Buying Green: Auto Club Membership
Have a Breakdown, the
Environmentally Friendly Way
by Dave Tilford
An environmentally friendly auto club may sound like an oxymoron devised by someone in Detroit, or a concept best left in Orwell's Corner. It's clear that the greenest way to operate a car is to give it plenty of rest and to leave it at the curb whenever public transportation is available or a stroll would suffice.For many of us, though, owning a car is a necessity. However, once we do consent to owning a car, the car doesn't always consent to working.
We've all had it happen. The faithful carriage stops of its own volition (or an overheated radiator), and you are stuck by the roadside, needing help. In those cases, the first thought that springs to mind probably isn't, "This is super! I'm really doing something for the environment now!" You are frustrated. You need your car back. So you reach for the nearest phone and dial…
Hold on. In the midst of your crisis, there really is something positive you can do for the environment that doesn't involve shoving your car over the ravine and flagging down the next bus that rolls by. The positive step is in the phone call you make for roadside assistance. Before you or your fingers start walking, you may want to consider the extra environmental baggage dragging behind that tow truck.
Forty-five million Americans belong to the American Automobile Association (AAA), now in its 100th year. Very few of those members realize that AAA does more than just provide roadside assistance and handy maps. That "more" may be less of what you want. AAA uses membership dollars to lobby against federal environmental and auto safety laws, as well as public transportation initiatives. If AAA had its way, that bus you need to flag down might never come.
In 1990, AAA fought against strengthening the Clean Air Act. They claim to represent members even though three quarters of Americans supported the measure and the vast majority of club members have little awareness of and virtually no say in AAA's lobbying agenda. The news about AAA's political arm even surprised the nation's most well-known dispensers of auto advice, Tom and Ray Magliozzi - better known as "Click and Clack" of National Public Radio's hugely popular Car Talk. Said Click (or maybe Clack): "We had no idea that part of our AAA dues were being spent on lobbyists who oppose just about everything having to do with public transportation. If AAA thinks that it's a good idea for every single person to get to work in 3000 pounds of iron, we sure don't want to help support such a silly idea."
If AAA doesn't sound like your kind of club, you do have a choice. Introducing Better World Travelers Club, a new auto club with a conscience. Launched in the spring of 2002, Better World Travelers Club touts itself as "the only socially responsible, environmentally friendly roadside assistance and travel club in the country that's working to help clean up the environment." Club President and Working Assets Co-Founder Mitch Rofsky explains: "Primarily, what we're putting together is a greener, cooler version of AAA."
Like AAA, Better World offers a host of services for the traveler, including emergency roadside assistance, travel guidance and insurance. Unlike AAA, Better World doesn't lobby against environmental initiatives. Quite the opposite. Better World offers discounts on eco-lodging and hybrid and electric vehicle rentals, and spends one percent of its revenue on environmental cleanup efforts. In an innovative twist, Better World even offers carbon offsets to air travelers though its Travel Cool program. A portion of each airline ticket purchased goes to programs that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Of course, an ecologically minded auto club is not a panacea for all the environmental ills associated with driving. But it is a step up from an auto club that actively opposes environmental progress. One club member put it in context, "The fact that Better World Travel isn't lobbying in those directions - even if they did nothing else - would be an improvement." Todd Silberman, Rofsky's Better World business partner, adds: "Given the choice between two products that cost about the same and do about the same thing, I'll walk across the street to get the one that's good for the environment." Even Click and Clack think that's good advice. They must. They're Better World members now.
To join, visit the Better World Travelers Club web site at www.betterworldclub.com or call them toll free at 1-866-304-7540.
Dave Tilford is Senior Writer at the Center for a New American Dream.
Return to newsletter excerpts page
|
