Bike Sharing - Is it Coming to a City Near You?

Transportation, we use it every day and are always hearing about ways we can make it “greener”. Well, while on vacation this past summer we were lucky enough to visit Paris, France for 6 days. We were truly “green” in our traveling methods in the City as we walked or took mass transit everywhere we went. Paris has such a wonderful mass transit system that it makes it very easy to be “green”. One thing I noted while we were there were all the bike-sharing stations they had. Outside of every metro station (that was above ground) there would usually also be a bike-sharing station. For those of you not familiar with this (I’d never seen one before) the bike-sharing stations have bikes that are locked into place and you pay into each bike’s meter to “rent” the bike. When you are done using the bike you can return it to any bike-sharing station. I was amazed at how many people we saw riding these bikes, people of all ages, sizes, and even women in skirts and dresses. I thought that this was such a great idea and wondered why we didn’t have anything like this back at home. Well, after looking into this I found that while the programs are wide-spread in Europe they are just starting to gain popularity in the US. This past May a group called Clear Channel Outdoor started this service in Washington, DC and so far it seems to be working. While the program in Paris has had problems with bike theft and vandalizing of bikes other similar programs in Lyon, France, Barcelona, Spain and the new program in Washington, DC have not run into them yet. Among the other cities discussing starting bike-sharing programs are Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. This is a great alternative to driving and it is wonderful to see cities being interested in doing something positive for the environment and the health of their residents.

Plastic - Can we live without it?

Plastic, we use it everyday and most of us don't even think about it. By typing on my computer I'm using plastic right now and had never really even given that a bit of thought. Plastic waste has become a huge problem in our society. The EPA's 2006 report on Plastic Waste Statistics included the following information:

• The total amount of plastic in the municipal solid waste stream in 2006 was almost 30 million tons (a.k.a. nearly 60 billion pounds).
  

• In 2006, the United States generated 14 million tons of plastic through containers and packaging.

• The amount of plastic consumed as a percentage of total waste has increased from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 11.7 percent in 2006.

As noted by Alan Weisman, in his book "The World Without Us", "this is a problem because plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic has been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years." In some cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants. There has been research done on biodegradable plastics but many of these plastics need to be in direct sunlight to decompose and this will not work in the average landfill, thereby keeping the plastic from degrading completely.

In surfing the web I found a couple of great "green" blogs that focus on how to try to live as plastic free a life as possible. I'm going to start trying to follow their advice and see how much plastic I can quit using on a daily basis. These two sites are full of great hints, ideas and daily thoughts on their plastic free journeys. While I may not be able to bring myself to be as devoted to this subject as they are I know I've learned valuable information by reading their sites and have learned easy day to day things I can do to use less plastic. For more information on their quests to go plastic free, visit Life Less Plastic and Fake Plastic Fish.

Carbon Footprint/Carbon Offset

What is a carbon footprint? We keep hearing that term bandied about but what does it mean. Well, a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly by an individual, organization, event or product. These greenhouse gas emissions then add to the global warming problem. There are many things we can do in our daily life to lessen our footprint. We can make educated decisions when it comes to travel, our homes, our food and what we buy and how we throw things away. There are many different places you can go to calculate your own carbon footprint. I went to The Nature Conservancy’s website to calculate the footprint for my household. While our household’s footprint came out below the U.S. National average we were far above the World Average so should look at how we can reduce your climate impact. The Nature Conservancy’s website has information on this subject available after you finish calculating your footprint.

Another term we hear is carbon offset. A carbon offset if something that produces measurable reductions in greenhouse gases. This can be from using money to help farmers pay for equipment that captures and generates electricity from methane or from helping wind-power developers compete with coal-fired plants resulting in more clean energy flowing into the electrical grid. There are many carbon offset companies and organizations out there so be sure to do a little research before using one to make sure you are using a reputable provider. In the USA weekend magazine this past weekend, February 27 – March 1st, they had a small article on this subject. In the article they noted that there are independent standards, such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard, that carbon off-setter companies should be using so look for this when deciding where to send your money. Also, they noted to think “instant gratification” because global warming is an urgent problem. They mentioned to look for companies that sell offsets that result in reductions in the same year as you buy them. For example, tree planting projects, while a good idea, take decades to reduce carbon.

To figure out your carbon footprint, visit the Nature Conservancy’s website. If we all work together we can make a big difference!