Sunday, 17 November 2013

Reconsider the way you use your car

 
Personal transport accounts for a significant portion of carbon emissions. Cars release pollutants and gases into the atmosphere, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. As well as this, the fuel we are using is a finite resource, not to mention the environmental damage that comes with extracting oil (and, the catastrophic impact of a potential spill).
 
Fuel consumption increases when the engine is cold, so avoiding short trips is a simple measure to help reduce your emissions (and save some money). This can be done by planning you errands to make one car trip instead of multiple, walking or cycling to shops, work etc. (which of course has added health and summer body benefits), or car pooling!
 
Car pooling is my favourite method. You know that beer ad about how to turn a father in law into a mate? Well, car pooling is my method of turning a work colleague into the best mate ever! Several years ago, I worked with a great girl called Jayde. We got along really well and after discovering we lived close to each other, decided to car pool to save money on parking. What followed was the funnest work experience of my life, we spent every car ride laughing and joking, had many amazing moments and what developed was one of the greatest friendships ever. Our car pooling ended when she moved all the way to sunny Queensland, but the bond that formed spending that time together has been unbreakable, and I’m proud to call her one of my closest friends. She gets married next year, and I’ll be beside her in my bridesmaid dress! See? Car pooling is the greatest!
 
When considering the environmental impacts of car use, the obvious solution is to use your car less, which I admit is hard to do, where this is not possible, you could consider offsetting your carbon emissions.  Check out my post about that here: Consider offsettign your carbon emissions
 

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