Kevin, this is a really good question!

For the most part, I don't "advertise" the conservation-minded steps I take. I hate to come off as "preachy". If something comes up in conversation, I will add my two cents and talk about my composting, recycling, etc., but I don't always bring the subject up.

And like you, I get the "are you crazy?" looks. When people find out that I bring buckets in the shower and put them in the kitchen sink to catch excess water, and use this water in my garden, well I think that brings the strangest looks of all! (Although composting old underwear and socks gets a pretty strange look too, lol!)

A few weeks ago at my daughter's practice, one of the moms was talking about a great coupon she saw for Tide detergent, and she kind of kept pushing the issue as to whether I wanted one or not. When I finally told her I use an organic laundry soap, she stopped talking for a few seconds, looked at me with this confused look on her face, and then turned to the next person, lol! I think she really didn't know how to respond!

It also depends on the person I'm talking to. My co-workers know by now what I do. They save milk jugs for me for winter-sowing, they readily accepted the idea when I put out small trash cans for their recyclables (I bring them home and put in my bin since we don't recycle at work), and they've followed my lead and started saving a lot paper to use for scrap - paper that once went into the garbage (and we use a TON of scrap paper at work!) My boss will save big bags of shredded paper for me to compost. They even bring in food scraps for my compost pile!

So I think once people really think about what you do and realize it's benefit, they don't look at you quite as strangely, and they may even help you - although I don't know if they adopt any of these practices themselves. (although I'm proud to say that I've gotten at least 3 people to start their own compost piles, which I think is great even though these three no longer bring me their scraps, lol!).

Sometimes I wish I was braver and would speak up more. It's not so much that I care if people look at me funny. Its just that I was never a fan of those who pushed their own agenda or views on others, and I don't want to do that to others, no matter how good the cause. So I hope that what I do say eventually gets through, and that what I *do* makes enough of a statement. Kinda wimpy, I know, but...

Dee

Dee
I think you are doing a great job just by opening up the minds of your co-workers and leading by example. I don't think it's wimpy. Most people change their habits slowly as adults, if at all, so don't expect too much. The children will be the ones to make the greatest change if they are exposed to the idea of treading lightly on the earth.
I think environmental actions come from the bottom up. Politicians will act only when they hear that it's a popular idea.
"Save the rainforests" caught our imagination because it's exotic and we could send money without changing our daily habits.
It's harder when YOU have to do the work to sort your trash, bring your own bags to the grocery, turn the thermostat down in the winter and keep your car for 10 years instead of getting a shiny new one even though you can afford it.
I have a question: what organization that promotes "going green" does everyone think does the most good?
I have never donated to one before and I'm thinking of adding it. I welcome suggestions.

it's as you say, naplesgardener, it starts at the bottom, acting locally - if you feel the need to contribute, then contribute to any local community efforts to promote recycling, energy conservation, pollution prevention, and waste reduction, particularly by keeping the issues front and center with your local politicians, if there is no local movement, start one!

in my area the reason we have a complete recyclables collection system that gets pushed by the regional government, as well as a sewage treatment system that now includes bio-solids composting, is because years ago individuals started pushing their reps to get on it ... it worked well, and we even have a demonstration garden where eco-friendly gardening techniques are promoted and composting education is provided .... but our regional government has a "waste reduction co-ordinator" now, so I guess government waste can only grow :)

Bill

I've been living for thirty years among people who compare notes about saving fuel, insulating home and other buildings, composting, recycling, planting trees and shrubs (partly as carbon sinks), etc. Of course, depending on where a given household's income level is, at the time, has some bearing. Those who have more discretionary money may choose to spend some on travel (which gets you into a specific airplane-fuel consumption). No one around here has had the money to get into owning and maintaining a brand-new hybrid car. And few have gotten into photovoltaic home electricity, because we are fairly far north (sun angle) and we often get a considerable amount of cloud cover November through March, so existing p.v. tech would be too expensivce, given its efficiency. So we talk about that stuff as a dream 'in the sweet by and by'.

But even though I do live around people who will discuss this stuff and take it seriously, there are definitely people in my larger circle (particularly my career/work circle) whom I would not tend to discuss it with too much, since I'd seem like even more of a fringe-nut that I already seem to them. And harm to credibility in one's work life really does hurt!

So, I admit it's tricky.

To compensate for the times I have to clam up I publish articles, in print and on-line, that go out to a broad audience. It's an attempt to communicate far and wide with people whose minds are either open or in the process of opening.

Joel

g'day kevin,

for those that know me i get no raised eye brows, as friends and family are well versed in what we do to recycle.

and i take my opportunitites to spread the word so to say when i can on the 'net like now:

we re-use all grey water including my wee water.

we use heaps of newspaper and cardboard when we are setting up our landscape.

and all our rottable kitchen scraps get added to the garden.

we collect rainwater in a rainwater tank so we can drink it and use it for gardens (when needed) we have this connected to the house so we can alternate between town water and tank water.

we have rain barrels as well and this water gets used for washing machine and/or gardens.

we have a back flush tank of 1800 litre capacity fitted to the pool system so we can save water from the pool for pool top ups.

our gardens live because of mulch we lay it on thick.

and our best ever garden medium comes from using mushroom compost right from the mushroom farm.

we wash our dishes in a basin so that water can be taken to the gardens.

we have 2 buckets in the showers so we can collect that water for the gardens.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Thanks everyone. At least I know I'm not alone in this. I guess I just get very impatient with how slowly this concept of conservation is moving amongst the population. Everyone keeps pointing the finger at others and what they should be doing without taking a good look at their own lifestyle.

I did come up with kind of a simple answer to those who keep saying "That's not going to make any difference" - meaning any efforts by you or I won't have any meaningful impact. It's true, my efforts to save a few gallons of water on a daily basis are not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of the entire planet. You can't look at it that way. Be concerned about what you're doing or not doing. You do it because it's the right thing to do. To me it's a moral issue. Waste is wrong. End of debate.

napelsgardner

I'm pretty new at this and haven't looked into other organizations all that much, but I am currently involved in a neighborhood redevelopment project and one of our partners is an organization called Tree Trust. I've been very impressed with what they do and what they're bringing to the table in our efforts. Here's a link.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Trust

Kevin,

regarding your efforts making a difference or not - that's my big line with my kids and my husband. When my husband, in particular, rolls his eyes when I take the can out of the garbage that he just put in there, and I put it in the recycling, he says, "It's just one can", and I answer that if everyone took just one can out of the garbage that day and recycled it, imagine the difference.

The same thing with saving/reusing water. My kids will say, "Wow, you saved a whole gallon", and I come right back at 'em with, "If everyone in the country saved one gallon of water today..."

We can't control others. We can try to make them "see the light", lol, and try to influence them, but we can't control them. But we can control our actions, and I like to think that what I do DOES make a difference. I may not save the world, but at least Iknow I'm following my conscience and doing what I can, and hopefully others (i.e. my kids!) will follow.

:)
Dee

As a garden center manager I get lots of funny looks from people when I suggest something alien to their thinking but because I am in this position, I do have a chance to make a difference locally and daily. Could I do more, yes will I, yes as time goes by and I take one idea and get it off the ground, then I will take the next step forward. I have found many people opening up to my ideas as time goes on and they see that I am sincere and that I am not going away or preachy condensending. I have incredible passion for what I do and would love everyone to take steps to change right now, but like mother earth itself evolution is slow and constant change. Revolution is radical and all too often short lived. I prefer the constant slow change because over the last 20 years I have seen the difference and accept that people will change but patience like water wearing down a rock takes time, but it is sure and yields visible results, albeit slow by our everything now human thinking.
Too all of you, congrats on your own efforts and keep the faith. We all are helping in our own way to see ourselves and others change, each in its season, just like Mother Nature would and is doing herself.
Happy Growing David

I used to get more odd looks and comments ten years ago than now. It was as if people imagined we lived like monks because our utility bills were low. Now I think more people are aware of and actively participate in things like recycling, energy awareness, and so on. We generate very little waste, both garbage and recycling, so little that we really only need to take the recycling out every other week. I've had neighbors comment on the lack of a recyclying bin on our curb on recycling day. It's a nice change.

Kevin,

Everyone knows a little bit of my conserving nature when they come to my house. The first thing they realize is, they shouldn't throw anything into the trash bin that you can recycle. Cans, bottles are all set aside on the counter so I can put them into the recycle bin afterwards.

Some of my family look at me funny when they see the tall plastic bin in my shower. When I turn on the faucet to get the water to warm up, I collect all that water into the bin. It is then used to water the plants. It's quite a few gallons!

My daughter recently married and I was aghast to see all the cases of bottled water they go through. For Christmas, I bought them a water filter. They love it! And it makes me feel really good about all the plastic bottles that don't have to be produced just for their household. I'm hoping they get into the recycling habit. I'm working on it!

Personally, I tell people the different steps I take in conserving, like replacing all of my light bulbs, keeping my thermostat set higher, composting. Some look at me like I'm whacked and some just don't say anything. I think we are a minority. It doesn't matter what they think, I just hope I can make a little impression and perhaps, they'll start doing something for our planet.

I think we have come a long way. Years ago, I was the only one setting my recycling bin out and now it is so common to see. It's wonderful and I hope more and more people become aware. I think all they have to do is drive by these trash hills along I-95 and maybe they'd think about it next time they decide to throw something out.

Also, one of the things sprouting up are the recycle groups on-line. I belong to a couple and people post items on there that they would normally throw on the trash heap. Used items, but functioning.

I don't preach much. Two reasons for this:
I'm afraid to do so (I don't like confrontation);
I believe in the force of example and know it works.
The latter is true, but perhaps the first is also.

You can set an example. In my home in Washington I created a good garden, and as it grew beautiful the neighbors began to apologize for their shabby front yards, and then to work on them. I think it made a difference. Here I have another large garden in development. It's organic and I do no pest treatment, and I grow roses that do well under that regimen, that no one else grows. The word is spreading, and I hope that one day people will see that it's possible to grow roses without pesticides and fungicides. People ask me, "But what do you do about the aphids?" I reply, "Nothing." "Nothing?" they say. "Sure, nothing. Why should I bother about the aphids? They're not that big a problem." Recently I asked my neighbor if she would save me her coffee grounds, an excellent soil amendment. She was happy to do so. A few days later I asked her if she had any coffee grounds for me, and she told me, very apologetically, that she had begun using them herself, and hoped I wasn't angry with her. Angry?? That's success!

I'm also planning a project at my daughter's elementary school to acquaint the children with the local wild orchids, including a field trip. One can slip in bits of ecology and biology without getting preachy. I haven't done this before and hope it works out. But if the project ends with the children having learned a little about their native flora, having learned to look at the plants in the ditches and the pastures, and having learned that little, wild, useless plants can be interesting and worthwhile also, my time will have been well spent.

P.S. The bin in the shower is a new one to me. We don't do that, but when it gets really hot and dry, we set up a shower outside attached to a hose and take our showers in the garden.

I believe in the force of example and know it works.

That probably is the most effective tool for me. When people see that being green is quite well integrated into my life, and that life in my house is not substantially different from life in their houses, people's minds are opened. Sometimes one has to take the opportunity -- for example, if someone grabs a paper towel, I'll mention that, "Oh, by the way -- they're recycled paper." And then I'll ask them to toss the used towel in the compost bin, if that's appropriate. I will volunteer to drive a few coworkers to lunch and find a way to mention that my car is a diesel and gets 40-50 mpg under normal conditions. They'll usually be surprised that my car is not a slow, stinky, smoke-belching wheezer and minds are opened. People in the neighborhood have seen me using my reel mower and I've let a couple of them use it so they can see that you don't have to fire up a noisy powered mower to keep one's lawn looking nice.

I look at it as a series of teaching moments. Maybe I'm missing a few people. But I'm not turning them off, either.

Good grief, it seems no matter what the subject I can find some way to draw parallels to living with more responsibility to conservation. It has earned me the reputation of being eccentric, most likely and I don't really care. I like the sentance about how people find it easier to donate a few dollars toward saving the rain forest, but can't seem to impose limits on themselves. It's true.

I'd like to see some industry incentives. Perhaps some tax breaks to industries who would incorporate a set amount of recycled material into their production. It would create more of a demand for recycled material and make it more of a market commodity. When something is in demand, its value increases. Money talks.

I talk about what I do as it is appropriate in conversation. I praise other folks who do stuff- wow, it's great how you ride your bike to work, maybe we should get more bike racks for campus? to encourage them and others.
Local government- maybe- this is the kind of problem that starts in our locality and need to be addressed locally,too.

If you are interested in fedgov programs, upgrade your windows and insulation this year to cash in on the tax credit program they are offering. We did a bunch last year.

calliope - I would like to see some meaningful incentives for consumers from the utility companies. Example:

My electric company (Xcel)offers a free savers switch to folks with central air. It cycles the unit on and off and I guess saves energy. Great! They install it for free and then give you a 15% reduction in your per kilowatt charge from June to Sept. Sounds fine for those folks, but what about me? I've made a decision NOT to use AC, but my per kilowatt charge goes up in the summertime. If they were serious about people conserving energy, wouldn't it make more sense to base the cost of a kilowatt on your usage? If you use more, you pay more. They could still install the savers switch, but why should the folks who use the most energy get a break on their utility costs whereas people like me who use much less by choice pay more?

It just bugs the heck out of me to see AC units buzzing away when it's 70 outside.

Kevin

calliope, in regard to industry incentives, here's something I heard many, many years ago (gotta be almost 20 years) and I don't know how reliable the info was, but I liked the idea. Supposedly in Germany the powers that be decided one way to cut packaging was to make the companies themselves responsible for disposing of it, or maybe charged them for disposing of it. Again, I don't know how true this was, or how the governments enforced it, but supposedly many companies reduced the amount of packaging used, and what was used was made out of recycled materials, as well as being able to be recycled again. Sounds like a good idea to me, if it's workable.

Kevin, don't get me started on the electric company! That's a touchy subject in my neck of the woods - the electric company just made a huge raise in prices - a 50% increase!! People are suitably outraged, but I wonder how much conservation will really go on. Maybe this will be the straw that broke the camel's back, and people will finally conserve.

Maybe we'll even see a big switch to alternatives. I've been thinking of adding solar panels for awhile, and this may be the push for me to do so.

:)
Dee

aachenelf
I understand your frustration with heavy electric users getting a break while you don't. In my former state (DE) the highest demand is summer. Our elec. co. also had that switch which we installed. However they billed people who used OVER a certain amount of power in peak periods at a higher rate. This means people like you paid the lower rate per KW/hr.
I don't think it really makes people conserve energy but at least it makes the energy hogs pay more to compensate for the fact that a larger power plant is needed to provide the peak useage.
Short term brown-outs and blackouts seem to be getting more noticeable both in DE and FL where I live now.
The power grid can't seem to keep up with the demand and/or the power cos. aren't investing in equipment maintenance.

The Saver's Switch is not about saving energy as much as it is about managing peak load. It allows the power company to switch off your A/C for a few minutes at a time during times of peak electrical load. The discount is merely the carrot they dangle in front of customers and most customers use enough electricity to make the discount worthwhile.

napelsgardner - I'm not sure if residential customers who use over a certain amount of energy are billed at a higher rate or not in MN. I couldn't find anything about that on the Xcel site, but I did find this:

"The program discount for your central air conditioner will apply to the energy charges up to a maximum of 4,000 kWh per month on your electric bills issued from June through September."

That still is a heck of a lot of kw per month.

Steve - You're right about that. Sorry.

I still feel the idea of higher energy charges for those who use more is something to consider. Price seems to be about the only thing that gets people's attention and might be a motivating factor for at least some people to use less. Right now, there is no real incentive for a person like me to try to use less other than my personal conviction. I should be rewarded, not punished because others just don't seem to get it.

A similar situation exists with trash removal in Mpls. If you're a homeowner or rental property owner you have to use the city for your trash removal. Larger rental properties can hire private companies. I'm charged the same amount per month as everyone else even though it takes me 6 weeks to fill up my container. In other words, they only have to pick it up every six weeks or so. My neighbors carts are overflowing each week. Yes, you can sign up for the recycling program and receive a credit each month, but it isn't enforced. By that I mean you can sign up for the program and never recycle and still receive the credit.

The whole thing is maddening.

K

We made our garden organic about twenty years ago. We've installed water saving shower nozzles in four homes over nearly twenty years. We've recycled for almost that long, at first taking our paper, cans and bottles to the recycling depot and in recent years the local government has provided a separate bin for them. We've been taking our prunings to the green recycling facility to be turned into compost for years. Our current and previous houses are solar passive. I haven't talked much to people about what I'm doing or any other environmental issues for a few years. Too discouraging.

Suddenly the environment is a fashionable issue. Just this morning I heard on the radio that a survey found that the issues people consider important in the leadup to the next election are water, health, education and the environment. Water first and the environment fourth. I wouldn't separate the two. It worries me that the drought has finally forced people to care about what they're doing and it's leading to a lot of kneejerk reactions and ill-informed opinions. I've been plodding along trying to learn more and do more and now there's a stampede going past me. I suppose it'll get better but right now it's making me rather uncomfortable.

An example of what I mean was a letter to the local newspaper suggesting that concrete slab construction in homes be banned because such homes cannot be retrofitted with greywater systems. How about installing the pipes in a way that allows the greywater system to be attached when you can afford it. There are important benefits from building on a concrete slab. Slow down, see the big picture.

Steve - You're right about that. Sorry.

I still feel the idea of higher energy charges for those who use more is something to consider.

No prob :-) Just pointing out the real reason the Saver's Switch was invented.

Like you, I wish there was a more linear cost structure to all of this -- trash (I opted for the smallest container my (private) carter offered and it still takes me 2-3 weeks to fill it up), gas (there was one month last summer when I used one therm of gas), even recycling (they pick up weekly, but I can go up to a month before I start putting out a full bin.

For some funny reason, the capitalists in this country get all ooky when it is suggested that people pay their own way when it comes to things like fuel mileage (and the attendant CO2 emissions and road damage) and their use of natural resources (Don't want to recycle? We'll charge you for the bigger garbage container and something for pulling the recyclables out of your trash.). Feh.

There's a point I mentioned in my post, above, that nobody commented on (not that it was expected)... but I thought I'd bring it out for discussion.

We live in a highly mobile age, by comparison with that of our grandparents. We drive cars virtually daily - many of us working at considerable distance from home. And we take airplane trips perhaps more often than our parents or grandparents took rail trips (and, obviously, sometimes over much greater distances - intercontinentally). Amongst the adults of, say, the 1960s, that kind of air travel was considered "jet-setting," and was an envied unattainable for most people.

So how many of us on this forum think about that, or comment inquiringly or critically among our co-workers or friends about this fuel-expensive habit that has become so common?

Joel

Joel

That's one touchy subject and I admit, I don't always say what I want to. Since I live in a larger city, public transport and walking have become regular modes of transport for me. I make it well known that I always walk to the grocery store which is about 1/2 mile from my home. Again, people think I'm nuts, but I always point out the fact that it really helps me to only buy what I need. I keep ongoing lists of things I run out of and need because walking back there for something I forgot isn't the most convenient thing to do. Impulse buying is something I also have to think about since I can only carry so much.

I will say when gas prices were at their peak, I offered no sympathy to those complaining about the cost. I also refused to jump on the bandwagon of "those evil oil companies doing this to us." I pointed out other options people had for transport, ways to cut back, the fact that we got ourselves into this mess, etc. I really don't think I convinced anyone to change their ways. Very sad indeed.

Kevin

We drive cars virtually daily - many of us working at considerable distance from home. And we take airplane trips perhaps more often than our parents or grandparents took rail trips (and, obviously, sometimes over much greater distances - intercontinentally). [snip]

So how many of us on this forum think about that, or comment inquiringly or critically among our co-workers or friends about this fuel-expensive habit that has become so common?

Now there is a dangerous game. :-) Just to play devil's advocate a bit, though, I will note that a long commute is not always a choice.

A friend of mine has some very specific engineering training, and there are very few jobs in this area for people with her qualifications. So she has to go where the jobs are. Or keep moving from place to place to be near them. Neither are very attractive (or green) activities. But unless she wants to be grossly underemployed, it is what it is.

The other consideration is when you have a good job and the company headquarters move. I've had that happen to me twice in my career. Do you give up the job because it's no longer close to home?

The third consideration is when there are no real alternatives. I live one block from one bus line and three blocks from another. I work, like many Twin Citians do, in a suburb of The Cities. Aside from having to transfer at least once, there is no way I can get to the building in which I work without walking at least half a mile on roads (often icy) with no sidewalks. That "last mile" kills me, because I'd much rather take the bus, even if it means curtailing my hours a bit to accommodate the bus' schedule here in the 'burbs and not simply killing my day waiting for buses. aachenelf may be satisfied with the local bus system, but even though I live in the "large" city next to him/her, I find the bus service inadequate for my primary needs. So I drive. :-p

Add to the gaps in the transit system the need to pick up kids at daycare at specified times (or incur extra charges and the enmity of the care providers); or to get to doctor's appointments or soccer games or piano lessons, and you have lifestyles which are very difficult to conduct efficiently (time-wise, anyway) without a vehicle.

The question then becomes why more people aren't driving around in vehicles that get better than 15 mpg.

Flying? Well, it isn't a "green" activity, but there are tremendous learning and social opportunities to traveling. "Green touring" is becoming more popular all the time, too. I put flying in the same category as buying any other expensive consumer good -- the energy and resources expended in the creation of that house, car, refrigerator, furniture, vacation, should be compensated for by stewarding it carefully and getting the most you can out of it.

Steve

You're absolutely correct and I hope I didn't come across as anti-car. I also hope no one thinks I don't think the oil companies are evil. I do, but for other reasons.

The whole transportation thing is a very complex issue. Our whole way of life is based on personal transport and developed over a good number of years. I'm happy people are starting to think (and plan) a different way of living and getting around, but it's certainly not going to happen overnight or even in a few years.

I guess the people I talk to about this are people who do have options, but just don't want to use them because they love their cars so much. Sometimes I think if it were a choice between food on the table and gas for their cars, the cars would win.

K

Steve

Forgot to say in answer to your question about better mileage. My question is more about why the industry isn't building cars with better mileage? I few months ago, one of the local TV stations did this story about a bunch of high school students who built or modified a regular sized car (can't remember which). Anyway, it got some insane number of mpg. If they could do it, why can't the industry do better now? Why is the better mileage always years away?

aachenelf, no offense taken on my part. I'm a little ticked that I chose to live in the city, partly to take advantage of things like convenient mass transit, only to find that, for where I want/need to go, it is little more convenient than it was when I lived in a third-tier suburb here. :-(

As for why industry cannot do better, there are many many reasons. One is that, with gasoline at historically-low prices ($2.35/gallon this morning), it's not hard to sell excessively-large, heavy vehicles with large engines. People like the room to spread out, believe they are safer (they're not, but they think they are), and are led by marketing to believe that their choice of vehicle will address shortcomings in their anatomy or personality. So many people have bought into this that the car companies which catered to this desire are feeling the whip when the price of gasoline spikes. It does not help to have a federal government that is very much pro-business and anti-consumer.

And, in fairness, that high-school-student-modified car cannot easily be matched by "Detroit" because cars have to endure far more extreme conditions than the mileage competition provided. We expect our cars to start and keep us reasonably comfortable at temperatures from -30F to 130F, to carry four-to-six adults with enough room for cargo, to be able to accelerate onto a rush-hour freeway without drama. All of these things are enemies of fuel mileage.

No doubt, car manufacturers can do better. Toyota, Honda, Volkswagen -- all provide a starting point with their current efficient vehicles. Chrysler, Ford, and GM claiming they can't do this may start with a grain of truth. But they "can't" do this because it would cost them far too much in research & development and would sacrifice their high-margin vehicles -- making them even less attractive to their stockholders, most of whom don't care that much about our kind of "green".

Found the link to the kids/car story.

Kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: car

The only subject on which I have consistently had good results (that is; people actually did something about it) has been in talking about thermal curtains and waffle shades. The average double pane window has an R-value of 1.8. If you add fabric waffle shades, it bumps up to and R-value of 4.5! Add thermal curtains to that, and it makes a real difference!
I think one of the reasons people listened to me was that we did it ourselves and have actually felt the difference- our house is comfortable with the thermostat set to 62 all winter.
Several of my friends have gone out and bought shades or thermal curtains, and had excellent results. One thing that was pointed out to me also was that they made houses and apartments lighter at night, because they reflect light back in, as opposed to the big dark hole that a window is at night.
All the other things I've tried to talk about- gardening, insulation, etc. etc, and curtains/shades are the only one I consistently see people actually do and benefit from! Go figure?

Kevin - it's pretty easy to see why Detroit hasn't made any consumer vehicles like those kids did:
"We've estimated that there's probably between $80,000 and $100,000 worth of parts in the car"
add another 30-40% for union wages and benefits and how many would you buy? I don't know anyone who owns a car worth over 100,000 ..... tho if that were the only choice, we might see a lot more folks using public transit!

there are other experimental vehicles around that can preform similarly, but the problem is making them practical and affordable

Bill

I try to phrase things in the other person's "language", in a way that means something to that person.

When the cashier reaches for a plastic bag for, say, my single orange, I'll say, "Oh, I don't need a sack. Save that sack. Those things cost money."

Saving money is something shop owners understand:
if they reduce the number of plastic bags they use, they reduce their expenses.

About the "One (fill-in-the-blank: gallon, bag, newspaper, etc) won't make a difference" comments, here's a story:

Walking along the beach after the tide went out, a guy came across a woman picking up stranded starfish & flinging them back into the ocean.

The guy laughed out loud.

"Lady", he said, "you're just wasting your time. Look at how many of those things are washed up on the beach. What you're doing won't make any difference."

The lady flung another starfish back into the water.

"Made a difference to that one", she said.

I must live in a pretty green-minded community. When we had an overgrowth of red wrigglers in our worm compost, we offered them on a bulletin board and got a bunch of responses within an hour.
We have some fruit trees that give way more than we need - we brought some boxes down to the library to give away, and right away people started offering us exchanges for fruit - Sure, we'll take your tomatoes for our plums!
We recently had a vote on whether to pay more to put in renewable energy in public buildings (though it would cost more, initially) and it passed by a wide margin.

I get flack for not being green ENOUGH. My house came with a koi pond, and people are always telling me what a waste of water it is! (It is, I'm planning on filling it.)

My neighbor does give me a hard time for letting pretty native 'weeds' grow in my garden. I think Jupiter's Beard is quite beautiful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jupiter's Beard

I'm currently working on an animated short film for Project 3650.

Project 3650 is a non-profit international organization that has asked animators to volunteer their skills and talents for making mini cartoon shows to distribute for free on the web, television, mobile phones and video podcasts. The idea is to reach out to the younger generation and make them aware of earth's changing climate in a fun but educational way.

I was able to get a talented team together of young artists and we are working to create an amusing animated film to donate to Project 3650. It's the best way I can think of to use my skills and what little free time I have for maximum outreach.

If anyone is interested please check out the website:

http://www.project3650.org/

Here is a link that might be useful: Project 3650

In my neck of the woods, green has been a way of life for at least 20 years. It's nice to see it becoming more popular.

Anyone who knows me, it's pretty obvious that I'm an environmentalist. The only time I get pushy is when I feel like I have to defend the earthy movement. (IE: people making up radically false statements). Otherwise, I just go about my business quietly. I have to say, I'm surprised to find that the biggest earth destroyers I know of usually are parents! (not every parent of course) I just think that people who have kids would want to leave them the most precious gift of hope and a future, so why is it that people with kids are some of the worst for the earth?