One of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to avoid using your car for short or unnecessary journeys. Where possible, consider walking or taking a bike, and if this isn’t practical, consider using public transport.
A lot of pollution caused by cars is generated in slow moving or stationary traffic - typical in any town or city centre. Short journeys are also highly polluting as the catalytic convertor doesn’t get time to warm up and work properly, hence most of the fumes emitted in this time are highly damaging to the environment.
I love to ride the bike! it is healthier for me and as you say is healthier even for the others around me !
Besides ... big cities are so crowded that it’s faster walking than taking the car !
Even though we live in a suburban are, there are a lot of bike trails that cut through the city. It is often faster than taking the car, and with the weather warming up, I think I’ll be using the bike alot more often.
Also, this is good to teach the kids because children today are getting alot less exercise and need to appreciate the benefits of riding a bike or walking to a destination. I am seeing way too many SUV’s in my neighborhood with the TV’s on for the kids in the back!
What about warming up your car before you leave the house? I have heard that this is completely necissary for your car in the winter, but I feel guily leaving it running in the driveway. Thoughts?
for some older cars that thing is quite necessary in winter!
If you don’t leave it for a while to warm up the motor may choke not letting you drive.
but that is the point ... making new cars for less polution!
[quote author=“Laurent1”]I love to ride the bike! it is healthier for me and as you say is healthier even for the others around me !
Besides ... big cities are so crowded that it’s faster walking than taking the car !
Oh yes, remember we used to ride bikes when we were kids? I think we should do it more often. Actually I hate taking the car because it’s so hard to reach any destination when is crowded. The bike is more healthier and we can make so much exercise when using a bike.
Go bike!
i was thinking of buying a bike but never thought it would be good for the environment. there are so many things we can do and we don’t because we are too lazy. take for example this thing, not many people will like the idea of walking or taking public transport and will never think about how it helps the planet and everything.
i am lucky i found here on this forum a bunch of people who really care about the environment.
We have no public transport here, at all. There are no buses, and the only train passes straight through the town-never stops. I walk where ever I can, but with a toddler in tow, that is not far.
we have good public transport in my place but stil i see people drive car even for short distance , mostly there is only 1 person in car , and that really creates a lot of problem
This is one of the things that irks me the most! I live in a suburb of Atlanta. There is always traffic. If we had a better public transportation system, it could help a lot. Also, we need more sidewalks and not everything so spaced out…and better traffic lights so it’s easier for pedestrians to cross.
My mom hates when she has something important to do and we’re caught in traffic because of the rush hour…she says, “These people know they have to go this far every day and wait in traffic for hours, and they don’t care…they are ok with it.” We just don’t understand. Money? Yes…but you waste it on gas! Might as well find something closer to home!
It was good that you posted that because a lot of people are unaware of the fact that the catalytic converter needs to warm up before it can actually be effective.
So many people today tend to take their vehicles a couple of blocks to go to the corner store for milk and if they only realized that by walking they would not only be doing the environment some good but also getting themselves a healthy walk as well.
I dont have any public transport in my town and guess what we did? We had a car pool where 3-4 of our apartment members used to share a car duing the weekend for shopping…Not only we enjoy together,but also save a lot of petrol and trying to aviod excessive emission on our part.
What a great idea. I love to ride my bicycle too. Too bad it’s just not practical. Nor is public transportation. And if only cars were the evil that some people want us to believe. :wink:
[quote author=“Rowena105”]So many people today tend to take their vehicles a couple of blocks to go to the corner store for milk and if they only realized that by walking they would not only be doing the environment some good but also getting themselves a healthy walk as well.
And isn’t it fun walking home with milk? Especially when that one thing you walked to the store for turns into several bags of things you forgot you needed. IMPRACTICAL! :shock:
I admit I used to be a driver. when I got bored I would go for a drive, I volunteered to drive everywhere and became lazy because of my driving. I have since then become more conscious about the effects emissions control has on the air and now I am luck if I drive 3000 total miles a year. Most of the time. I have watched the mileage on this car I got a few years ago and am glad to say that going from driving 100 miles a day to less than 5 on most days (others are 0 miles) is a great improvement for me.
