Cool New Free Magazine for Sale

There is a new cycling magazine on the market, and it's free. It is called "the Practical Pedal". This is a departure from the standard issue magazines. The first issue just came out, and it has some insightful articles, some informative and some just good philosophical ones. As the title implies, this is a magazine for the everyday practical cyclist. You can read it free online, download the PDF, or request a free printed copy. They will take a $5 donation for a year subscription to help with the costs. Sounds like a bargain to me!

Little Things - Use Less, Not Buy More

Continuing on the theme of Little Things we can do to save our Little Ones, an easy practice we can try is using less of what we already have. The concept is a departure from the general consumerism public mantra of buying the latest new whatever in order to save energy or pollute less. We are constantly being informed that we should replace our light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, buy a new hybrid car to save gas and pollute less, buy a new energy-efficient appliance, buy solar panels to cut electricity use, etc. I wonder why we must buy more stuff in order to save energy or pollute less? Why can't we simply use less of what we already have? Instead of buying a bunch of compact fluorescent bulbs, which have environmental issues of their own, why not turn off the lights you already have in your home? If you just turn off a light, it truly does not cost you anything. Try using more natural lighting by opening blinds and curtains during the day. One could even go as far as tailoring their activities a little more to the natural cycle of daylight. After all, that is what humans have done for hundreds of years before. We don't need to abandon artificial lighting, we can just take some easy measures to use it less.
Hybrid vehicles have become more of a "green" status symbol than really saving the world. Even though they may pollute less during its use, hybrid cars produce more pollution and waste during the manufacturing and disposal process than most other vehicles. Their batteries require raw materials to manufacture and then must be disposed of once they are no longer useful. If one must drive a motor vehicle, a small fuel-efficient gas or diesel car may serve just as well, and in the overall life of the car may produce less pollution. If you already have an economical car, there is not much advantage to spending thousands of dollars for a new hybrid.
Energy efficient appliances are excellent to look for when your current appliance no longer works. It is not really a practical excuse just to go out and buy a new one. Refrigerators are usually the post power hungry appliance. Even if you have an older one, you still need to investigate the cost of a new one, and how long it will take to recoup that cost with the energy savings. If you have a second refrigerator, like one in the basement or garage, unplugging that one can save you a bit of money, especially if it is an older one. You can save a bit of money by using your dryer less, or not at all. During the warmer months, washed clothes can be hung out on the line to dry. Some can even dry clothes indoors. This only costs you the clothesline, and will save a bunch from running the dryer less. If clothes are too stiff from drying on the line, a few minutes in the dryer will soften them.
Solar panels are a good idea. The problem is that they are still quite expensive. They will probably run you about 15 to 20 thousand dollars to get a setup for your house. They will take many years to pay for themselves. Again, using less electricity costs you nothing. If the price of solar panels comes down and the price of electricity increases dramatically, then they might be worth the investment.
Water can be saved using a poor man's greywater system. There are lots of resources on this on the internet, put a simple way to start is placing a bowl or small bucket in your sink or shower. As you use the water from the faucet, whatever ends up in the bowl or bucket can be used to water plants outside. Some use the water from the shower to help in flushing the toilet. Another way to save a bunch or water is to reduce your lawn. If you live in an area that needs a lot of water for irrigation, you can check into replacing some or all of your green grass with other plants that use much less water. You can also check into replacing the grass with other items like wood chips, gravel, etc. These require no water, and no mowing.
There are many new gadgets on the market that one can purchase to go "green". Some are worthwhile, some are just status symbols. Taking a good look around and seeing where you can use less is the cheapest and quickest way to that green status, at least in my opinion.

Are you doing your part?

Something I heard on the radio last week got me to stop and ponder. There was a comment made, something about war being something in which everyone in the country should be doing their part. The point was that when a country goes to war, it is not just the soldiers in battle who are at war, but it is everyone in the country. All of a country's citizens should be doing something to help with the war effort. Since America is at war with Iraq, shouldn't all Americans be doing something to help with the effort? As I was pondering this, I discovered this article on Alternet. If you look around America today, can you really tell that we are at war? Do you see many citizens making sacrifices for the war? I see everyone consuming mass quantities of junk same as ever. I still see people driving large vehicles and uses as much gas as ever. I don't see many people conserving resources to ensure that there are enough for the war.
If we look back to previous wars, especially back to WWII, we see a much different homefront that we do today. In the WWII era, citizens conserved resources. Many workers rode their bikes to work instead of driving. Homeowners planted their own gardens (remember Victory Gardens?) so that the commercial farmers would be able to grow enough to feed other countries affected by the war. People bought less and made what they had last longer to ensure that there were enough resources and goods to help the soldiers and affected countries. How much are we sacrificing today to truly help rebuild Iraq? Are we today living in smaller houses, moving closer to our work, and doing more with less? I haven't seen much of it. It has become popular to say that we are going green and helping the environment, yet we are consuming and producing more pollution that ever.
Maybe we should take a closer look are how the country dealt with previous wars, and take a few lessons from it. Or, have we become so technologically advanced and affluent that we can now fight a war with another country, and not even feel the effects at home?

Little Things - Save a Car Trip

Here is a little thing that most people could do to help out themselves and the environment. Try to just once a week replace a car trip with walking, biking, or taking public transit. If the distance is short enough, walk or bike. This could be a trip to the local store, a visit to a neighborhood friend's house, visit to the neighborhood park, etc. I would suggest this over attempting to commute by bike, as commuting takes more planning and is time specific. Commuting can be explored later on. Think of a trip you usually take by car at least once a week. It should be a local, convenient trip you can make by foot or bike. For me, I like to make a Sunday morning trip down to the local grocery store to pick up bagels for me and the kids. It's about 1 1/2 miles round trip, something that is easily done by bike. Even walking if fun if we have the time. Since I am only getting some small items, I don't need to worry about how to transport a bunch of stuff back home. To make the trip more adventurous, I sometimes attach the bike trailer and take the kids. They get a blast out of riding in the trailer, and they get bagels as a treat. Other times we take the trailer to the ice cream shop for a milkshake. They really get a kick out of that.
These types of outings are good in a few ways. For me, it gets me out in the neighborhood to see it in more of a personal level, rather than zooming by in a car at 40 MPH. I also get a little exercise. Riding a bike with a trailer isn't too difficult, but it does get the blood pumping. For the kids, it gives them something to get excited about. I get to spend some quality time with them. Plus, they get accustomed to seeing bikes used as practical transportation. A trip to the store or ice cream shop does not necessarily mean a trip in the car now. If I ask if we should take the car or bike trailer to the store, the answer is almost always "bike trailer!".
So, as one gets acclimated to the routine of making one trip a week without the car, it's easy to branch out to maybe one or two other trips by bike or walking. It is just one little thing that helps us all.