Living Car Free - Car-free for the environment?

I'm curious about the extent to which consciousness about global warming informs the choice of people in this forum to adopt their car-free lifestyle. Does concern for the global environment inform your choice of transport, and does it inform other choices you make as well? (local food, turning off lights, turning down the heat, raw food, etc?)

I say somewhat important. I mean, I'm not going to go out and hug a tree or collect rainwater to recycle and use to water lawns, but I figure if it helps the environment along the way, then it's all good.

Koffee

not driving does help but we don't know jack about global warming and so far most of what we have been told has been hype.

I am a big tree-hugger and would happily collect rainwater and use it to water a lawn or more like a garden - yes, you can grow a "garden".

I do collect rainwater to water my various plants with. Not the grass though, if it ever gets too dry for the grass then it'll just have to stay brown 'til the rain returns. I've also been eyeing my steel-roofed shed with drinking water collection in mind.

Consider an "edible garden", lawns are just plain stupid.

Well I for one am glad that scientists have found a way to compare temperatures from 2000 years ago to current time. This way it makes it all more believable.

While I voted "Yes, it is a central reason", I don't really like the wording of the question. Global warming due to car emissions and car manufacturing are only one part (admittedly a big part) of the environmental impact of cars.

I sure do hope that global warming is hype--that'd be nice. I gotta say, I'm surprised by the number of people who've checked column D. I mean, if I wasn't concerned about global climate change (it could get very, very bad), I'd go out and get a bloody 4x4 SUV so that I can enjoy all of the wonderful national parks that we environmentalists have struggled to gazzette.

Global warming due to car emissions and car manufacturing are only one part (admittedly a big part) of the environmental impact of cars.

Can't disagree there--I was only curious about the specific issue of global warming, whivh is to me the most important, and relevant to a car-free forum.

Car free on a personal basis is, on the face, of it good for the environment. However, I don't know what the "hidden oil consumption" is in the rest of my life - consider the transport required for the things I buy every week e.g. groceries.

I'm in real shaky territory though, since I fly 3 to 4 times a year from UK to California -not very green at all, but I like being married. I wonder that being car free only makes a small dent in my use of resources. It does save me cash and aggrovation.

(hangs head in shame)

Ed

not driving does help but we don't know jack about global warming and so far most of what we have been told has been hype.
Most credible scientists have made a convincing case that human CO2 emissions are at least partly responsible for climate change. Some politicians will argue that other scientists aren't convinced, but from what I've read, they are a fairly small minority.

That said, I also agree that global warming is only one of many problems associated with private autos: sprawl, traffic, smog, inefficient use of space. Cities are just more livable if there are fewer cars.

I am thinking of "global warming" as a stand-in for all the environmental and social damage caused by private autos.

As such, it is one of four pillars of carfree living for me. A second is physical fitness. A third is leading a simpler, more economical (in the original sense of the word) and more self-reliant life. A fourth (the newest for me) is a love of bicycles and cycling.

I do not want to rank these four pillars--each holds up one corner of the house.

You can't control, at least as completely and immediately, the behavior of the huge corporations. You can control that 16-odd lbs of CO2 per gallon of gas burned and that flow of money to corp's and not terribly nice regimes by stopping driving.

And Roody's 4 pillars describe how I feel too.

I am thinking of "global warming" as a stand-in for all the environmental and social damage caused by private autos.

As such, it is one of four pillars of carfree living for me. A second is physical fitness. A third is leading a simpler, more economical (in the original sense of the word) and more self-reliant life. A fourth (the newest for me) is a love of bicycles and cycling.

I do not want to rank these four pillars--each holds up one corner of the house.

Sounds a lot like me, actually. I would just re-word the 4th bit: while I do love cycling, I think overall happiness describes it better. Transportation is now fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. I sometimes make my trips longer to take the "scenic route" and enjoy it more!

I'm in real shaky territory though, since I fly 3 to 4 times a year from UK to California -not very green at all, but I like being married. I wonder that being car free only makes a small dent in my use of resources. It does save me cash and aggrovation.

(hangs head in shame)

Ed


At least you are not the only one in the airplane....or are you?!? :)

However, I don't know what the "hidden oil consumption" is in the rest of my life - consider the transport required for the things I buy every week e.g. groceries.

Ed

This book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/060980281X/102-6653809-1137753?v=glance) is an excellent resource and goes into depth regarding the 'hidden' environmental costs of just about every major thing consumers spend their money on. It reads kind of like a text-book (charts & graphs included), but well worth it. For those who don't feel like studying, Conclusion: Driving a car is the single worst thing by far that you can do as a consumer.

I am thinking of "global warming" as a stand-in for all the environmental and social damage caused by private autos.

As such, it is one of four pillars of carfree living for me. A second is physical fitness. A third is leading a simpler, more economical (in the original sense of the word) and more self-reliant life. A fourth (the newest for me) is a love of bicycles and cycling.

I do not want to rank these four pillars--each holds up one corner of the house.

I can think of nothing further to add!

Here is a site for some information and if you are so inclined you can share the unused processing power of your computer ( it sits idle over 50% of the time in most cases even when you are using it ) --> http://www.climateprediction.net

Oxford University is one of the primary hosts.

This book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/060980281X/102-6653809-1137753?v=glance) is an excellent resource and goes into depth regarding the 'hidden' environmental costs of just about every major thing consumers spend their money on. It reads kind of like a text-book (charts & graphs included), but well worth it. For those who don't feel like studying, Conclusion: Driving a car is the single worst thing by far that you can do as a consumer.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I just checked and we've got it here at the library where I work. I'll be adding that one to the list.

Bikemiker - thanks for the reference.

lala - sometimes, just sometimes I really wish I was the only one on the plane...

Cheers,

Ed

Yea, what Roddy said.

According to at least some people, a mile of travel as a single person in an airplane* is about equivalent in CO2 emissions to a mile of travel in a car occupied by one person. I travel by airplane a whole lot and car not very much, when you think about it that way.

*i'm assuming they meant one that is full or as full as the average commercial flight

roody is spot on for me. :)


I started for fitness, but then it became much more.

i voted for central reason and that is very uncommon for my area but i try to influence it to the people i meet where ever i go. i'm a tree hugger but not in that clich'e fashonable sense if that makes sense.

Oh Gawd I hate the "fashionable tree hugger" types! I'm not a veggie, ppl are meant to eat meat, and fungus and bugs and pork and raw fish and ....... lots of veggies too!

I don't wear hemp anything and like any American use tons of stuff that's made out of plastic. What's funny is, a fashionable greenie would probably chew me out for my leather Brooks saddles when in fact they're the most "green" part on my bikes.

I voted "somewhat important". I do believe that global warming is occuring (and has been), but my choice of lifestyle is also a move against society's status quo (moneypits). I try to buy most of my stuff locally, keep electric consumption to a minimum, and ride everywhere I can (it's got to the point where I get irritated if my girlfriend bums us a ride to the grocery store because "we NEED a car for it" >:P). I think of it as improving on certain *unnecessary* habits that my parents attempted to mold me into... am I making sense??

Anyhoo... yeah :)

I'm a selfish person. I'm car free because it's the best thing for me mentally, financially, physically and emotionally. It's just an added bonus that there's one less car affecting the environment. Actually, I made sure to drive a fuel efficient car that was smogged regularly and if I got another car, it would be electric or a hybrid. I've subconsciously always tried to do the better thing for the environment.

Yep, good reasons also - cars are money pits, it's own a car or own a house, not enough $$ for both. And most of the trips that "need" a car seem to be mere blocks or at most a few miles....

I'd be more concerned about the local urban environment than anything. Towns that are one half parking lots are terrible to live in. I've actually moved out of an otherwise great and cheap rented apartment solely because of the constant noise of traffic, to somewhere more quiet.

I just read in a recent issue of Science, that the world's remaining oil reserves are more than enough to produce enough CO2 emissions to cause a serious disruption in the climate. I think those reserves will be burnt by someone even if Americans and Europeans did not pump them into their cars. Not even nearly enough is being done to cut the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to stop the climate change. I think that we are going to suffer a serious climate disruption anyhow, regardless of how much gas costs and how popular bicycling gets.

I'm car-free, but it's not for any political, moral, or ecological reason.

It's because I don't have a car.

What's funny is, a fashionable greenie would probably chew me out for my leather Brooks saddles when in fact they're the most "green" part on my bikes.

My B17 actually *is* green.

... and we are on the same page on all the other stuff too.