Yes We Can! Long Island 2012As a result of the oil spill in the Gulf, people are beginning to question our dependence on oil. Though the massive leak was an catastrophic environmental tradgedy, it may have been the push we needed towards a renewable energy future. In the meantime, we personally, can take baby steps away from oil.
This entry comes by popular request. A lot of people have been asking what they can do to use less oil, and reduc
e demand for the sticky stuff ruining beaches everywhere. Here’s my top ten, feel free to add to it in comments:
1. Carpool, cycle or use public transport to go to work.
2. Choose, when possible, products packaged without plastic and recycle or re-use containers.
3. Buy organic fruits and vegetables (fertilisers and pesticides are based on oil more often than not).
4. Buy beauty products (shampoo, 
soap, make-up) based on natural ingredients, not oil.
5. Choose when possible locally produced products (less transport involved).
6. Buy clothes made out of organic cotton or hemp – not from oil derivatives.
7. Use non-disposable items in picnics and summer festivals.
8. Quit bottled water.
9. Fly less.
10. Demand that your government encourage renewable energy instead of subsidizing oil.
Number one should be selling your SUV. Time to get these gas guzzlers off the road. I wonder how many showed up at the hands across America in an SUV? Time to acknowllegd that oil and gas indusrty largely produces gasoline for what is used by individuals, not big bad industry.
Well I can tell you from being at the Hands Across the Sand event that the top discussion before the 15 minutes of action took place was what type of hybrid car is best… I am not sure why one would assume that those rallying for cleaner energy would be ignorant to the gas guzzler problem.
In defense of SUV's, if someone uses public transportation for the majority of their travels, commuting to work by train, but needs a large trunk for the kids soccer practice or to transport their dog, why should we attempt to ban that? With the increasing levels of fuel economy, and the falling prices of hybrid SUVs, I think we can focus on using fuel sparingly, irregardless of what car one drives.
If someone commutes to NYC from Islip 5 times a week, one man owns an SUV but takes the train to work, using his SUV to get to the train station and on weekends to bring the kids to events or whatnot, while the other man owns a Prius but drives to work each day, 40 miles each way 5 times a week, 400 miles just in commuting to work, should we judge one as being "worse" for the environment than the other individual?
I guess my point is that focusing on SUVs will turn off more people to our cause for a better environment, and is such a small part in the big picture, that it will be much more helpful, in my opinion, to focus on the positive things that we can do instead of telling people they cannot drive the America suburban vehicle of choice, the SUV, irregardless of it's fuel economy or the amount it is driven…
Wish that were the case but almost 50% of vehicles are SUV's or pickup trucks. As a commuter I regularly drove the nearly empty HOV lane on the LIE in my Prius, while the remainder of the "expressway” was backed up with vehicles with only the driver. People have to start taking responsibility for their actions rather than blaming everything on industry. We can't control global warming if we ignore a third of the problem.