According to the Department of Transportation the U.S. public drove more than 3 trillion miles in 2007.  That is enough to drive to Mars and back over 32,000 times.  This means that the potential for reducing carbon emissions is massive.  It is understandable that individuals in rural areas where businesses are spaced far apart and public transportation is non-existent would have to drive a lot.  However 2 out of every 3 miles driven are done so by a resident of an urban area as defined by the DOT.  I don’t know what kind of urban area they live in, but in my personal experience cars simply aren’t necessary items in most urban areas even the smaller ones with 100,000 people or less.

Don’t get me wrong - they do come in handy when moving or taking the kids and the rest of their soccer team to a game.  Which is why a family having one car makes sense, but currently the average American family has two or more cars.  According to the Federal Highway Administrations “Our Nation’s Highways 2008” there are 1.2 cars for every licensed American motorist or 2.4 for every household of 4.  Sounds to me that on any given day one of the two adults in the house is needlessly driving a car to and from work.

A cheaper, greener, and healthier alternative to that extra car is a bike! In gridlocked D.C. I’ve found that I can even get some places faster on my bike then in a car.  Bikes can get you where you need to go fast, with no emissions and no gas costs, and you get a good workout to boot.  However getting the general population to switch over to bikes is a difficult proposition.  Side note, Critical Mass is an event that takes place on the last Friday of every month and is a good opportunity for anyone interested in pushing for more bikes, to get involved.  Very few employers have any kind of bike facilities or showers.  This leaves the eco-conscious biker a somewhat sweaty smelly mess at their desk, particularly on those hot muggy summer days.  With the obesity epidemic in full swing many of us are also too out of shape to undergo the several mile bike ride to and from work every day.  The solution……?

Food is as essential to the environmental movement as it is to life. From genetically modified and organic produce, deforestation and meat consumption, transport and fossil fuels, packaging and paper/plastic…to waste, food cuts across our most basic relationship to the environment. Perhaps no other behavior is as connected with our identity as eating–which is what makes it so hard to change.

The green movement offers a wealth of information on the benefits that eating well brings to oneself and the environment. Consuming home-prepared foods rather than fast food means you can control everything from fat and salt to portion size, excess packaging and waste. Environmentalists are largely silent, however, on just how difficult it is to eat right and lose weight.

While it’s important to be informed about the consequences of what you’re eating, getting from the knowledge that an unhealthy diet is bad for you and the planet and actually eating better can be challenging. What is most important to keep in mind at all times is compassion–anger and self-judgment are the gateway to unhealthy sources of comfort like overeating. The New York Times’ Well column consistently strikes this chord of compassion for people who are trying to keep their humanity while facing health issues. A recent article on frugal dieting gave tips on how to lose weight on the cheap, backed up with statistics on the effectiveness of each method, from DIY to joining a program.

Though nature has been providing its own waterworks this year, one of the suburban signs of summer is the dedicated car owner, lovingly scrubbing his or her vehicle in the driveway. The sight has always seemed quaint and sort of nice to me, the way any instance of someone taking care of the material objects in their life seems nice. Some things to keep in mind for the next sunny weekend:

• Conserve water. Apparently, washing your car in front of your house is actually pretty wasteful. A typical garden hose will use about the same amount of water as a commercial wash after only 2 minutes. A water-saving nozzle helps, but no matter how skimpy you are with the water at home, commercial washes are more water efficient, especially because they tend to recycle water. Even their recycled water typically mixes 40 to 80 gallons of fresh water for each car that goes through the wash.
• Go waterless. Car washes using no water and environmentally-friendly cleaners are popping up around the country.
• Use responsible detergents. At home and at the car wash, the detergents should be a cause for concern. Phosphates and toxic chemical runoff have a major impact on our water systems, so look for facilities that don’t use ammonium bifluoride and hydrofluoric acid-based cleaning solutions but rather phosphate-free, biodegradable detergents. Another way to ask about this is to request EcoLogo certified products.
• Recipes for homemade car cleaners, including soap, wax, and tire cleaner
• Drain responsibly. It’s recommended that you pour any dirty carwash water into the sink or toilet rather than the storm drain.

Of course, it would be better for the environment to rely on public transit, renting a ZipCar or similar service when necessary. Many Americans don’t have that choice, however, but regular maintenance like proper washing can help make car finishes last longer. Cars are actually threatened by environmental factors like industrial emissions. These deposits along with bugs, tree sap, and bird droppings can get baked on the car surface, causing permanent stains or damage. Making stuff last longer is one way to reduce the amount of stuff we consume.

Let’s face it: some of us are blessed with the gift of fatal attraction. Some people arouse a mere passing interest in mosquitoes. Others of us cause a feeding frenzy. The resulting bites also vary in duration and severity, ranging from a minor itchy bump that lasts a day or so to large inflamed welts that last for days. Since mosquitoes seem to be doing especially well with the whole climate change thing, we’re just going to have to learn to live with them. Living with them doesn’t mean resigning to their bites or using harmful chemicals to keep them away. There are a variety of safe products and recipes that can help keep the bugs at bay.

• Use commercial products that are hypo-allergenic and DEET-free
• Make your own insect repellent using essential oils. I’ve experimented a good bit with these and have found that some might stain and others might have objectionable odors or cause their own share of itching. The mixture that worked well for me was rosemary oil, neem oil, lavender oil, and citronella oil, diluted in water and sprayed through a mister. As long as it was applied before donning clothing, it worked very well. The same oils can be added to a moisturizer or shampoo you already use–if used in the latter the odor (which is what keeps the bugs away) seems to last especially long because you’re not sweating it off.
• Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s safe for you. Pyrethrum, which is a natural compound derived from the chrysanthemum, is the active ingredient in many treated mosquito nets. It is highly effective but should not be used on clothing, sleeping surfaces, or anything that will be close to your face for a long period of time. People with asthma are particularly sensitive to it, but anyone can develop a reaction to pyrethrum if exposed to it for too long.
• Isolongifolenone, a natural compound found in the South American Tauroniro tree, has been found to be effective against mosquitoes and ticks. This is good news for those concerned about Lyme disease.
• Citronella candles really can be effective for outdoor time–just choose soy candles or some other alternative to paraffin candles, which are derived from petroleum and create soot.
• Some say what you eat can affect how appetizing your blood smells. Test out some of these foods and see if it’s true for you.
• To alleviate mosquito bites, or any insect bite, try neem powder. Made into a plaster and applied to the site it’s a little green and goopy but very good at taking away the itch.
• Lastly, if you’re looking for natural skin products but don’t want to spend a lot, “natural” pet products are often made of the same high-quality ingredients as human formulations, but at a fraction of the cost. There is one such skin product, containing neem oil and cedar, which I’ve found to be effective and refreshing to the skin.

In a previous post I had advocated that the way to prevent the collapse of the oceans was to shift consumption from higher food chain fish like salmon to lower ones like tilapia.  This post drew a comment that stated that this approach would help to fuel the ocean’s demise and the only true way to save the oceans and send a message was to simply stop eating fish.

“I don’t understand your logic. At first you very clearly explain the problem: that we have become so effective at ‘mining’ the oceans for food that we are on track to run out of fish. However, that ‘mining’ is so inefficient that more than half of the catch is considered unusable, or “bycatch.” Often this results in large quantities of dead or dying animals being dumped back into the water, or ground up for agricultural purposes.

You even clearly understand the ridiculousness of Bittman’s job: “…to go around and promote … what had previously been considered “underutilized” species until they became overfished and then … promoting the next species on the list.”