Are most of your friends/family already doing *ALL* they can to save gas/energy?

Do they drive cars that get better than 40mpg, only when necessary, bike walk and use transit?

Have they done the best they can to locate near their workplace(s)?

Have they replaced incandescents with compact flourescent bulbs?


I'm not even talking about putting up solar panels or driving a hybrid or electric car, just the more affordable changes we could all do to stop wasting so much gas (and money)...

I use CF bulbs. I have a high-efficiency furnace/central air and I keep the house colder in the winter/warmer in the summer than most. I recycle. My long-range goal (when I retire in 8 years) is to live completely off-the-grid.

However, I drive a 17 MPG car right now because driving is one of my socially irresponsible vices and it's a blast to drive.


Like most, I sacrifice where I can to offset my vices.

...but some poster in another thread made the claim that most people are already doing all they can to conserve. That's just not what I'm seeing.

If you realize you're being wasteful but willing to pay the price, fine. This person was all but asking for a subsidy for people driving long commutes in gas-guzzlers.

I'm buying 93 octane (premium) gas. I'm paying for my choice.

I live 22.5 miles from work, and I'm paying roughly $350/month for gas. For me, driving a car I enjoy driving is worth it.

We all have our own indulgences that we're not willing to give up. I agree with you that most people are not doing all they can to conserve...but most are making sacrifices in other areas to finance their indulgences.

I'm including us in this.

We monitor our driving very carefully. We limit it as much as possible and watch the gas consumption. Our car gets about 27 mpg so that may mean to you that we're not doing *ALL* we can. It's paid for, runs very well and trading it in for one that gets better than 40mpg would wind up costing us too much money when you factor in car payments and insurance. Myself and the rest of my family are fortunate in not having to pay a lot for our homes. Moving wouldn't save us all that much money. We're staying put.

No, we haven't replaced all our light bulbs with flourescent. We do when one burns out. Money is tight and I'm not going to throw out a perfectly good lightbulb until it burns out.

But we do other things to watch our consumption. We recycle. We do not use unecessary electricity. Turn off lights when leaving the room, watching the thermostat and closely monitoring the temperature. We do strive to limit our carbon footprint as much as possible.

I replaced the 12 bulbs that get the most use right away, then set aside the still-good bulbs as extras, so when a bulb burns out in one of the rooms where we don't use the light so much, we have the spares on hand. When those finally run out, I'll start buying CFs for replacement bulbs.

and my freelance work makes it impossible to do without a car.

I have turned down low-paying assignments too far from home recently, because I can't afford the gas.

We've cut our energy consumption at home, and I've now taken a second job selling solar energy. Hope that works out!

Do they drive cars that get better than 40mpg, only when necessary, bike walk and use transit?

I have no idea... probably.

Have they done the best they can to locate near their workplace(s)?

Are you crazy?!? No frigging way!!

Have they replaced incandescents with compact flourescent bulbs?

I have no idea... probably.


"I'm not even talking about putting up solar panels or driving a hybrid or electric car,
just the more affordable changes we could all do to stop wasting so much gas (and money)..."

:eyes:

If I took a job, I'd either take one close to where I live, or move to be near the job.

The idea of commuting 50 min. one-way seems like insanity to me, even without considering gas prices...


What can I say, I'm a renter and as much as I hate moving, can throw everything in the back of a rental moving truck and go where I need to.

Do you want a cookie or something...

You and these asinine polls...get a life...

Did it ever occur to you that MANY people CANNOT do what you THINK they should do? I do not even know why I bother with your posts...they are so elementary and one-dimensional in thought...oh why even bother!

Like taking the attitude of "I can't make any changes to my lifestyle. I HAVE to keep every room of my house at 72 deg. year-round. I HAVE to drive a Ford Explorer 50 miles round-trip to work. CF lights don't flatter my complexion" is multidimensional or something?

The vast majority of people could be doing a lot better, but instead of making changes that we all should have made long ago, there are people here whining about gas prices and even demanding that their profligate, fuel-swilling lifestyles be SUBSIDIZED!


But really, if you don't like my posts and polls, PUT ME ON IGNORE. If you don't have anything CONSTRUCTIVE to add, why the hell come in here and bitch and moan?

"The vast majority of people could be doing a lot better, but instead of making changes that we all should have made long ago, there are people here whining about gas prices and even demanding that their profligate, fuel-swilling lifestyles be SUBSIDIZED!"

Are you referring to the oil company CEO's?

...insisting that living closer to work, driving more fuel-efficient cars, transit, and bicycles are ALL OFF THE TABLE, and more or less suggesting that they should be getting a stipedn to cover the high cost of commuting across town.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3321823


The oil co. CEOs are what they are - greedy pigs, but even if they were not gouging at the pump, prices would still be high due to rampant speculation on crude futures.

You can demonize oil barons all you want - even limit their profit margin - at best you'd get gas down to maybe $3.25/gal. Hardly affordable.

If you don't think the majority of Americans don't still have room for improvement where energy use is concerned, you don't live in the same America I do.

Some people can barely make the payment on the piece of crap they are driving now, what with costs going up.

Especially when the mileage standards here in the US are pretty shitty, even for cars that are just regular passenger cars, compact cars, and so-called economy cars. Never mind the lousy SUV stats....

I drive an old beater that gets in the mid thirties. We do without central heat now and have since the start of last month even though there are days we could still use it because the weather is so effed up. We use only cf lights, to include our outdoor porch lighting, and have for over ten years. We've replaced windows, caulked, and insulated to the best of our ability. We can't afford to go out and buy fancy new cars or solar panels. We're stuck with the technology we have, at least for the near term.

but I've always driven econoboxes, even when gas was $1.30 - even when it was .99.

If I could afford it, I'd buy a Prius, but I can't.

I suppose demand for used econoboxes is a lot higher now...

Anyway, if your car gets 35 mpg, and that's what you can afford then you are doing what you can, right?

I am the woman driving the 1995 manual-shift Ford Ranger at or below speed limit, with the cute dog sticking his head out the passenger window. I used to be the fairly agressive, lead-footed woman in the 1995 Ranger, who honked at you for not moving.

Maybe I had honked at you for not responding to a green light.
Don't get me wrong, I will not stop honking at people who snooze at a green light. If someone wants to drive faster than me, I will pull over and let them pass! I have learned the value of driving a little slower to conserve gas.

Ever think about that?

I'm driving a Japanese 4 door that is 15 years old.


Would the people who tell us to move downtown so we can walk to work, thus buying an inner city $300K condo, tell us how we are supposed to afford to do that?

We do not all live in Boston or NYC or San Francisco. Sorry.

The question is if you do all you can - IE all that is practicable within your budget and situation.

Why are the parameters of the question so hard to understand for some people?

Did you even read the question?

"Do you do all you *CAN*?"

Not- "Do you do every single damn thing in existence?"

As for cars that get 40mpg+, that's would limit a person to compact and subcompact cars, and many people need other body styles to meet work or familial obligations. Also, many people can't afford to buy another car, and with gas so high, fuel efficient cars are at a premium and less affordable than normal.

In short, "doing all you can" seems to be a very exclusionary and classist measure.