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Slow Down, Calm Down (Stick to the speed limit)
Traffic is the biggest single killer of 12-16 year olds.
Two out of three accidents where people are killed or injured happen on roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less.
At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone you hit as at 30mph. Enough said.
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Get Rid of Your Car - OK, ambitious, but...
… well, you never know, getting rid of the car may not be as ridiculous a suggestion as it first appears. After all, maybe you don’t yet have a car – so you’ve already got rid of it. Well done.
Alternately, you might have a neighbour who you could talk into sharing a car with. Or you might want to car-share to and from work. And, of course, you could always look at joining a car club, more and more of which are setting up around the country. Research suggests that each car club car on the road replaces five privately owned vehicles. This helps to relieve parking pressure on our crowded streets and improve our local communities.
A reduction in the number of cars means less pollution and congestion, helping to make places cleaner and safer. That’s got to be a good thing, doncha think?
More on car clubs.
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Offset your Airmiles
Been sunning yourself in foreign climes? Then consider offsetting your carbon emissions.
Climate Stewards AtmosFair Equiclimate
Why? Air travel is the most environmentally damaging form of travel, yet the rise of low cost airlines means that more of us are taking advantage of the chance to escape Britain’s unpredictable summers, and scoot off to sun-drenched lands.
Every flight we take has an impact on climate change that arises from the carbon dioxide emissions of burning jet fuel and other effects in the upper atmosphere. One single shorthaul flight produces roughly the same amount of the global warming gas as 3 months’ worth of driving a 1.4 litre car. The effect of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is cumulative, so acting now has more impact than acting later. You can’t do much about the fuel efficiency of aircraft, but if you ‘need’ a holiday or if you’re traveling on business, you can help reduce your personal contribution to global warming by making your flight carbon neutral.
Links: http://www.carbonneutral.com http://www.sustainabletravel.com
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Can't ditch your car? Switch it! (To LPG)
Getting rid of your car altogether is an ambitious move – but several dozen Generous folk have already given it a go! (Go here for more.) If it’s just not practical for you because of where you live or your family situation, then why not consider getting your car converted to run on LPG fuel?
LPG (or Autogas) is an alternative to diesel and petrol and (a) it’s kinder to the environment because its harmful emissions are way less than those of conventional car fuels;
(b) it’s kinder to your car engine as somehow it runs the mechanics better, meaning your car will last longer and run more quietly too;
© and it’s kinder to your pocket* because it costs about half the price of standard car fuels.
Go here to see if your car could be converted and to read more. What you spend on conversion you’ll soon save in fuel costs.
If converting your current vehicle isn’t realistic, next time you are changing your car, look for one that already runs on LPG.
Or, if your car is a diesel, investigate if it could run on biodiesel and find your nearest biodiesel supplier. Best of all, if the funds stretch to buying a new car, check out one of the new hybrid models like the Toyota Prius.
Read all about LPG vehicles here.
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Sign the Flight Pledge
Air travel is the fastest growing contributor to climate change. Between 2002 and 2050, the overall contribution of air travel to climate change is expected to leap from 3.5% to as high as 10%. In the UK alone, it is estimated that almost 500 million passengers annually will pass through British airports by 2030, one billion by 2050 and one and a half billion ten years later. In 1970 it was just 32 million.
The single most effective decision you can take to reduce your impact on the climate is not to fly. With Flightpledge you can pledge to limit the number of flights you take each year – and show the government that we don’t want limitless cheap flights and ever-expanding airports.
There are two pledges – gold and silver. Sign the gold pledge and you promise to take no flights in the coming year, except in a personal or family emergency. Sign the silver pledge, and you promise not to take more than two return short-haul flights, or one return long-haul flight, in the coming year – again, except for an emergency.
Their website explains: ‘We are especially trying to target frequent, casual, short distance, short break, leisure flights – flights that are only possible because they are cheap; flights that are disproportionately polluting because most of the fuel is used getting to cruising height and then almost immediately landing; journeys that can easily be made by rail. Our objective is to sign up as many people as possible, firstly to reduce the number of aircraft movements, and secondly to show the government that there is a large number of people who are willing to voluntarily limit their flying and make an individual gesture to reduce their personal impact on the environment.’
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Walking ... It's The Way To Go
“Using public transport is brilliant,” wrote an astute Generous member recently. “But, better still, why not walk?”
Fair point. After all, not only does walking mean you get to know your community better – where you live or where you work – but research shows that people who walk regularly enjoy a whole host of health benefits.
Benefits such as those listed here on the Ramblers website. Not that this is about driving to the country to have a walk – pleasant though that can be, given decent weather and stout shoes. It’s about walking in our towns and cities. It’s about walking as a modest sign of resistance against the omnipresence of the car – cheaper, healthier, and, admittedly, usually slower.
So, how about swapping one or more of the shorter, regular journeys you now make by public transport or car to one you can make on foot? You’ll be reducing your emissions at the same time.
London dwellers have some great online resources to help them make this move and most Council websites carry information on local walk routes.
Walking – it’s the way to go!
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Drive Yourself Carbon-Neutral
One hot air balloon = 4 tonnes of CO2. The average UK driver also emits around 4 tonnes of CO2 each year. As we can’t think of a good punchline linking your car with the balloon, we’ll get straight to the point: 22% of all CO2 emissions in the UK come from road transport.
Every litre of fuel you consume emits CO2. So maybe it’s time to take the challenge – become CO2 neutral and help reduce CO2 emissions, one car at a time.
This is what Peter Mather at BP (yeah, we know…), says about the campaign: “targetneutral is a positive, practical and straightforward step that BP is taking to help drivers help the environment. We are taking the lead because our extensive research shows there is a huge demand for such a scheme and a general feeling from customers that they don’t know where to start.”
And becoming a targetneutral driver doesn’t cost the earth. The average UK driver only needs to spend around £20 a year. It’s easy too. All your funds are invested in projects that prevent or remove an equivalent amount of emissions (that you produce from driving) from the atmosphere.
Go Generous at their website here.
