One thing I've been trying to figure out is this insatiable desire I have for a Mini Cooper. Not that I can afford it, but let me explain why I still crave one. As a flooring contractor I currently drive a Nissan Frontier that gets 20 mpg. I need this truck for hauling my equipment for maybe 60 or 70 days out of the year. The problem is that the truck is all I have for the other 300 something days. My eco-footprint is fairly high and cutting back on total miles driven is, of course, the first priority. I've managed to make improvements with that. I still need to get around and a car with better fuel economy would be the right thing to drive. There is some debate about the ecological footprint of a new car as opposed to a used one. I like what photographer Chris Jordan says: he vow's not to buy a car with less than 100,000 miles on it. That got me thinking about getting a Mini with more than 100,000 miles. Of course, the ultimate choice is to live in such a way as to not need a motorized vehicle at all. Very few of us can pull that off considering the massive car-centered lifestyle we have in America. Some day I hope we can have cars that are as fun as Mini's while at the same time using some form of sustainable energy. We are a long way from that, but we can make better choices to change the current situation until renewable energy technology improves. Are we spending too much time waiting for the next big thing or should we take whatever steps are necessary now to improve the situation?
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Next Big Thing
Posted by Mescalito Mosquito at 4:52 PM
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2 Comments:
You know those Smart Cars? I think my neighborhood should own one. That's right, 18 of us, or 6 of us, however many of us are willing to chip in. Hopefully enough to bring it down to say, a couple thousand each.
It's a cul-de-sac, so lots of us know each other. The idea is, in the evenings when we go out, or the stay-at-home partner during the day, there's only 2 of us. We're not hauling lots of product. The cars have 2 roomy seats. It's all you need.
We'd sign up to take this car in advance, online, then go as wanted. Sort of a hybrid idea from Zipcar, that is, cars you rent by the day.
Thats a great idea if you can swing it. Those Smart cars are cute. Anything to cut down the CO2 footprint. The best thing is modeling. making an example for the rest of society so people see what works.
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