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Here’s a followup to my previous post: “Thoughts on the Environment, spawned by An Inconvenient Truth.”

I filled up the gas tanks on both cars (yes, I am ashamed to say I have two) on June 1. The total cost to fill both tanks is $90. (OWCH!). Here’s my driving for the month:

June 1-3, drove from Boulder to Steamboat and back. 1 tank of gas. ($60). That car still has about 1/8 tank left.

The balance of the month, the only other time I needed to drive a distance that would not be practical or time efficient on my bike was last Saturday, when we went to see ““Moving Out“, the Billy Joel musical, which was playing at the Buell Theater in Denver. We used approx. 1/8 tank in the other car for that outing.

The balance of the month, I didn’t need to drive at all. I rode my bike to the grocery store, scheduled errands at lunch (which made for a fun bike ride in the middle of the day), walked a lot, rode to local restaurants for outings, worked in the garden, and sometimes did my real work from home, and got to know my neighbors. I did, however, drive to a handful of yoga classes at CorePower Yoga, but not as many as I would have had I been driving every day. Instead, I got my yoga groove on in my new sunroom in my own home, in my own time, and when my mind and body needed it!

So, what’s the net-net? Had I filled up the one commuter car 3x this month (3 x $30=$90), and the other “vacation” vehicle twice a month (2 x $60=$120), my total cost for gasoline would be $210. My total cost for gas this month is $90, which is a $120 savings for the month. And, the savings will continue into next month, as I still have about 3/4 tank in the commuter car. That’ll go into my son’s college fund!

Keep riding and saving on gas…

~Namaste

Two weeks ago, I moved into a bigger house. Bigger mortgage, bigger utility bills, and new, unknown expenses to be had. With the release of “An Inconvenient Truth”, I am honestly feeling quite guilty about increasing my energy consumption.

To combat this guilt, I made a deal with myself. The deal was to drive my car only 4 days a week. Ride my bike everywhere, and anytime I possibly can. After about a week of riding my bike, I realized that I can actually get by with only driving 3 days a week. I just have to plan all my “road trips” (large grocery runs, doctor appts, Home Depot stops, recycle, etc) around one or two days, and then leave an extra day for the unexpected task or two.

Much to my joy, I’m finding that riding my bike (which has two baskets on it!), is quite easy. I can still get around during the day, and run some errands. Today, I actually rode home at lunch and hung my laundry out to dry (another promise to myself…”do not run the laundry dryer until I absolutely have to.”) And, another benefit; I am not lethargic from riding in a HOT VEHICLE after work. I have energy to cook and garden. During these fantastic long days of summer, this is a blessing.

I am looking forward to seeing “An Inconvenient Truth” when it arrives here in Colorado (I’ve watched the trailer a few times). I hope it makes the world take notice, and slow our hungry energy consumption to a crawl. We don’t need it.

~Namaste