily or on a time schedule acceptable to me or the wife.

So even if I decided to get any SUV I'd still be polluting less vehicular emissions than a you and a majority of the United States.

When I renovated my 800 sq foot apartment in NYC I redid all of the electrical in my unit (building is over 50 years old) to accommodate and protect all the electrical items I would be using, home theater system and a number of computers systems (desktops/laptops/routers/switches.) If you have been to Europe, you may have seen the guest card key switches that you insert when you arrive and remove when you leave. This switch turns off almost all the electric outlets within the room except for the alarm clock. It's a pain when trying to recharge anything while you are out like spare AAA batteries or laptop. I considered installing something like this in our home not because I'm concerned about saving the environment, but because I don't like paying a lot for our electric bill. I did not install it because the costs would outweigh the benefits. The apartment has less than 15 outlets of which 7 are connected to 24/7/365 items. Turning my energy saver A/C off for the day while at work takes more electricity to cool when I get home then it does to cool it in the morning and keep it cool during the day. (I know this because I compared electric bills with both scenarios.) What made more sense was to just make sure I turn off the all the lights when I was leaving each room. A habit that I have had since I was a kid but from time to time I don't because I forget.

Now to connect this back to the OP, highthief expounds more on what I stated about saving money and someone else squandering it. I walk to work and live in a right sized home for 2 people. And there are people like you who have to drive to work, grocery, drop off the kids to school, soccer, scouts... negating all that "saving" and sacrificing I've done.

I'm about to go out for breakfast for some bacon, eggs, and toast. I'm walking there and back, on the way home I can stop by the grocery store or CVS and pick up some items if needed. I could easily choose to drive to IHOP because I love pancakes and hashbrowns. I only do that when I've decided to take the car out for the day.
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Last edited by Cynthetiq; 03-29-2008 at 05:22 AM..
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