1. Don’t accelerate up hills- Who doesn’t love punching it all the way to the top of a big hill? You’ve worked hard, you bought a great car, and it’s great to get out there and see what it’s got. Because cars are so good now, it’s easy to forget how much energy it takes to move your 3000 pound vehicle up a hill. To jog your memory, get on a bike and ride it up a hill. Now try it again from a standstill, and continually speed up until you reach the top. Most of the time when you are driving up a hill, it’s not going to kill you to maintain your current speed until you get to the top, and then accelerate when you are going down the other side in order to get up to the speed you want. It’s a minor change that will save you a bunch of fuel.
2. Check your tire pressure regularly- Boring, I know… but this is actually a big deal. Not only is this a huge safety issue (incorrect tire pressure affects cornering, braking, stability, and can even lead to tire failure), but under-inflated tires allow more tire to touch the road, increasing friction (and tire wear), which causes you to lose fuel economy.
3. Slow down- The faster you drive, the more gas you use, but let’s be realistic here. We are all busy, and I’m sure you need to get where you are going quickly. If you slow down just one or two miles-per-hour you probably won’t even notice the difference, but you will save gas, reduce your emissions, and be a safer driver all at the same time. This is especially easy to do on the highway: just set that cruise-control one or two notches lower.
4. Cut down on quick starts and stops- Of course quick starts and stops are fun, and sometimes necessary, so maybe you continue to be a bug-eyed, caffeine-crazed NASCAR driver on the way to work, and just drive home in a relaxed manner. With quick starts you burn a lot of gas to get up to speed that quickly, and with quick stops you are turning all that energy you bought (in the form of gas) into wasted heat with your brakes and tires. If you take your foot off the gas a little sooner on your way up to a red light you can coast into it and maybe even take it on the fly once it turns green, thereby saving gas, and your brakes.
5. Warm up your car by driving it- I know it sounds crazy, but modern cars don’t need to be warmed up the way cars of the past did. Even in the depths of winter, the best way to warm up your car is by driving slowly for a few blocks before you punch it to get to work.
6. Drive Less- This one is not so easy, and that is why it is number six on a list of five things, but I had to include it. The best way to lessen your impact and save money is to use less gas. This is not possible for everyone, but if you rode your bike to work one day a week, took mass-transit, or walked to the coffee shop instead of driving, it would make a big difference.

Interestingly enough, several of these lessons were really taught to me by driving my Prius. I think we would all drive very differently if every car had a real-time fuel-efficiency gauge.

If you like lists of simple things, check this one out:

5 Simple Things You Can Do To Help Save The World

Of course I strongly believe that we need to put massive effort into making solar power and other renewable energy sources viable, but the truth is that wind is not constant and solar is not yet very efficient.  When compared to the massive amount of coal we as a nation (the United States of America) burn, nuclear seems to be the lesser of the two evils until we can get renewables to cover a greater percentage of our energy needs.  To be sure, I ONLY see nuclear as a stop-gap measure, but we need to take action now to decrease our national carbon emissions.

Read the Discover Magazine article here.

Read about the big Oscar wins here.

An Inconvenient Truth website: www.climatecrisis.net

http://www.slate.com/id/2151739/

Al Gore provides mountains of evidence to back his claims, and dispells the myths so often spoken by those who are resisting change.

One of the really interesting things for me about this film is that for those of us who have been environmentalists for decades, there was almost nothing new. I didn’t know all the stats, and have never seen most of the charts, but the basic story is the same as it has been for twenty years. I’m really glad that Gore has finally managed to get the word out, and it amazes me that it has taken this long to reach the public eye.

I hope you will pardon my vast optimism, but everyone should see this excellent film, and together we can change the world.

For more information on what you can do check out www.climatecrisis.net and Five Simple Things You Can Do to Help Save the World

At their subdomain www.think.mtv.com they are using the sloagn “Break the Addiction” in reference to fossil fuels.  They have a neat carbon calculator, and some of good information.  It just goes to show you that just because you are a major media outlet doesn’t mean you can’t do some good.

Check out the Break the Addiction section here.