It's not easy being green. One of the initiatives that I've been trying to organize is some sort of commuting challenge, a way for us to reduce the amount of emissions produced commuting to and from work.
So far, the only people who have gone green are Vanlee and Noemi. Once a week Vanlee will be biking to work with Dan on his tandem. Noemi will be walking or riding her bike to work everyday. Three cheers for Vanlee and Noemi. Dan doesn't get any shout outs cause he's been biking to work forever. (I'm kinda thinking that we should get special t-shirts printed up for them that say something like "Coming in August…The Green Issue…albertaventure.com)
Many people in the office have told me that that because of the nature of their job and personal commitments, they are unable to seek an alternative, eco-friendly way to get to work. But you know me, I'm not a quitter. This issue isn't dead yet. If you can't reduce your driving at least change the way you drive.
Here are some driving tips from the City of Calgary's Climate change department, yes they think its such an important issue that they created a department to tackle the problem.
http://content.calgary.ca/CCA/City+Hall/Business+Units/Environmental+Management/Climate+Change/Reduced+Vehicle+Idling/Reduced+Vehicle+Idling.htm
So far, the only people who have gone green are Vanlee and Noemi. Once a week Vanlee will be biking to work with Dan on his tandem. Noemi will be walking or riding her bike to work everyday. Three cheers for Vanlee and Noemi. Dan doesn't get any shout outs cause he's been biking to work forever. (I'm kinda thinking that we should get special t-shirts printed up for them that say something like "Coming in August…The Green Issue…albertaventure.com)
Many people in the office have told me that that because of the nature of their job and personal commitments, they are unable to seek an alternative, eco-friendly way to get to work. But you know me, I'm not a quitter. This issue isn't dead yet. If you can't reduce your driving at least change the way you drive.
Here are some driving tips from the City of Calgary's Climate change department, yes they think its such an important issue that they created a department to tackle the problem.
http://content.calgary.ca/CCA/City+Hall/Business+Units/Environmental+Management/Climate+Change/Reduced+Vehicle+Idling/Reduced+Vehicle+Idling.htm
* More than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning your engine off and restarting it again. So if you stop for more than 10 seconds, except in traffic, turn off your engine.
* Excessive idling can cause engine damage.
* Check your tire pressure on a regular basis. One tire underinflated by 8 PSI reduces the life of your tire by 15,000 km. Also, one underflated tire increases your fuel consumption by 634 litres per year. I worked that out to just over $700 a year. I know I don't have that kind of money to throw away.
If anyone in the office is interested in reducing your carbon footprint, please contact me so I can calculate your carbon reductions. Each week I'll post our reductions on the blog.
1 comment:
On the other hand, there are a lot of staff whose footprint from transportation/commuting is small. I know I'm not the only staffperson who has never owned a car. Although perhaps for my vintage (ahem) I'm unusual in Edmonton.
I currently live such that I can commute by LRT or by foot in approximately the same amount of time (20 minutes). I pledge to walk a higher percentage of the time and take LRT only when the weather is inclement.
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